Snotty and Sincere, Blink-182 Creates a Nearly Pristine Pop-Punk Time Capsule

Tom DeLonge and Travis Barker at the Moody Center on July 7 (Photo by David Brendan Hall)

There is a Blink-182 lyric that frequently pops in my head: “Corporate leaders, politicians/ Kids can’t vote, adults elect them.”

That sneering line, delivered by Tom DeLonge, stands out as a perfect encapsulation of the Blink paradox. When “Anthem Part Two” came out in 2001, the band were all solidly in their mid 20s. So the call-to-arms about the youth’s unwilling cessation of control – concluding in the chorus, “if we’re fucked up, you’re to blame” – was packaged and delivered to us by adults. Adults who could, in fact, vote.

That thought never crossed my mind as I listened to Take Off Your Pants and Jacket as a kid. The members of Blink, at least 14 years my senior, felt like comrades and guides to the rebellion, confusion, and angst of my childhood. It seemed as if they were on my side in the great divide between those with agency and those without. As they opened Friday night’s 25-song set at the Moody Center with “Anthem Part Two,” fireworks punctuating the starting battle march of chugging power chords and cracks of snare, the trio proved they are still a powerful uniting force for the millennials, who are now themselves fully realized adults.

Blink-182 (Photo by David Brendan Hall)

The four-continent tour, announced last October, reunited the crica-1998 members of the band for the first time since guitarist DeLonge left in 2015. Mark Hoppus got in a handful of Tom’s-back-in-the-band jabs, but the chemistry between the two singers – particularly evident in the frequent between-song banter – felt effortless as ever. The sound did, too.

The setlist drew heavily from 1999’s Enema of the State, 2001’s Take Off Your Pants and Jacket, and 2003’s untitled album for a tight 95-minute whirlwind of nostalgia. DeLonge and Hoppus stalked around the stage, often pausing before the crowd in wide-legged power stances, their voices full with familiar command and irreverence. DeLonge’s guitar lines still rung with clarity through the chaos, with Hoppus’ deft work on the bass keeping it centered. Travis Barker, one of the greatest living drummers, delivered exigent solos with extra doses of showmanship, playing the ending of “Violence” with a towel over his head. For part of the last quarter of the set, Barker dangled high above the stage on a platform, the kit tilting toward the crowd in particular bursts of fervor during “Down” and “I Miss You.”

Snotty Blink signatures were everywhere. There were the lewd altered lyrics (DeLonge wound down “Reckless Abandon" with “I used this song to fuck your moms”). There were the incessant dick jokes. The “Blink Bunny” and album paraphernalia – the familiar color scheme of Take Off Your Pants and Jacket, an inflatable ambulance with the Enema of the State nurse emblazoned on the side – featured prominently in the intricate stage projections and props. In many moments, it felt like a nearly pristine time capsule of the brightest moments of their career.

Tom DeLonge (Photo by David Brendan Hall)

Still, there were hints that the punk veneer was fading to reveal signs of maturity or age. DeLonge admitted that he almost fell off the drum risers as he jumped up to greet Barker’s genius head on. The singers’ voices struggled to hit some of the higher notes at points, often dropping down an octave instead. And in a moment that in the past almost certainly would’ve been a sex joke, Hoppus pointed out that the tour’s pyrotechnician – whose skills got heavy play through the set – was a woman. We need more of those in the industry, he noted.

But with the band approaching – or in Hoppus’ case, already arrived in – their 50s, they are still underpinned by abounding sincerity. In 2001, they were able to preach to the youth about evil adults without a “How do you do, fellow kids?” cringe because they kept the indignity of youth alive in the same way that kids do – through jokes, through escapism, through looking at pain without an artsy filter.

Mark Hoppus and Tom DeLonge (Photo by David Brendan Hall)

That was felt acutely in the brief moments when the pace slowed. Hoppus introduced “Adam’s Song” by talking about the fragility of life, saying that just a few years before he was diagnosed with stage 4 lymphoma. As he spoke, the crowd began to chant his name. After the first chorus, Hoppus paused and put a hand on DeLonge’s shoulder, as if rooting himself.

Ahead of “Stay Together for the Kids,” the banner song for how adolscents unwillingly find themselves at the center of domestic turmoil, DeLonge cut the gravity by calling on the crowd to get emo. Slither into tight black jeans, arrange your hair to obstruct the line of vision. Many members of the crowd had come prepared.

“Call your mom at 2am and say, ‘I told you it wasn’t a fucking phase,’” he bellowed.

Blink-182 (Photo by David Brendan Hall)

Photo by David Brendan Hall