Blink-182 @ SSE Hydro, Glasgow, 11 Jul
On a sunny midsummer evening in Glasgow, the SSE Hydro arena is packed out with a mass of punks, goths and emo scene kids of all ages awaiting the arrival of the Californian rockers. Building anticipation, the Stranger Things theme song plays and a Union Jack with the Blink-182 smiley face in the centre soon drops to the stage revealing the band, and the back of the stage is ablaze with the word ‘fuck’ written in fire.
Matt Skiba rocks out on guitar with Mark Hoppus on bass and Travis Barker on drums. The trio quickly fill the arena with a fun and exuberant energy performing Feeling This and The Rock Show. Following the two singalong hits, the band play Cynical – the opener from their latest album, California – accompanied by pyrotechnics and pop art visual projections. However, their new album only makes a short feature on the setlist before the band travels back in time to perform explosive renditions of their classic late ninteties/early noughties hits What’s My Age Again? and First Date as the stage is showered in fiery sparks.
Introducing one of their most popular songs, Hoppus says "Hey ladies, this one’s for you," as Barker breaks down the funky drumbeat to the romantic I Miss You. Progressing into the bridge, an image of two skeletons embracing is projected on screen. As the song ends, smoke jets at the foot of the stage engulf the band in a haze. Skiba comments on Scottish people recommending that he drink Strongbow with a blunt "Fuck that", before introducing the next song as "dedicated to my wife – that crazy bitch", followed by a "song about how much I hate being high".
As Sober reaches its climax, Barker rocks out a punchy drum solo with a t-shirt on his face. The band give a special mention to their support acts The Front Bottoms and Frank Turner, and Skiba crudely, and unnecessarily, informs us that ‘front bottoms’ is a term used to refer to female genitalia, "which [he has] totally touched before".
Threatened by the raucous chanting of "here we fucking go", Hoppus asks everyone to stop or he won’t continue the show. The chanting grows louder, and an irritated Hoppus leaves the stage stating that Glasgow has gotten two songs cut from their set. After a few moments he returns to the stage asking the crowd to make up. During their performance of Los Angeles, we're asked to turn on the torches of our smart phones and hold them aloft as the lights in the Hydro are dimmed – it's the modern equivalent of holding a lighter up at Woodstock.
After a short break filled with cheers and applause echoing through the SSE Hydro, Blink-182 return to the stage to perform an encore including All The Small Things and the drum line from I Miss You. The crowd is showered with confetti and a kiss cam is projected on to the stage, leaving the audience with their pop-punk dreams fulfilled.