Blink-182: One More Time Tour 30/08/2024

Rating: ★★★★★

OVO Hydro Rating: ★★★★

Where we stayed: Ibis Budget Glasgow (our usual hotel)

SETLIST:

Feeling This
The Rock Show
Wendy Clear
Aliens Exist
DANCE WITH ME
M+M’s
EDGING
Up All Night
MORE THAN YOU KNOW
Carousel (with Parker Cannon from The Story So Far)
Stay Together For The Kids
Not Now
CAN’T GO BACK
I Miss You
Down
When Your Heart Stops Beating (+44 cover – partial)
There Is (Box Car Racer cover – partial)
FUCK FACE
ANTHEM PART 3
Always
What’s My Age Again?
First Date
All The Small Things
Dammit (with ‘We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together’ by Taylor Swift snippet)
ONE MORE TIME (Encore)

Paul and I travelled to see Blink-182 last year but Travis Barker (drums) had to fly back to the US for a family emergency. Thankfully, everything turned out okay and we were promptly given a new date to look forward to. The band added us on to the end of their tour, which included 120 shows. It meant we had to wait 12 months to see them. Of course, the concert couldn’t have gone ahead without TB, who is one of the most talented drummers in the world. They ended up doing two nights at The OVO Hydro in Glasgow after a second date was added due to popular demand. We were absolutely thrilled to see the original band members back together, even though we are fans of Matt Skiba who replaced Tom DeLonge (vocals/guitar) to work closely with Mark Hoppus (vocals/bass) between 2015-2022. Paul has been a massive fan of the band for years and considers TD his biggest musical hero. For a long time, it looked like he would never rejoin the band. ‘ONE MORE TIME’ was written about their friendships and eventual reunion. It is one of the more emotional and hard-hitting Blink-182 songs, as it tackles their ups and downs over the years. Their newest album, with the same title, was released in October last year and has been a huge hit with fans. Paul drove down the day before the concert, so we would have plenty of time to enjoy Glasgow. In HMV, Paul and I stumbled across a wall of sticky notes with everyone’s favourite songs and bands on them. We added our own, with Paul writing ‘There Is’ by Box Car Racer, TD’s former band, which Blink-182 ended up performing. It was nice seeing people wearing Blink-182 t-shirts and looking a lot happier this time around. An over-excited man in our hotel was shouting to everybody he was on his way to see “the best band in the world”, which was funnier knowing he had all of this pent up excitement for so long.

Some people claim it is uncool to wear a t-shirt of the band you are going to see but we wore ours and I enjoyed admiring the others. We made our way to the venue after the doors opened at 6:30pm and the entry process was smooth, though we were directed through a side door I’d never noticed before. The Story So Far, not to be confused with Story Of The Year, came onstage at 7:30pm. They are a rock band from California and are made up of Parker Cannon (vocals), Kevin Geyer (lead guitar/keyboard), Ryan Torf (drums/rhythm guitar/keyboard) and Will Levy (guitar). They confidently announced they are the biggest fans of Blink-182 in the arena but I bet Paul would take the crown. They gave King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut a shout-out, which is a particular favourite of musicians. It is probably because it is quirky and intimate. A lot of bands perform there when they are starting out, leaving them with a sense of nostalgia. They said some of the best shows they have been to were in Glasgow, which isn’t surprising since the crowds are strangely rowdy and welcoming at the same time. PC advertised their new album, ‘I Want To Disappear’, which is full of well thought-out songs with profound lyrics. I’m sure they performed ‘Big Blind’ because TD likes it a lot, though I might not have deciphered what PC said correctly. I know the venue has a bad reputation for poor acoustics but I found my concert earplugs helped. It was my favourite from their set, as well as ‘Proper Dose’, the song they ended with and the title track of their 2018 album. They did a great job warming up the crowd and definitely piqued my interest. I have been listening to them on Spotify since I got home and my favourite songs of theirs change all of the time. Paul and I enjoyed PC singing ‘Carousel’ when he was brought onstage with Blink-182 for a special appearance since it was the last show of the tour. We thought he was a lot more animated and engaging during that performance. There is something incredibly likeable about PC and the rest of the band. I hope to see their name pop up at future concerts and festivals I attend. If they do Slam Dunk Festival next year, I will be sure to swing past their stage!

We worked out Blink-182 would most likely come on at 8:45pm. I felt completely unprepared for the excitement ahead as they didn’t waste any time launching into ‘Feeling This’, one of their most popular and upbeat songs. I saw reviews complaining about the offensive jokes made by the band but I was looking forward to the banter between MH, TD and the crowd. I honestly thought the articles were satire at first, as they have always made crude comments. To me, it is obvious they are just fooling around. We got a taste of their adult humour tonight and countless moments where MH and TD poked fun at each other. TD forgot ‘Wendy Clear’ had been added to the setlist and paused the show, exclaiming it is not his fault and how he gets blamed for every mess up. MH used this opportunity to remind him about the many times he has left the band. MH played the bridge of ‘EDGING’ differently and TD said it sounded completely alien to him. MH replied, “When you’re dealing with a master like myself, it sounds a little strange to people like you!” I avoided as many spoilers as I could but was disappointed TB’s drums didn’t get suspended in the air during ‘Not Now’, like during the American shows. We could pinpoint when the segment was supposed to happen but were blown away by TB’s skills anyway. In addition to ‘There Is’, they performed the chorus of ‘When Your Heart Stops Beating’ by +44, which was a nice touch as it is MH’s old band. The new album and tour gives the impression they have forgiven each other for past mistakes and have truly reconnected. The crew member who handed out the guitars was referred to as Jesus Christ because of the striking resemblance. Paul and I laughed about the poor man growing tired of the comparison and not being able to shave, so the joke could be prolonged. We shone our phone torches for the “depressing” ‘Stay Together For The Kids’. MH congratulated a couple down the front on their engagement, which felt ill-timed since he was in the middle of a speech about divorce. They rattled through each of their hits and ended on ‘Dammit’, their usual closer. However, they added in ‘ONE MORE TIME’ for the encore, which left everyone in a state of high emotion.

Paul said this concert will be hard for anyone to top. He currently has no more concerts lined up and wants to keep it that way but will make an exception for Blink-182 and maybe Alkaline Trio, with Matt Skiba. He isn’t as much of a live music enthusiast as me. It has also been one of my favourite gigs and I will be riding on this high for a while yet. I got to completely soak everything in as Paul was the photographer, since he got a new phone and the zoom on my camera is pathetic. The stage effects were amazing and the video clips fitted each of the songs well. The Garfield lamp positioned at the edge of the stage was very cute, although we failed to figure out the connection. TD was sick for the past few weeks of the tour but powered through and sounded great, even though the illness refused to go away. I felt bad he was struggling so much but was delighted to see the band at long last. My heart would have shattered if they were forced to postpone again, or cancel altogether. Since they changed the setlist for the second night we didn’t get ‘Man Overboard’, ‘Easy Target’ or ‘Bored To Death’ which is a shame as they have become three of my favourites. I can’t complain about the brilliant setlist we got and missing out on those songs gives us another excuse to see them again. They taunted us about the first Glasgow crowd being louder, maybe just to rile us up. I glanced around and it took a while for the seated fans to start dancing and singing along but the atmosphere improved drastically by the second half. I liked how our setlist was different from the night before, especially as it included ‘Carousel’ at the last minute. MH’s wife Skye was also in the crowd, which made the night feel like more of a special occasion. MH thanked us for coming at the end and for holding on to our tickets for so long, since we purchased them two years ago! I am crossing my fingers they don’t wait too long to come back to The UK. ‘ONE MORE TIME… PART-2’ is out tomorrow. Is an additional tour for it too much to ask?

GALLERY