Labor Day 2009 was certainly one for the record books. We had the day off, our friends Mannie and Jessica were in town, and the Blink-182 concert was that night. Well the day started out, shall we say, poorly. I woke up to discover our basement had flooded. But that whole situation deserves its own post so stay tuned for that. Let’s get to the important stuff—the Blink-182 concert.
Natalie and I have a short list of bands we have to see before we die (or reach our 40’s). Blink-182 was at the top of that list. I’ve been a fan of Blink-182 since junior high. I bought Dude Ranch and listened to that album non-stop for the next five years. Then just when I thought I knew all there was to know about the power-pop punk trio from Poway, California, they released their self-titled album in 2004. That album blew me away. Every song was amazingly good. Well shortly after the 2004 album was released the band broke up. Tom went on to form Angels and Airwaves. Mark got together with +44. And Travis did a lot of stuff. Natalie and I were pretty bummed.
[Picture of us between sets. We look like the nerd brigade I know.]
Then back in April, Natalie got wind that the band was getting back together and planning to tour. A quick Google search confirmed the rumor and a few weeks later tour dates were released. Salt Lake City was on the list. We bought tickets the night they went on sale. Fast forward to Labor Day and we were standing on the floor in the McKay center with the lights down, a huge curtain obscuring the stage and thousands of sweaty teens (also another post coming about the sweaty teens) screaming at the top of their lungs. Well the curtain dropped and the lights shot on and there they were—Tom, Mark, and Travis playing on a stage right in front of us.
[The light board behind the band was pretty awesome. This is from the first song of the set.]
[Rock fingers indeed.]
[Natalie in front of the Taking Back Sunday backdrop. They were good. But we've seen them four times now.]
It was spectacular. The set was long, the songs were all my favorites, (with the exception of one omission. No “Adam’s Song”? Really??) and the encore was epic. Now Travis Barker is one amazing drummer. He is also extremely entertaining to watch as he plays the drums. So to start the encore, Travis performed a drum solo—floating above the crowd. That’s right. It was a flying, spinning, tilting, awe-inspiring drum solo that lasted for nearly five minutes. That put the cap on the entire experience. I remember thinking to myself “Ok. I’ve now seen a flying drum solo. I can leave this world in peace.”
[This is an image from some stock photo Web site.]
[This is what it looked like in real life. It was radical!]
Everything about the show was great. The set list was well thought out. The songs were played well (except when Tom started playing the wrong intro during “Going away to College” but hey nobodies perfect). It was a great evening. Sure the sound and lighting techs for the McKay were terrible during the first two bands (the first band actually walked off the stage in the middle of their set because the lighting tech turned off the lights and couldn’t get them back on). But by the time Blink took the stage the technical difficulties were all sorted out. It was a good way to end what could have been an otherwise tragic day. Next bands on the list are as follows: Foo Fighters, AFI, Weezer, and Brigheyes. And, oh yes, there are others.
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