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Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Photos / Live Reviews / Opinion / setlist / Jeff Hahne / News Live review: Blink-182
Posted By Jeff Hahne on Wed, Oct 7, 2009 at 10:59 AM
Blink-182
Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
Oct. 6, 2009
The Deal: Reunited punk-pop rockers tear through a whole bunch of songs in quick time.
The Good: If you wanted an early weeknight concert, this was the one for you. Blink-182 hit the stage at 8:45, wrapped up their set before 10 p.m. and played a two song encore that was done about 10 minutes later. (Is that good or bad?)
The trio were a bit swallowed up by the large stage, but always found time to run around or come up front to be closer to the crowd. They kicked off the night with "Dumpweed" and went into a long string of their hits including, "Feeling This," "Rock Show," "What's My Age Again?" and "I Miss You."
Six small video screens were against the back wall — three low in line with drummer Travis Barker and three up high. They showed live footage of the band, videos of their cartoon rabbit "mascot" and some other graphics during the set. For a good part of the band's set, the lights were standard white, and a bit boring, but they did find times to kick it up with a large LED screen in the back and fluorescent bulbs during choruses.
The definite highlight of the show was the performance of Barker. Hard to believe he was in a serious plane crash not too long ago. He's definitely in my list of top 10 drummers I've ever seen perform live. Playing on a small kit, Barker hammered away all night long and simply crushed it. The encore kicked off with a drum solo that had Barker on what looked like a large turntable. It rose about 20 feet in the air, swung from side to side, tilted forward and then his drumkit proceeded to spin like a record as he pummeled the drums.
The Bad: Let's start out with the guy standing next to me. Dude... that sweatshirt you were wearing smelled horrendous and I was three feet away from you. Wash your clothes. Did you find that on the bottom of the frat house floor under a pile of vomit, mold and dust? Seriously. Laundry detergent is your friend. Look into it.
Next up — Asher Roth. I would love to tell you my thoughts about his show, but the bitter in me refused to check out his set after he denied me access to take photos of his performance. Really? You think you're that big already? Good luck. You need me a lot more than I need to listen to your weak rhymes and wannabe-Eminem style.
Finally — to Blink-182. Not sure why you guys set up your equipment about 30 feet from the front of the stage, or why you have played the same setlist, in the same order, (except for a song or two) for every show on your tour. I thought there was more "punk" in your music than that...
Bassist Mark Hoppus jokingly wanted to play "Man Overboard" a second time, but then he looked serious about it. When he looked over at the guys on the side of the stage, he was told, "no." (He actually asked twice before giving up... )
The Verdict: The band's set ended early, but fans were thrilled to hear everything they wanted and more. Mostly it's good just to see all three on one stage and enjoying every minute.
Setlist
Dumpweed
Feeling This
Rock Show
What's My Age Again?
Obvious
I Miss You
Stay Together for the Kids
Down
Always
Stockholm Syndrome
First Date
Man Overboard
Don't Leave Me
Not Now
All the Small Things
Reckless Abandon
Josie
Anthem Part Two
Encore
Drum Solo
Carousel
Dammit
Speaking of...
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