Blink-182
2nd March 2024
Spark Arena, Auckland, New Zealand
Review by Charlotte Lightbody, with photography by Doug Peters.
Concertgoers were thrilled to see Rise Against take the stage and kick off the night with their signature punk rock sound. The band’s politically charged lyrics and high-energy performance got the crowd pumped up and ready for the wild show to follow.
Opening with Anthem Part Two, the Blink-182 boys: Travis, Tom & Mark launched straight into delivering their nonstop rock/punk/pop fusion that so irreverently punctuated the 90s and early 2000s. Spark Arena’s packed-out space of flailing mostly 30-something adults regressed to emo-kidulthood, resuming buried teenage angst and anti-establishment thrashing. Blink-182 mustered something of a fully necessary musically regressive therapy session for Auckland last night.
Casually wandering out, Mark Hoppus, Tom DeLonge and Travis Barker took centre stage to a roaring crowd. The hits and the bangers came with equal intensity and reverence from the crowd. Blink’s naughty little interludes reminded the crowd that once upon a time, laughing at the things a 14-year-old might find funny felt less like a sign of immaturity than it was a noble search for identity at the expense of eye-rolling adults.
They even peppered in a bunch of newer tracks from their latest album ‘One More Time’ to which the crowd jammed. Ultimately Spark Arena warmed most to those familiar and generationally loved Blink-182 anthems – nostalgic, raw, singalong-perfection excellence.
Tracks they played from their latest 2023 album, included ‘More Than You Know’ and the suggestive ‘Edging’. Party tracks like ‘Dance With Me’ brought that nonstop American rock with punk undertones, through even stronger with the crowd dropping their best dance moves. Our show encore was the slower, ‘One More Time’, which, in my opinion, was the most perfect and beautiful way to send the buzzing crowd off into the rest of their weekend.
At one point early in the evening, Mark mentioned being nice to Tom as he “hadn’t had a very good day today” but was trucking on with his best jokes and performance for us. The crowd, of course, cheered as loud as they possibly could for the guy to let him know we heard, and we were there.
The band’s accompanying visuals were some of the best and most visually engaging seen recently, well-drawn comic and Saturday morning cartoon styled with vibrant colours and intentionally puerile subject matter. These included a liberal sprinkling of references to UFOs & Aliens, DeLonge’s second or first love after music depending on who is asked. As well as live audience captures, photos of the band, profanities and even an animation of Janine Lindemulder, the nurse costume-wearing model from the controversial cover of their 1999 album, Enema of the State.
The visuals were equal but surpassed by the audio quality, both the band’s music performance and their audio were so massive and crystal clear in ways not always seen in Spark with big international acts, that even a casual fan couldn’t help but embrace the hype. As Tom jokingly said, “Our band is not as cool without the 60 people behind the scenes making us look good.“
During the middle of the show, Mark announced that the “Emo part of the show was happening now“. We were instructed to grow out our long fringes, dress up in our best My Chemical Romance gear and enjoy tracks like ‘Stay Together For the Kids’. Witnessing a large group of Blink fans recklessly throwing themselves into nostalgic tracks is truly an indescribable experience. For some, it may have been a challenging time in their lives as they tried to make sense of all that teenage angst.
I adored hearing the track ‘Down’ from the self-titled 2003 album – another nostalgic track from my early teenage years. Along with ‘Miss You’ which was dubbed ‘a singalong track’. We were all told jokingly not to sing over Mark’s verse, but to sing over Tom. You don’t need to tell me again and I belted out “Don’t waste your time on me, you’re already the voice in my head” all in that signature twangy whingey emo tone we all perfected way back when along with the sold-out crowd. I found myself giggling like a schoolgirl along with Mark and Tom’s humorous banter throughout the night. They truly exude that energy of your friend’s teenage big brothers who never quite grew up, in a way that now more than ever feels surprisingly innocent in a modern context. Even if it was just for a couple of hours, they provided the perfect escape from everyday life.
At this point in the night, I was starting to lose my voice from singing and the slightly inebriated guy next to us had gone from joyfully belting out tunes to falling asleep in his chair… Having earlier proudly professed he’d “purchased these tickets more than two years ago!”. Bless him, the emo portion of the show was too much for his heavy heart.
Towards the end of the show, Blink brought out the tracks we all know so well, as Mark mentioned “Is it time?” to which Tom replied, “Yeah it’s time”. What’s My Age Again, First Date, All the Small Things and Dammit ensued. The regression was complete, apparently, that thing that “only 90s kids will remember” was growing up with Blink-182 scoring your life.
This was the first time I’ve seen Blink-182 live and hopefully not the last. When everything feels like it’s falling to pieces, at least we have Blink-182, right? They brought Auckland a truly special show and I can’t fault a single thing, except my sore vocal chords.
Blink 182:
Rise Against:
Were you there at Spark Arena for this magnificent pop punk extravaganza? Or have you seen Blink-182 perform live somewhere else before? Tell us about it in the comments below!
Blink 182 Setlist:
- Anthem Part Two
- The Rock Show
- Family Reunion
- Wendy Clear
- Feeling This
- Violence
- Up All Night
- Reckless Abandon
- Dumpweed
- MORE THAN YOU KNOW
- EDGING
- DANCE WITH ME
- Aliens Exist
- Happy Holidays, You Bastard
- FUCK FACE
- Stay Together for the Kids
- Down
- ANTHEM PART 3
- Bored to Death
- I Miss You
- TURPENTINE
- What’s My Age Again?
- First Date
- All the Small Things
- Dammit
- ONE MORE TIME [encore]
Rise Against Setlist:
- Prayer of the Refugee
- The Violence
- Satellite
- Audience of One
- Re-Education (Through Labor)
- Swing Life Away [Acoustic]
- Help Is on the Way
- Savior
Note: Ambient Light was provided passes to review and photograph this concert. As always, this has not influenced the review in any way and the opinions expressed are those of Ambient Light’s only. This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase a product using an affiliate link, Ambient Light will automatically receive a small commission at no cost to you.
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