Blink 182

The Set List

By Brian Washburn

Congratulations, Blink 182! You have now moved from pop-punk royalty to modern rock gods.

Blink’s recent show in Kansas City solidified their status from the clown, pop-punk bricklayers they once were a mere decade ago to the epic, but still clownish rock men they are today. Not to worry though, dick, fart and sex jokes were still littered through the entire show. It is Blink, after all. Anyone who catches their reunion tour running through this fall will probably not say any different.

When the tour stopped at the Sandstone Amphitheater in K.C., the show promoters decided to make a festival out of it and added eight bands to the roster. But since the day started around 2 p.m. on a Friday, I was able to catch only the three main bands performing that night, which was perfectly OK with me. The enamoring Taking Back Sunday took the stage and rocked the crowd for 45 minutes — too short in my opinion. This gave the entering crowd a nice warmup to the show that was to come later.

While thousands of people are obsessed with the music of Rivers Cuomo and company (Weezer), their generic pop rock does not go past the first listening stage with me. However, their more than an hour set did include all of their hits for the enormous K.C. crowd to sing along to (or the opportunity to go to the beer stand and prepare for Blink).

Then it happened. The band I grew up on throughout elementary, middle and junior high school took the stage in front of my eyes for the first time in more than five years. They were noticeably older than they were when they ran naked down the sidewalk in 1999, but they were still the same. From the opening chords of the vintage “Dumpweed” to the declaration guitarist and vocalist Tom DeLonge made about wanting to give oral pleasure to one Oprah, to which the other members did not even have a response. Yes, this is Blink 182.

Even though the band didn’t premiere any new songs, they played many fan favorites, but leaving out “Mutt” and “Adam’s Song” was a disappointment. The set list did consist of an array of songs from “Enema of the State” (“Going Away to College,“ “What’s Your Age Again?” “All the Small Things,” and others), “Take off Your Pants and Jacket” (“First Date,” “Rock Show,” “Anthem pt. 2,” “Stay Together for the Kids”) and their most recent, self-titled album (“I Miss You,” “Down,” “Feeling This,” “Stockholm Syndrome”). But the real crowd pleaser came when the band closed their reunion show with the longtime favorite of every Blink fan, “Dammit.”

The boys of Blink came back together after tragedy struck their lives. While Travis Barker’s plane crash still weighs on their minds (especially with the recent passing of DJ AM), you can’t tell they are down at all when they hit the stage and begin to jump and slide in front of 20,000 screaming fans who range from junior high students to married couples in their late 20s reprising their love for Blink for one last night. Whether you love or loathe the saturated market that is the punk rock scene right now, one thing is certain: Every one of these bands have been influenced by the pioneers Blink 182. Besides who else can make dick, fart and sex jokes relentlessly on stage and still be enormously respected by those throughout the entire music scene? Yes, Blink 182.