Blink 182 @ First Midwest Bank Ampitheatre

Posted by shore On August - 25 - 2009

@AndyShore If you grew up around the same time as I did, Blink 182 was practically unavoidable. You may say now that you weren’t that into them, but when “All the Small Things” comes on, you know every word. I could try to take the defense that I started listening to these guys long before I was a college educated student of music, but I’m not ashamed.

Blink 182 was probably the most popular band of my early high school years for straight males (hello Backstreet Boys/’N SYNC). In fact, seeing Blink 182 live was sort of like time traveling back to 2000.

True to form, the members of the band are still as sophomoric as can be. The banter from Tom DeLonge is as crude as a 13-year-old boy trying to impress his friennds. Early on, he informed the crowd that Blink’s performance of the previous song was so good that the whole crowd was now pregnant. Later he informed the audience that the fire marshall had just told him they were so good their cocks were on fire. DeLonge’s suggestion for cock fire was to “insert it in the mouth of the individual next to you.” A theory which Mark Hoppus immediately denounced.

Travis Barker is one of the best drummers around, and the only member of Blink 182 to write home about. In between hits and fan favorites like “What’s My Age Again?” “I Miss You” and “Adam’s Song” the music often became a soundtrack to watch Barker play. When DeLonge would call for a bass solo, it really just meant he would stop playing long enough to hear Hoppus’ regular bass line through the terrible sound at First Midwest Bank Amphitheater.

Then came the encore. Despite @MattSilver’s best attempts at keeping the encore a secret, the internet spoiled it for me. I knew Barker was set to fly over the stage while soloing. It’s way better to see it live then to read about it. Barker is raised up over the front of the stage, swinging side to side and tilting until he is almost perpendicular to the stage.

For a man that walked away from a plane crash, flying over the stage for an encore is an even more impressive feat. He mixes hip hop samples and his faster than lightening drumming for an encore that would have sufficed as is. The band returning for “Carousel” and “Dammit” was just icing on the cake.**

**It should be noted that Hoppus hadn’t had enough of the crowd of 30,000 yet. He sat down at Barker’s kit for a mini drum solo of his own before leaving the stage.

Blink 182 First Midwest Bank Ampitheatre Set List: