Blink-182 Concert Review: A Striking Rock Show at Fenway Park
With rich instrumentation, youthful banter, and a plethora of fireworks, Blink-182 put on a nostalgic performance honoring their past and present.As the sun set over Boston’s beloved Fenway Park on July 23, Blink-182 let their signature juvenile humor ring out across the stadium through a selection of their greatest hits and songs off their newest album, “ONE MORE TIME….” With rich instrumentation, youthful banter, and a plethora of fireworks, the band put on a nostalgic performance honoring their past and present.
Blink-182 opened the night with the classic “Feeling This,” a pop-punk song exploring the fiery but short-lived emotions of lust and passion within a relationship. Tom DeLonge, on vocals and guitar, and Mark Hoppus, on vocals and bass, took turns singing the track’s verses and chorus, with fans eventually joining in. “Feeling This” set the energy for the rest of the show, promising a night of boisterous fun and lively music that the rest of the set certainly delivered.
Following up with “The Rock Show,” Blink-182 gave their drummer, Travis Barker, time to shine. Barker gave an exhilarating and skilled performance on the drums, at times overpowering Hoppus and DeLonge but bringing the intensity of a true rock show. The fireworks throughout the song as Hoppus sang the repeating refrain, “I fell in love with the girl at the rock show,” made the show a celebratory event, tying together where the band has been and where they’re going.
Hoppus and DeLonge frequently took breaks for crowd work, ranging from jokes about the Boston cream pie and puns about Dunkin’, to making unserious proclamations that it’s “your fault your parents got divorced” and dedicating songs to the women of Boston “’cause they’re hot.” While their humor was reminiscent of a high school boys’ lunch table, it was classic Blink-182 and embodied the spirit of “What’s My Age Again?,” one of their most popular tracks and an anthem for immaturity.
This exploration of the past continued with “Carousel,” a track from their debut album “Cheshire Cat.” The song is a marker of the band’s origin, which DeLonge made sure to point out after citing criticism he has gotten for getting too deep with telling stories during the show.
“Instead of doing a story, I’m thinking we should play one of the first songs, if not the first song, we ever wrote as a band,” DeLonge said, while introducing “Carousel.”
A track about reflecting back on the ease of school days and the difficult transition of growing up, “Carousel” grapples with the loneliness and loss of community that comes with being a young adult. DeLonge’s powerful vocals alongside Barker’s drumming and Hoppus’s bass brought the angst and frustration that was key to the song.
This meditation on the past was also present in several of the tracks they performed from “ONE MORE TIME…” as the band returned to their pop-punk sound with more introspective subject matter. “ANTHEM PART 3” looked back on old mistakes with lyrics, detailing that “this time, I won’t be complacent / the dreams I gave up and wasted.” “MORE THAN YOU KNOW” leaned toward a more metal sound, with DeLonge screaming out the song’s chorus, and explored feelings of pain and numbness.
Barker’s drumming was a literal high point of the show, as he and his drums were raised in the air during the drum solo of “Not Now” before coming back down three songs later at the end of “Down.” His solo was electric, and his drumming was truly a driving force throughout the set — though Barker shone just as well alongside the melodic vocals and fiery guitar riffs of Hoppus and DeLonge.
Toward the end of the show, the band returned to some fan favorites from their discography. “First Date,” a track recounting the nerves of going on a first date coupled with the excitement of wanting to stay in that moment, saw the return of another round of fireworks and clips of the audience projected onto the three big screens behind the band. The repeating lyrics, “Let’s make this last forever / forever and ever,” and the song’s dynamic instrumentals brought a surge of energy as the night ended.
Blink-182 makes sure to include an element of surprise at each of their shows. The band has previously used the instrumental bridge of “Dammit” to cover songs, including Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso” in New York and recently Chappell Roan’s “Pink Pony Club” at Lollapalooza. In Boston, the band returned to a classic they’ve done during their early years of performing “Dammit” live: “No Scrubs” by TLC. A track about the struggles of growing up, “Dammit” is still beloved by fans today and a fitting inclusion on the setlist for a band that snubs expectations of maturity in favor of the amusement of youth.
The history of Blink-182 is a long and tumultuous one, with several breakups, reunions, and a host of tragedies. Yet, the connection between Hoppus, DeLonge, and Barker has withstood the test of time, and their encore song, “ONE MORE TIME” hammered that message home. The song reflects on Hoppus’s battle with cancer and Barker’s plane crash in 2008, affirming that it shouldn’t take near-death experiences to bring them together. Paying homage to their song “I Miss You” with the lyrics “I miss you, took time, but I admit it / It still hurts even after all these years,” Blink-182 ended the show on a touching note.
Though the show was largely a walk down memory lane, Blink-182 celebrated not only where they’ve been, but also where they’re going. Despite an array of childish displays and songs declaring “no one should take themselves so seriously,” the band seems to have grown from their mistakes and refocused on the music, delivering a striking performance for fans new and old.
—Staff writer Anna Moiseieva can be reached at anna.moiseieva@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X at @AMoiseieva.