Saturday 09/06/12 Blink 182 @ O2, London

Anyone who grew up in the nineties and early noughties has at least once appreciated a Blink-182 song. The band had last night pulled in a mixed crowd with ages ranging from preteens (who would have been mere toddlers when the band broke up) to the well-aged, at their show at London's O2.
 
Scottish rockers Twin Atlantic opened the proceedings in style, impressing the awaiting crowd with band classics ‘Make A Beast Of Myself’, ‘Yes I Was Drunk’ and their album title track, ‘Free’.
 
The All American Rejects followed but were far from impressive.  Opening straight off the bat with ‘Dirty Little Secret’ the sound was poor and vocals were sloppy but they did get better as their set went on - but sadly not enough to win the audience over.
 
When the curtain finally fell for Blink 182, the trio flew straight into ‘Feeling This’. Mosh pits formed and crowd surfers were dragged away by security, as people sang along to every word, an occurrence that happened during nearly every song.
 
The set list was well worked with classics infused with a few notable tracks from the latest album ‘Neighborhoods’, a hard task to do with so many classic songs sitting in their back catalogue.  Tom DeLonge and Mark Hoppus kept the crowd entertained inbetween songs with tongue-in-cheek jokes as well as a slight joke at Tom DeLonge’s unpopularity among many Blink fans (relating back to the break up).  We were even treated to ‘Happy Holidays, You Bastards’ completely in the dark after Tom DeLonge asked for the lights to be turned off. Travis Barker proved to be one of the worlds best drummers, and at some points you could not keep your eyes off him in wonderment.
 
While waiting for the encore, fans at the back of the standing section went nuts as Tom DeLonge and Mark Hoppus travelled through the crowd, making their way to the sound booth to perform a guitar-only version of ‘Reckless Abandon’ in the centre of the arena before Travis Barker hit out an epic drum solo to allow Hoppus and DeLonge to make their way back to the stage for the rest of the encore.
 
Blink 182 are a band who deserved their reputation as rock icons, they truly are are modern greats.