Bah gawd that’s blink’s music!

The Mark, Tom, and Travis show were all back together at the Moda Center One More Time after their reunion tour last year. This time around, the trio is on tour for their new ninth studio album One More Time… which was released in October 2023.

The tour marks their second with guitarist Tom DeLonge after he reunited with bassist Mark Hoppus and drummer Travis Barker for the second time in the band’s history.

As a long-time blink-182 fan, this was a must-see show after seeing them at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle, Washington last year, which was an electric performance that the band delivered. I thought it wouldn’t be possible, but the band topped that performance from last year as the trio has never sounded better than they did in their careers.

This time around the band is playing many of their shows on tour on a round stage in the shape of their band logo delivering a new dynamic visual element, which enhanced the concert experience as the audience could view the band performance 360 degrees all throughout the Moda Center.

I thought the band did a great job of moving around the stage throughout the show and Mark as well as Tom also made their way around the audience when they weren’t singing. Mark moved the most, running and skipping around the stage.

There were also new visuals, lighting, visuals, and pyrotechnics which played into the setlist and added a whole new element to songs compared to last year. When the band played one of my favorite songs “Aliens Exist”, the lighting panels from the top of the stage descended like a UFO landing, which Tom was right… aliens do exist.

The band performed a ninety-minute setlist that spanned the course of their careers from new music, classics, and deep cuts plus music from their side projects Boxcar Racer and +44.

When I saw that they were playing music from their side projects into a medley on tour absolutely blew my mind and if high school me had seen that setlist, he wouldn’t have believed it. I’m so glad to see that the trio has put aside egos and tumultuous past to play what are excellent songs created by Mark, Tom, and Travis outside of blink-182.

The band also played a song that’s currently unreleased titled “Can’t Go Back” and should be released on the upcoming deluxe version of One More Time… and that song was well received by the crowd at Moda.

They dusted off deep cuts like “M&M’s” and “Obvious”, which they haven’t played with Tom DeLonge since their first reunion tour back in 2011. As soon as DeLonge strummed out the first few chords of the song, it gave me goosebumps to hear “Obvious” live for the first time, and it was just an amazing sonic experience.

The trio also delivered their fair share of jokes and on-stage banter throughout their setlist filled with classic potty-humor jokes and deadpan humor, which I still get a laugh out of even though I just turned 23 and have a similar sense of humor to a 12-year-old boy. The other thing I realized when I turned 23 is that “nobody likes you when you’re 23,” too on the nose?

One of my favorite lines from the show was when Hoppus asked the crowd at Moda Center, “Who here comes from a broke home?”

The entire arena and Hoppus raised their hands together and the response he gave was a deadpan, “Well, it’s your fault. It’s because of you.”

Never change blink-182, never change.

I know my enjoyment of their music will never change especially as they continue to play music together, because blink-182 holds a special place in my heart having been the soundtrack to my middle school and high school years.

For millennials who grew up listening to blink-182, they share a similar experience that I have as we try to hold on to that teen angst as we age. Never taking myself too seriously like the band does, which is why I think I’ve been endeared with them when I first discovered them because they keep their authentic silliness while churning out hit after hit.

I think it’s safe to say that blink-182 is playing at a better level than before as they continue to headline festivals as well as sell-out shows.

“Give up for the greatest band to ever walk the face of the Earth, Blink-182!” Hoppus boasted during the show, which he’s right. Not even the Beatles can do what they do.