If anticipation for the UK arena return of Blink 182 was
already huge, postponing last year’s shows has done nothing to quell the
expectation on their shoulders from a packed out arena. This is a crowd who
have waited more than 12 months to finally get see the band over here and back
in action for the first time since their awesome Reading and Leeds festival
performances back in 2010.
It has been a long time coming, but they prove tonight that
the wait has been more than worthwhile.
First up though is Four Year Strong, who are something of a
changed proposition these days, but who still hit hard home on their finer cuts
from albums one and two. The material from latest album In Some Way, Shape of
Form may lack some of the bite of their previous works, but live they can still
kill it, even when faced against a sound mix which is quite frankly hideous.
They are enjoyable, but fail to hit the heights they are capable of when faced
against a cavernous arena, and some of the worst sound I have heard in quite
some time.
Opener Tonight (We Feel Alive) is barely recognizable in the
mix, but the sound does improve, although nowhere near enough to see them own
this evening. They will have better nights, but their performance here is still
an enjoyable enough opening set when you consider the technical demons they are
up against.
The All American Rejects enjoy an entirely different fate.
The sound picks up considerably, and the band (who are no stranger to playing
stages this size in their own right, particularly stateside) own the boards and
really pick up the pace. They sound on top form tonight, with frontman Tyson
Ritter his usual pseudo “drunk-stoned” self, baiting the crowd throughout, while
acting the ever watchable and ever charismatic ring leader of the pack.
Dirty Little Secret is the perfect opener, and with an
increasingly anthemic sound mix, goes down a storm with the audience. My Paper
Heart and Swing, Swing see the band tip their caps at their earlier work (the
former being yet another huge sing along of their set) before the inclusion of
their newer material gets slotted. The
only down side is that this comes at the almost criminal expense of one of
their finer tracks, The Last Song. You cannot have a Rejects set without it,
but Beekeeper’s Daughter does goes down well, before the band wrap things up
with the thunderous Gives You Hell.
As all the patience evaporates into the Birmingham night
sky, Blink hit the stage and remind everyone just why they have all waited to
see them once more. Opening with a frenetic Feeling This, the hits come thick
and fast, as recent single Up All Night segues into the majestic one-two of The
Rock Show and What’s My Age Again? Blink are up a and running . . .
The band are in a playful mood, and look genuinely stoked to
be back on stage together, their split now long in the memory, as they rip
through a number of tracks from their latest album Neighborhoods. The pick of
the bunch is Ghost On The Dance Floor, Heart’s All Gone and Wishing Well. They
are in top form too, Mark Hoppus and Tom Delonge trading insults as per their
earlier days, whilst Travis acts the cool dude in the back on the drums,
hitting beat after beat, as his daughter sits lovingly to his side watching on.
The highlights are many and often; Dumpweed is massive;
First Date just as riotous as you would expect. As All The Small Thing hits,
the euphoria goes up a notch further, the dance floor matching the energy from
the stage and returning it in kind, before Josie closes off the main set.
The encore is breathtaking. Travis Barker, one of the finest
drummers of all time, walks on alone to take the stage and deliver one of the
most breathtaking drum solos you could ever with to see. He reprises his recent
solo hit Can A Drummer Get Some? which is nothing short of immense, as the
drummer hits some of the hardest beats of the evening, encompassed with
juddering dubstep breaks and enough “wob-wob” to shake the NIA to its core.
They end on a double whammy of Carousel and a phenomenal
Dammit, leaving all in attendance in no doubt whatsoever that the wait, albeit
tenuous and frustrating, was more than worth it; it’s sogood to have them back.
Setlist - Feeling This / Up All Night / The Rock
Show / What's My Age Again? / Down / I Miss You / Wishing Well / Dumpweed /
Always / Violence / After Midnight / First Date / Heart's All Gone / Man
Overboard / The Country Song / Blow Job / Ghost On The Dance Floor / All
the Small Things / Josie / Can a Drummer Get Some (Travis Barker
Solo) / Carousel / Dammit
Setlist – The All – American Rejects – Dirty Little Secret /
My Paper Heart / Swing, Swing / Beekeeper’s
Daughter / Walk Over Me / It Ends Tonight / Move Along / Kids In The Street /
Gives You Hell
Setlist – Four Year Strong – Tonight We Feel Alive (On A
Saturday) / Stuck In The Middle / Heroes Get Remembered, Legends Never Die,
Heaven Wasn’t Built To Hold Me, Manic (R.O.D) / It Must Really Suck To Be Four
Year Strong Right Now / Wasting Time (Eternal Summer)
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