The onstage banter from the Blink-182 boys – now middle-aged fathers – has barely changed in a quarter-century. Still steeped in SoCal skater style and jack-this-job attitude, the band kicked off a 2023 tour in May, interspersing dude jokes and high school humour with the pop-punk anthems that their devoted fan base grew up with. There’s a tinge of nostalgia to the wistful immaturity both on stage and in the crowd as the Blink trio – and many of their elder millennial fans – sing along to the same lyrics with the knowledge that everything, everywhere, is different.
Because this tour is significant in more ways than one. The band is travelling with families in tow, and they’re travelling not by Warped bus but by private jet – aside from Travis Barker, who opts for other transportation after surviving a deadly plane crash in 2008. The drummer has garnered perhaps the most headlines from this recent rash of performances, given his marriage to Kourtney Kardashian and her pregnancy announcement at a Blink-182 show in June – with a handwritten sign, no less.
