Blink-182 at Xcel Energy Center, 9/7/2011
Categories: Last Night
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| Photos by Stacy Schwartz |
September 7, 2011
Xcel Energy Center
Who's up for a night of circle pits, poop and masturbation jokes, and poignant reflection? Anyone and everyone in attendance at the Xcel Energy Center for Blink-182 sure was. Despite the many empty seats in the arena (although general audience was sold out), the trio steadily rocked their old hits along with some new material.
Power-pop duo Matt and Kim and My Chemical Romance opened. I drew parallels to the No Doubt show that took place at the Xcel two years ago to tonight's show, in that No Doubt had Paramore open to include the younger generation in attendance, much like My Chemical Romance did for Blink-182. Plus Gerard Way has flaming red hair like Hayley Williams, and there must be something about that color that makes a lead singer that much more charismatic.
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| Openers Matt and Kim |
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| Photos by Stacy Schwartz |
| My Chemical Romance |
With the group's troubled past within the band, I was expecting there to be some tension or drama, yet everything about the set was typical guy stuff, from the dick jokes to the fact that they were there to have a good time. Much of that was evident in their stage banter when Tom claimed that, "There are certain thing I did during that last song that made the women here pregnant." Blink's songs are simple and they've realized that works for them; not everything has to be epic like a Coldplay song.
Not sure if this was intentional or not, but midway through the set, the band preceded "First Date" with "Fuck a Dog." Freudian slip? Perhaps not since 90% of their songs have sexual references.
I've always enjoyed the pieces with Mark Hoppus on lead vocals over Tom DeLonge's nasally voice, yet the two blend perfectly when necessary. For just a trio, the band have a such a full sound, which is a good thing; during My Chemical Romance's set, the vocals were lost within the instrumentation. In songs like "Happy Holidays, You Bastard," Blink resembled the Ramones, playing the song without any frills, in the dark.
Prior to walking offstage for their encore, Mark explained to the crowd that they were going to act like they were leaving, but they'll actually be back in a few minutes. The encore started with Travis Barker's drum solo, which was performed on a rig that rose out over the mass of bodies that was the circle pit -- quite impressive.
Being back at the Xcel was a culmination of many things for the group; one important one, DeLonge shared, was the last time he was in the building was the day that he wrote a reconciliation letter to Travis to get the band back together. Taking a line from the group's first single "Dammit," Blink-182 showed that "this is growing up."
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| Photos by Stacy Schwartz |
Critic's bias: I cannot take my eyes off Travis Barker and his impressive drumming.
The crowd: Middle aged men and women reliving their youth, but also a surprising amount of young teens.
Overheard in the crowd: "This is the first song I ever downloaded off of Napster."
Random notebook dump 1: I was hoping they'd play "Adam's Song," but a friend told me that they haven't played it since the passing of DJ AM.
Random notebook dump 2: The guy sitting in front of me and my concert buddy kept asking us random questions such as, "What's a blog?" He had no idea that I was covering the show for a blog, so I thought it was odd for him to ask. My reply was, "An online journal," to which he asked, "Why would anyone ever read that?" He then proceeded to ask if my friend smoked pot.
The crowd: Middle aged men and women reliving their youth, but also a surprising amount of young teens.
Overheard in the crowd: "This is the first song I ever downloaded off of Napster."
Random notebook dump 1: I was hoping they'd play "Adam's Song," but a friend told me that they haven't played it since the passing of DJ AM.
Random notebook dump 2: The guy sitting in front of me and my concert buddy kept asking us random questions such as, "What's a blog?" He had no idea that I was covering the show for a blog, so I thought it was odd for him to ask. My reply was, "An online journal," to which he asked, "Why would anyone ever read that?" He then proceeded to ask if my friend smoked pot.
For more photos: See our full slideshow of all three acts by Stacy Schwartz.
Setlist:
Feeling This
Up All Night
The Rock Show
What's My Age Again?
Down
I Miss You
Stay Together for the Kids
Dumpweed
Always
Violence
After Midnight
Fuck a Dog
First Date
Man Overboard
Ghost on the Dance Floor
All the Small Things
Happy Holidays, You Bastard
Josie
Encore
Drum Solo
Carousel
Dammit
Family Reunion
Setlist:
Feeling This
Up All Night
The Rock Show
What's My Age Again?
Down
I Miss You
Stay Together for the Kids
Dumpweed
Always
Violence
After Midnight
Fuck a Dog
First Date
Man Overboard
Ghost on the Dance Floor
All the Small Things
Happy Holidays, You Bastard
Josie
Encore
Drum Solo
Carousel
Dammit
Family Reunion
Location Info
Venue
Map
Xcel Energy Center
175 W. Kellogg Blvd., St. Paul, MN
Category: Music
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