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Just got back from the Portland show. It was amazing. They sound so much better than they did when I saw them in 2016, and the crowd seemed way more into it than the last time I saw them too. The place was absolutely packed. Most people must just not buy their tickets ahead of time like I did when I saw that hardly any seats had sold, because it was filled to the brim tonight. Matt sounded fantastic, Mark sounded fantastic, it was so good. Banter was low but there were still funny moments. And they brought back the deep voice Satan gag that was on The Mark, Tom, and Travis show, which made me smile. It was such a great set. I'm so happy I got to hear all of Enema of the State live, plus the really awesome stuff like Wasting Time acoustic. I never thought I'd get to hear that song live. I was on the lawn this time just because tickets were expensive, but they came out right in front of my brother and I to play the acoustic songs. It was awesome. I had the best time. Those who don't venture outside of the blink section of the boards might not know this, but I've had really severe depression for the last few years. Sometimes I doubt I'll ever be able to feel happy again. But then nights like this happen and I feel so fucking good. Blink makes me happy, and I think that's why I can never "outgrow" them. I feel pure joy right now and it's a much-needed reminder that I'm still capable of feeling this way. I'm on a high right now. I had so much fun!

My biggest ongoing issue is: Mark, you've been married forever, and have a kid. Like, none of this is personal at all. I really Wish I Hated You is about nobody. Nothing. Darkside... "She's a girl I look back to what could've been" - No, you don't. I think Plus 44 is fucking amazing, partly because of how real it is. I can't wrap my head around them writing blink songs with other people. So many people. I don't understand. Especially... lyrics. He even had a lyricist work on Happy Days.

If someone told me this was a target commercial for back to school shopping, I wouldn’t think twice.

Rocked my whole world. I don’t know who I am anymore

Skiba is incredible in no heart to speak of. Fuck me he’s well and truly made me look a right cunt here. What a fucking song. An absolute force of nature. Tornados in my head

From a marketing perspective I am not sure how trying to stay relevant with teens will work for them. I think the casual teen has far better options than some washed up middle aged men. I think Blink's core base kind of aged with them and is now 20's-30's. So I am really not sure what the fuck they are looking to accomplish here. I think they'd be much better off writing music from the heart in an organic setting without all this bullshit.

here ya are. bought it just this morning for it

I'm on a Facebook group where people chat about tunes and give music recommendations and I just saw a video of a young guy who played with blink on stage last night. He said that during the soundcheck he talked a bit to Mark about playing bass, he told him that he's doing the best he can to learn and Mark asked him if he has a band but he said he doesn't have one and never played in front of people so Mark told him "you could do it tonight" and invited him to play ATST on stage with them. It was his first time ever playing in front of people and he played with blink! How cool is that? He did a great job and Skiba sounded amazing. The kid said: "I was nervous, at times I felt like I was slipping up but Skiba kept coming up to me to give reassurance." I wish I could share the video but it's on Facebook. Maybe someone will post it on YouTube later. But I thought it was a nice thing to share here. I'm always happy to hear things like this or that Cheerio, Ry, Ghent, JarJar etc had a great time seeing blink on this tour (as I am happy to see that Tom is making music that people like and he's doing good on tour.) I think that sometimes the hostile attititude towards the new music tarnishes everything else the band does and the way you feel about Mark, Travis and Skiba. Why can't we all just be happy for everyone who is having fun instead of always comparing and competing? (which is a pointless thing to do anyway)

Huge album news!

Meltdown coming: This song is absolute ass. Simple Creatures has 10x more guitar/instruments/drums (and they don't even have a drummer). I like this era, but this is the first time I truly felt there is no blink in this song. Zero. (BIOMY was close, Darkside about 10% blink, this is 0%). How do you even manage to ruin Trav? This is Mark karaoking garbage a teen bop writer wrote, in hopes that it connects with teens breaking up with their first bf/gf. Makes ATST/Sober sound like death metal in comparison. There is NO WAY Skiba wants to write this crap. Just none. How in the hell are you Mark Hoppus, Matt Skiba, and Travis Barker and when you wake up to jam that day, and call these dingleberries to write your music? Or even be in the same room? As I predicted, we're gonna be begging for the original ~30 Feldy songs they ditched.

mark hoppus has a personal tragedy singing: Angel wings at the bus stop Halos left on top of the bar Helen doesn't want me now Helen doesn't want me

Tom added Reckless/Wishing Well to his acoustic medley last night, so cool:

the vibe from the nine tracks released so far... i dunno, i think @Kay might have mentioned this, but there's just an overwhelming sense of uncertainty. like, they're guessing. guessing what pop is right now, guessing what "the kids are listening too" etc. and for an artist, right or wrong, bad or good, if you're not doing something authentic, it's over. just stop. it's the difference between an artist—any kind—saying fuck all this is who i am, and an artist trying to "give an audience what they want." and from the comments on these boards, many feel that the band has guessed wrong. whatever this nine album turns out to be, what it will likely not feel like is real.

1. Probably seeing Darkside live, or the return of Satan (always heard it in MTTS but cool to see it live once) 2. The biggest difference for me was Skiba seemed way tighter on the EOTS songs, to the point of where he would purposefully change/add lyrics and was just having a great time. The only time I saw him look at the teleprompter was oddly enough - Bored to Death lol. They honestly sounded great. 3. Yes I did (will share below). The VIP peeps made it super clear that NO AUTOGRAPHS were to be signed during the photo op, to the point of where they said "That little sharpie you have hiding in weird places, please do not even think about it." There was ~80 people with an alleged 25 minute time slot for photo ops... (I didn't have a photo op this time, just did soundcheck.) I still saw 3-4 people ask and they signed. 4. Soundcheck was very rushed, we got in late. (Could hear Mark out there 10-15 minutes before we even got let in, which is typically when you can chat with him). They were all already out there when we got in (very rare, Trav is always late) as soon as we got in a kid asked if he could play WMAA on drums for his bday and they were a bit hesitant, Skiba stepped in and finally told him no respectfully. (For which I was thankful for, I paid $100 to see blink play 2 songs, not with Jimbo on the drums). But the more they talked about it they said maybe afterwards. So they play IRWIHY, Matt was tinkering around with a heavier guitar tone on the chorus which he liked. Mark asked if they should play it tonight, people said yes, (they didn't.) Then they played Mutt. After that they invited the kid up, Mark wanted to play ATST and told him it was an 8 count intro. Mark joked that they needed Skiba to check his ID to make sure it was his bday, Skiba took a funny look at it and joked to grab the duct tape. Kid crushed it, Trav only stayed for the first ~45 seconds then walked off and was gone. Skiba was dicking around singing what sounded like Weezer's "Say It Aint So" during the second verse. Then soundcheck was over and they told everybody to leave...(my autograph story will start here below). They did give the kid a drumhead, his sticks, and he got them signed during the photo op and they took him backstage for a pic with Trav. 5. I did not see Trav smile lol Ok so as people are filtering out of soundcheck, my buddy and I were waiting to be towards the end and Mark was chilling talking to his bass tech. So as Mark is walking off I held up my Wasting Time cd and said "Hey Mark I bet you haven't seen one of these in awhile!" and he looked with a big smile and said "I have that!!! 1996 Australian EP!" and I asked if he would sign it, and he said of course... so I'm getting the sleeve out, and the security guy goes "I got it, don't worry" so I hand it to him to hand over (assuming he or Mark will take the sleeve out to sign the front), anddddd he signs the inside: Cool he signed on himself I guess, and back in the day they used to sign inside sleeves all the time - so being an OG piece that's kinda neat I suppose. At the same time my buddy had a photo that he forgot to have Mark sign at our big "VIP party thing" they did on the Cali tour. He had Trav/Matt sign it in 2016 and has been trying to get Mark to sign it for 3 years lol....so he busted that out and thankfully was able to finally finish that piece! These were the only 2 things signed at soundcheck. Like I said I saw 3-4 people go for it in the photo op, and got their stuff signed. Ok, anyway, few photos from the show: This is right when we walked into soundcheck, I have never seen them all just waiting: Cool shot when Mark was up on the stair thingy on the right: Love this photo I got of Mark: Trav drum solo: Trav now in the back after the solo: Dammit I have clips of IRWIHY at soundcheck, small clip of Adam's Song, and first verse/chorus of Darkside that I'll upload at some point...

Thanks JRR Tolkien

I fucking love Matt Skiba. He’s smashed this album. This is blink 182 and I love it.

Hard to say, I can’t hear the new songs over the sound of Jerry Finn turning in his grave.

Mark in 20 years. "Whoa oh oh oh I can't wait to take you to my high school prom. I can't wait to get my groove on the dance floor on. Will I kiss you tonight. Will it be alright?. Whoa oh oh"

I mean this is some beautifully poetic dark shit, cannot get enough of this song: "Photographs of you are still haunting my halls Still framed and blue, say nothing at all Sacrifice myself, leave me dead in the sun Put it on a shelf, leave it there for everyone to see Is that all you have, is that all you have to say? Lying on the bedroom floor Hanging on the words that you said before No heart, no heart to speak of Dying on the bathroom floor Thinking of the life that we had before No heart, no heart to speak of Nothing left but scars clawed away of my heart On a crumbling edge, watch me falling apart Feel the birds of prey circle over our home Vultures in the ash, separating skin from bone Is that all you have, is that all you have to say?"

I’m in absolute shock by how good this sounds wtf. Was Mark wumming me all along? Does he lurk here? Is he trying to piss me off or something?

Guys, I fucking love it. I never doubted the lads 😎

listening right now with @b00bies

I'm 99.9% sure not one single person thinks NINE will be like untitled.

Ghent and JarJar

Hahahahahahahahahahaha.... good one

For real though, depression can hit anyone. It’s easy to say he’s being a pussy and he should be happy etc etc but unless you walk in his shoes you don’t know what his mind is doing to him. That shit doesn’t discriminate.

I dont hear blink in Darkside at all.

I have to give it to you. You can be such an insufferable dickhead

Radio friendly should be the last thing these guys are concerned about. They’re in their forties and millionaires. Just make good music they love. Blink should take note.

i simply don't feel like it has much in common, outside of principle players, it being "pop-punk", and recycling the same chords. overall it just really seems half-assed and middling in terms of being as evocative as their past. I think Feldmann's production just doesn't even touch Finn's and the quality of recording just isn't there. nothing really new to say, these songs are just not great and at best passable.

I know Tom has his flaws and at the risk of sounding like a Tombot it's just quite nice seeing him looking like he is enjoying himself and performing better than he has for about 15 years or so.

I'll be running it, and have just uploaded the first post. Join the party, give it a follow and of course, any fun ideas would be greatly appreciated. I really wanna bring the humor, and hopefully find us a lot more fans to join this community through that social media platform. instagram.com/blink182online.

I feel sorry for you miserable sacks. Blink was in top shape last night. Definitely one of the top shows of the 7 or so times I’ve seen them. Sound great, having a lot of fun, crowd packed and into them. And fucking satan even made an appearance. Honestly didn’t think about Tom once. Skiba was killing it. Also snagged me a drumstick and an inflatable alien. Good times

delete your account

2019 Blink Setlist: Greatest Hits, 75 minutes, teleprompters and backing tracks + Lil Weezyana (when he feels like it) 2019 Tom Setlist: AvA new songs, AvA old songs, unreleased AvA songs, Blink 182 acoustic medley, BoxCar song, banter with fans, actual emotion, back breaking performance I know who's getting my money this year.

Haven't read the full article, but great summary from @Italian Throwaway, they did indeed basically throw out the first 30 Feldy songs like we said...wow: Key takeaways from blink-182's new cover feature on the latest issue of Kerrang: • Much of "Nine" was informed by Mark's "heavy moods" as he has been struggling with depression fueled by negative news stories and a toxic online environment. "I think I've realized that my brain naturally goes in cycle to dark places and I have to actively combat that. My brain can eat itself sometimes". Mark is "not in a place right now where I want to write really happy, up-tempo songs. I felt that on this record there's stuff underneath that was bothering me. I needed to address it. It comes out in the lyrics. I think that I'm in a headspace now where I want to be more open and honest with my lyrics." • Mark has turned to punk rock as therapy. "Playing music is the biggest outlet". Judging by the doomy emotion of Nine, the musical healing has paid dividends. • Shot through with scratching guitars, brooding vocals and scattershot breakbeats, Nine is a giant step away from the rainbow-bright hooks of 2016's California. In spirit, the prevailing mood is more in tune with Untitled, blink-182's 2003 episode of introspection that ushered in fan favorite I Miss You and its ominous references to depression ('This sick strange darkness comes creeping on, so haunting every time'). • Meanwhile, a deep dive into Nine's lyric sheets — written by Mark and Matt — uncovers talk of 'damn insecurities' and self-medication (The First Time), isolation (Happy Days) and boozy remorse (Hungover You). • But it's Black Rain that provides the biggest surprise. A skittering, "post-punk, industrial" charge, it is underpinned by a dark-hearted chorus: 'Tragedy erased my memory/And now all I see is this black rain.' Compared to the summery hooks of She's Out Of Her Mind and Bored To Death, this is arguably blink-182's biggest lane change in years. (More ⬇️) • Initially, Nine used to be a very different record. At first the band felt flushed with inspiration; around 30 songs of pop-punk were captured over a period of time. But then self-doubt struck. The new material wasn't different enough; the latest songs sounded too stale, too repetitive, too predictable. "Sometimes the songs you love instantly — the ones you think, 'This is the best thing ever!' — are the songs you get burnt out on the quickest," says Matt. "The ones you're later really into are the ones that grow on you slowly. They stand the test of time during the course of making the record. I think it was Travis who said it first: 'You think you've got a record until you realize you haven't got that many awesome songs.' Slowly and surely Mark and me went to John and said, 'Yeah, I think I'm with Travis...' It's a jagged pill to swallow because it was true. To make a good record you really have to trust the people you're making music with. I think everyone has to be in love. I trust Mark and Travis completely when it comes to anything at all." • Months of work were ripped up as blink-182 started again, this time working from a new blueprint. Rather than springboarding from guitar melodies — as they had before — songs were crafted from drum breaks and beat ideas written by Travis. A raft of shadowy lyrical ideas emerged in their slipstream. "Blink's always been very melodic but on the darker side lyrically," says Travis. "From the time I joined the band, I felt it was that way." • "Matt's awesome," says Travis. "Even for the California album, he got in and he really figured it out and he played his part, even at times when we were getting ready for a tour. He's like a low-key superhero. I always know he's going to come through. We're a strong unit. We were before, too, with Tom — I'm never going to say anything negative about Tom — but it's like a relationship: there's your ups and downs with one person. Matt, Mark and I get along really, really, really well. We never really have any hiccups." • Matt feels like "I now know my place in blink better than I did years ago. We all know each other a lot better. Were always learning, and if you're doing life correctly, you're learning something every day. In a band it’s no different, you're learning about each other and you're learning about must, and it's a lot of growing up. It's only tightened and cemented our friendships and our love for this band collectively." • It was this cohesion that allowed Matt - with a helping hand from John Feldmann - to sketch out the harmonies and lyrics that would later become Black Rain. Alone in the studio, the pair decided to work on a brand-new song. But when John began to play a series of hymnal chords on the piano, accompanied by a "churchy" lyric ('Salvation, the angels are singing salvation') a far darker idea began to form. "We then went into the studio in his house and started doing verses that were very like Nine Inch Nails," says Mat "We wrote it real fast and then Mark came in and gave Black Rain its The Cure-y, blink-182 sound. For the lyrics, I'd been thinking about my issues with organized religion. I think there's a big difference between religion and faith - they're two very different things. Faith is a beautiful thing, no matter what your faith is... unless it's the Ku Klux Klan, or some horrible piece of shit organization like that. Faith is something you can't learn, you can't buy. it's something you believe. It's what you think. "I had just watched a film called Spotlight, which was about the cover-ups of these abusive priests. They were covering up molestation and known abuses of children. I think the salvation stuff that John was writing about came from a very true place and I respect that deeply; I respect people's faith. But I have zero faith for the business of fear and war-mongering. It's another thing that instils a deep rage in me. I took John's hopeful, churchy idea and painted it black." • Despair peppers the darkest corners of Nine. Album opener First Time deals with the frustration of chasing that never-to-be-repeated rush of the first high, the first drink and the intoxicating buzz of the first love. "People are always chasing this idea of perfection, but ft never going to be what it’s like in your head," says Mark. "I feel like in the world today people want a quick fix." • Elsewhere, Heaven was inspired by the mass shooting in Hundred Oaks, California last year, one of far too many killing sprees that took place within the United States, where the gun laws have led to widespread terror. "There are so many mass shootings right now," sighs Mark. "The world is a really violent dangerous place." • Meanwhile, On Some Emo Shit is "a straight break-up song". "The idea is that you hear votes and you see pictures of someone that you've broken up with. It takes you back to the bad places." Throughout Nine's 15 songs there are references to drunken despair, the numbing of some imagined pain and medication. • "I think the band is still the same [as in the Enema days]," says Mark. "Were still guys who want to write the best music we can and go out and do a good show. I think that we've gone through a lot. On one hand we're a lot more confident in what we do and on the other hand I think we’re still trying to write the perfect song. The energy in the band now is more like it was back then. People are in good moods, people are very supportive of one another, people are excited. There's a really good unity within the band. We like what we do and we're excited to continue doing it." An atmosphere of openness and trust currently fuses this band together, while their backstory of bad times has been just as inspirational as the good. The resulting existential turbulence and the bleak lyrical wordplay that informs much of Nine has delivered another record of instantly memorable songs, one Mark claims might be his band's most honest album yet.

1.) those are the two albums i grew up with. cheshire cat defined my junior and senior year of high school. and same with dude ranch and college. 2.) as for the rough production, i grew up a socal skate punk kid. so the albums i listened to tended to sound like, bad religion's no control or black flag. rough was the stuff. no radio, no MTV, no pop. so enema, to my ears in 1999, just sounded like so much gloss. it sounded like the spice girls. i'm exaggerating, but only a little. the sound of "what's my age again" was SHOCKING. years and years later, there are bits of enema i find charming. but not at the time. what dude ranch has against it is the mix and mastering is sooooooo bad. can you imagine what that album would sound like, remixed by jerry finn and Tom lord-alge? holy shit. they came to conquer uranus is my favorite blink release of all time. the writing, the sound of the production, everything. 1996 was a very special year for me and blink, and that release just captures it perfectly. jeff forrest at doubletime with tom's sticker strat through his ampeg VL-1002 and mark's black / white ernie ball stingray musicman through his ampeg cab. that's the end all / be all for me. that session has songwriting with the tightness and pop sensibility of dude ranch, but it sounds like cheshire cat. fuckin' perfect. uranus + lemmings (same session) > cheshire cat > dude ranch > short bus > buddha > jacket > enema > neighborhoods > dogs > cali > untitled. final thought: if bands like bad religion were your baseline when you first heard blink, enema sounds like a garbage fire. but if your baseline when enema came out was whatever else was on the radio and MTV, it probably sounded better than green day's dookie.

I swear I've been on a blink-182 high for the past month. I started listening to Enema of the State a lot last month to get me hyped for my blink show. When I saw blink it was amazing. Now we have a new album, and it's great. We've been getting a steady stream of Simple Creatures songs lately, new Angels & Airwaves music, that mashup with Lil Wayne, and that random cover Mark dropped earlier today. In less than two weeks I'm going to see Angels & Airwaves. This is some of the most fun I've had as a blink-182 fan since I was in high school, seriously.

Show was amazing and A LOT of fun . Well worth the money and a much needed night out for these two parents.

Quick comment so far: Overall it sounds how blink should sound like today, for the most part. Yeah, poppy, but there's a dark vibe over most of the songs and there are also some sparkles of Alk3 and +44 vibes in some of the songs, which is what I've always wanted. I'm actually more impressed by Matt's performance than Mark's. He finally got some more space and I like it. I wish the guitar riffs, or at least the guitar parts, were more solid through the whole record but we can't have everything and without Tom we should accept that this is what we get, guitar-wise. I think this album is a big step up from Cali. Maybe it won't have much staying power but for now it's good and it feels good to finally enjoy something! Yay

Someone please put "I was right, you were wrong. The End." on Oliver's tombstone.

How Ironic that you say pop/punk is dead but are a 30 something year old man who craves music that is meant to appeal to teenagers. I have no problem with just liking the music and not caring about the style. But once you start heading down the road of trashing style, you are a big time hypocrite.

Lyric video creators: "We're gonna need to borrow your instruments" Blink: "That's fine we aren't using them on this song anyway"

"Cant tell the difference between any of the songs on 'Dude Ranch'" 15 years later, writes and releases 'California'. yikes.

Yeah I think at this point it's pretty easy to see that these things are true. (Trying to write this out without tipping too much judgement onto either one): Mark: Wants a steady professional Blink 182 experience with regularly scheduled rehearsals, tours, albums Wants Blink to retain their 90s/early 00s identity of lighthearted fun in the sun Values radio/industry success and wants Blink to be included with the top popular rock bands His musical tastes have changed to a certain type of radio pop and sees that as an angle for Blink to both sound like the music he listens to and stay popular in that world, and has decided to collaborate with people who can make those things happen Tom: Only wanted to do Blink when he felt inspired and could fit it into his bizarre schedule, has been mentally erratic for 15 years now Wanted Blink to grow and change and evolve as it goes, and felt embarrassed by the pre-Untitled Blink persona Valued independence and control over the Blink machine much more than radio/industry success and was probably too lackadaisical about that side of things in the post-reunion era His musical tastes have been stuck in a very specific idea of "arena rock" mixed with synths and a touch of post-2002 Blink, seems to be chasing variations of that sound more than evolving artistically To be honest, neither one of them is really carrying the flag of Real Blink or anything, and I'm not sure their personalities or musical tastes could or would ever mesh to create something special again. But based on their entire careers the main takeaway is that they both need each other and would be way better off if they could somehow make amends. But people change and they definitely don't seem like their personalities would mesh whatsoever anymore.

Damn. that actually hurt my heart. he's all over the place on guitar for I Miss You but I've never found it works well solo acoustic anyway, but his little "I only know one chord progression than Ilan joins the band and is like 'you know there's more than one chord progression right?' and I'm like "what" was hilarious. But yeah, bits of There Is very cute even if his word placements all over the shop but Aliens Exist got me right in the feels. I would rather be right there in front of him playing that verse and chorus than listen to current blink do all of Enema. If they come over to the UK I might go just on the off chance Tom busts out a blink number on an acoustic.

Thanks for telling us. I'll watch it again for you.