Blink-182
October 5, 2016
Santa Barbara Bowl- Santa Barbara, CA
After three months on the road, Blink-182 have returned to their home state of California to conclude their 2016 tour. October 5 in Santa Barbara was the third to last show, and featured openers A Day to Remember and All American Rejects.
Kicking off the night’s festivities were All American Rejects from Stillwater, OK. Not much has been heard from the Rejects album wise, since 2012 with Kids in the Street. But recently, in 2015 the group released There’s a Place, a song that was featured in the film trailer for Miss You Already. More recently however, the band released a new singled titled DGAF which was released at the start of their long trek on this tour, supporting Blink-182. The band came out to a smaller crowd than they deserved, but nonetheless performed an entertaining set. Kicking off the night was one of their better known singles Dirty Little Secret that brought everyone back to 2005 when the song first became popular. They played hit after hit including Swing, Swing and It Ends Tonight. Without a doubt, everyone was singing and dancing along, as if the songs were just on the radio yesterday. Mike Kennerty on rhythm guitar was a madman on stage, constantly jumping around, head-banging and just really getting a good cardio routine going. Lead vocalist Tyson Ritter entertained the crowd, getting some participation going on and talking with them, lightening the mood with some jokes. As their short, 8 song set was coming to an end, drummer Chris Gaylor teased the crowd with the tom drumming intro to Move Along, but would stop just as the crowd would get into it. The crowd groaned for more and the band eventually gave in, performing Move Along and ending the set with Gives You Hell. All American Rejects 
definitely impressed and we are excited to see what they have coming up next, hopefully a full length album and a tour!
Next up on the bill were Pop-Punk/ Post-Hardcore giants, A Day To Remember. Their set would prove to be the standout of the night, regardless of the fact that they were the openers. With the stage decorated with TV’s and Clocks, the lights dimmed and the intro music, Preface to Millennium (Zarathustra) by Billy Rigsby hyped up the audience, in anticipation for the band. One by one the band members came on stage and began their set with one of their most well known songs, The Downfall of Us. Huge balls were thrown into the crowd by their crew and the crowd tossed them back and forth from stage to pit. The band members laughed as they kicked the balls back into the crowd. The energy was high from the start and would continue through their set. They continued the night with I’m Made of Wax, Larry, What Are You Made Of? which was followed by 2nd Sucks which had the mosh pit going strong and hard.
A Day To Remember had just recently released their sixth studio album titled Bad Vibrations. It came out in September of 2016, so it was only fitting that they played two of the better known songs off the album, Naivety and Paranoia. Lead singer, Jeremy McKinnon kept the crowd entertained and commanded them to jump up and down and crowd surf. Following their popular, Have Faith in Me, the band performed All Signs Point to Lauderdale, where rolls of toilet paper were tossed into the crowd, causing everyone to have a good time, throwing rolls at each other. As their short eleven song set was coming to an end, the band slowed things down to play one of their most popular songs to date, If It Means a Lot to You. Only McKinnon and lead guitarist Kevin Skaff were on stage, both playing acoustic guitar. McKinnon asked for some audience participation and asked that the fans hold up their phones during the song, lighting up the entire venue as he serenaded the crowd. Following the song was the set closer The Plot to Bomb the Panhandle which really brought the tempo and energy back up in the venue. McKinnon explained that they were hired by Blink-182 to pump up the crowd and he didn’t want to get fired so he needed everyone in the venue to jump. The crowd obliged and their set closed with confetti/streamers shooting into the pit. 
The time had finally come for the band that everyone had been waiting for, Blink-182. There was a lot of anticipation for this tour, being that it was the first tour with new guitarist and vocalist Matt Skiba who is originally from Alkaline Trio. It was also the tour to support their first album in five years, California. The crowd ranged from middle schoolers, to young adults, to the fans that have been around since Cheshire Cat which released in 1995. The 24 song setlist instantly began with two of the biggest hits, Feeling This and What’s My Age Again, followed by the 39 second song, Family Reunion which had the crowd laughing at the vulgar lyrics. The stage seemed rather empty with just three projector screens that would change scenery, video and text throughout the show. There wasn’t the usual pyro, but that was due to the fire concerns that came with being at an outdoor venue. Still, everyone on stage seemed really spread out from one another, making it look even more empty. The night continued with hits including First Date, Down and I Miss You. Because the band played their well known hits first, we found out rather quickly if Matt Skiba rose to the task of taking over Tom DeLonge’s vocal duties. Unfortunately, he had not. His voice came off sounding extremely nasally, which was really off-putting and made the timeless hits kind of dreadful to hear. I would love to put blame on the fact that the band had been on the road for 3 months, but I can’t justify Skiba’s vocals with that excuse because Travis Barker was playing drums like a madman, with a fractured foot, I might add. Not only had he been performing in extreme pain for the past two weeks, but when he finally went to the doctor, he was told he had a fractured foot, and he was still performing impeccably. Barker puts so much heart into his performances, that had no one said anything, most people wouldn’t have noticed anything ‘off’ with him. For what Skiba couldn’t do, Mark Hoppus filled in, making the older fans reminisce about the Blink-182 that they grew up on as kids and teens.
The night continued with a majority of songs being from their latest California album, including Bored to Death, She’s Out Of Her Mind, Cynical, Los Angeles and a few others. After twenty songs, the band came out for a four song encore beginning with Carousel, All the Small Things, Brohemian Rhapsody and of course, Dammit.
Review by: Nicole Lemberg
Blink-182
A Day To Remember
All American Rejects
