Blink-182 Plays Matt Skiba-Era Songs With Tom DeLonge

blink-182-play-matt-skiba-era-songs-with-tom-delonge
JacobESTjalma, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
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Lineup shifts are strange. Even in the most civil of alterations, playing music that someone else recorded can feel a bit awkward. Ronnie James Dio notoriously hated playing Ozzy Osbourne-era Black Sabbath songs in concert, although he begrudgingly accepted it as his lot in life until the band reformed as Heaven & Hell in 2006.

The dichotomy is even more strange when a band member steps away and comes back after a period of time. When the early Black Sabbath lineup started playing shows again, it was flat out unthinkable for Ozzy to sing Dio-era tracks. Just thinking about it is enough to make your head spin.

This is what makes what Blink-182 are doing so remarkable. To the shock of fans, the reunited Tom DeLonge lineup included two Matt Skiba-era songs in their set list on opening night of their tour.

Skiba, formerly of emotional punk band Alkaline Trio, stepped into DeLonge’s shoes in 2015. This newly revamped lineup of Blink-182 made two records, including 2016’s hit California. Skiba graciously stood aside upon the return of DeLonge, going as far as to publicly express gratitude for his time in the band while posting new DeLonge promotional material.

Blink-182’s first tour with DeLonge back in the fold kicked off on May 4th at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota. As opposed to ignoring Skiba’s time with the band, they embraced the material head on by performing “Cynical” and “Bored To Death,” both from the acclaimed California album.

 

All in all, the band played 25 songs. The tour will continue for the next several months.

 

What does the future hold for Blink-182 with Matt Skiba? Time will only tell. The singer has commented that he’d recorded a new album worth of material with Travis Barker and Mark Hoppus. Given the good relationship all parties seem to have and the band’s embrace of the Skiba era on stage, maybe we’ll hear it someday after all.

Check out the “Cynical” and “Bored To Death” footage as well as Blink-182’s remaining tour dates below!

NORTH AMERICA

May 06: Chicago United Center, IL
May 09: Detroit Little Caesars Arena, MI
May 11: Toronto Scotiabank Arena, ON
May 12: Montreal Bell Centre, QC
May 16: Cleveland Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse, OH
May 17: Pittsburgh PPG Paints Arena, PA
May 19: New York Madison Square Garden, NY
May 20: Belmont Park UBS Arena, NY
May 21: Boston TD Garden, MA
May 23: Washington, DC Capital One Arena
May 24: Brooklyn Barclays Center, NY
May 26: Baltimore Baltimore Arena, MD
May 27: Hershey Hersheypark Stadium, PA
May 28: Atlantic City Adjacent Music Festival, NJ

Jun 14:Phoenix Footprint Center, AZ
Jun 16: Los Angeles Bank of California Stadium, CA
Jun 20: San Diego Pechanga Arena, CA
Jun 22: San Jose SAP Center, CA
Jun 23: Sacramento Golden 1 Center, CA
Jun 25: Seattle Climate Pledge Arena, WA
Jun 27: Vancouver Rogers Arena, BC
Jun 29: Edmonton Rogers Place, AB
Jun 30: Calgary Scotiabank Saddledome, AB

Jul 03: Denver Ball Arena, CO
Jul 05: Dallas American Airlines Center, TX
Jul 07: Austin Moody Center, TX
Jul 08: Houston Toyota Center, TX
Jul 10: Tampa Amalie Arena, FL
Jul 11: Ft. Lauderdale FLA Live Arena, FL
Jul 13: Atlanta State Farm Arena, GA
Jul 14: Charlotte Spectrum Center, NC
Jul 16: Nashville Bridgestone Arena, TN

EUROPE

Sep 02: Glasgow OVO Hydro, UK
Sep 04: Belfast SSE Arena, UK
Sep 05: Dublin 3Arena, IRE
Sep 08: Antwerp Sportpaleis, BEL
Sep 09: Cologne Lanxess Arena, GER}
Sep 12: Copenhagen Royal Arena, DEN
Sep 13: Stockholm Avicii Arena, SWE
Sep 14: Oslo Spektrum, NOR
Sep 16: Berlin Mercedes-Benz Arena, GER
Sep 17: Hamburg Barclays Arena, GER
Sep 19: Prague O2 Arena, CZE
Sep 20: Vienna Stadthalle, AUS
Oct 02: Lisbon, Portugal – Altice Arena, POR
Oct 03: Madrid Wizink Centre, SPA
Oct 04: Barcelona Palau Sant Jordi, SPA
Oct 06: Bologna Unipol Arena, ITA
Oct 08: Amsterdam, iggo Dome, HOL
Oct 09: Paris Accor Arena, FRA
Oct 11: London The O2, UK
Oct 14: Birmingham Utilita Arena, UK
Oct 15: Manchester AO Arena, UK
Oct 21: Las Vegas, When We Were Young Festival, NV

AUSTRALIA/NEW ZEALAND

Feb 09: Perth RAC Arena, AUS
Feb 11: Adelaide Entertainment Centre, AUS
Feb 13: Melbourne Rod Laver Arena, AUS
Feb 16: Sydney Qudos Bank Arena, AUS
Feb 19: Brisbane Entertainment Centre, AUS
Feb 23: Auckland Spark Arena, NZ
Feb 26: Christchurch Christchurch Arena, NZ

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FINALLY: Blink-182 Plays Raucous Coachella Reunion Set With Tom DeLonge