Show Review: Blink 182 at the Lakeview Amphitheater Syracuse 8/23/16

Blink 182 made a stop on their 2016 tour at the Lakeview Amphitheater in Syracuse, NY on August 23. The tour will include stops in more than 30 cities across North America. All Time Low and A Day To Remember joined as special guests.

First up was All Time Low lead by front man Alex Gaskarth. All Time Low released their sixth studio album in 2015 titled Future Hearts. Since then, the band has won four awards at the 2015 Alternative Press Music Awards and has released several singles and music videos. All Time Low kicked off their set with “Lost in Stereo” and chugged through nine fast paced, high energy tunes ending with “Dear Maria, Count Me In.”

They were followed by A Day To Remember. Before taking the stage, A Day To Remember got the crowd primed by playing the theme from Stanley Kubrick’s 2001 A Space Odyssey. A Day To Remember wasted no time and ripped right into “The Downfall of Us All.” As they played their first selection of the evening, the band members tossed beach balls into the crowd. A Day To Remember is on tour promoting their upcoming release Bad Vibrations due out September 2. Their set included some worthwhile antics including flying beach balls, blasts of toilet paper soaring into the crowd and an outro to Elton John’s Hakuna Matata. It was definitely a very entertaining set.

Headliner Blink 182 took the stage next. The crowd filled in quickly as the first notes of “Feeling This” hit the air. The band kept things going with their hit “What’s My Age Again.” Mark Hoppus got the audience revved up as he skipped around the stage and even let loose with a karate kick. Hoppus and Matt Skiba kept the tone light joking with each other and the crowd throughout the evening. Hoppus paused at one point to ask the crowd, “Syracuse, aren’t you big into basketball?” to which the crowd responded with a roar, “Yes, I know so much about you, I could be a local. Give me a key to your city. Give me an honorary degree or some shit. You’re welcome.”

The band continued with the antics, Mark Hoppus took a break while the band was playing “Stay Together for the Kids” to try to catch a Pokémon with his Pokémon Go app on his phone. The band also requested that the venue turn off all the lights so the crowd could turn on their phone lights while they played “Happy Holidays, You Bastard.” The band indicated that they had tried this the previous night and it had “failed miserably.”

Matt Skiba (Alkaline Trio) proved to be a formidable replacement for Tom Delong. He not only performed the songs with ease, but he added extra energy to songs “Carousel” and Dysentery Gary.” I would also be remiss if I did not mention the epicenter of Blink 182 and an absolute beast on the drums, Travis Barker! Barker performed a tremendous mini solo before the band tore into “Violence.”

After an amusing, energetic set, the band took the stage one last time and performed a four song encore that included, “Carousel,” “All the Small Things,” “Brohemian Rhapsody,” and “Dammit.” At the end of the night, it didn’t matter “What’s My Age Again” Blink 182 played one high energy “Rock Show” that I was not “Bored to Death” at.

Set list:

Feeling This
What’s My Age Again?
Family Reunion
The Rock Show
Cynical
First Date
Down
I Miss You
Bored to Death
Built This Pool
Dumpweed
Stay Together For The Kids
Reckless Abandon
San Diego
Not Now
Violence
Kings of the Weekend
Dysentery Gary
Happy Holidays, You Bastard
Los Angeles