i said i wasn't going to do a whole post on the blink 182 gig from last friday, but i do still want to document that it happened, and share a few pictures.... well, the ones that actually came out ok anyway, ha. there was definitely too much *dancing* happening to take any really decent ones really, which is a-ok with me; that's how you know it was a good gig!
we were really lucky to have gotten tickets; my (old) work friend mark is just about the only other person i know in london who shares my love of pop-punk bands from the early 2000s, and is really the reason i got to go. i'm not really a massive blink fan - not to the extent that i own all the albums and have seen them a bunch of times; blink were the first concert it ever went to as a naive 14 year old living in the arse-end of australia, and they remind me a lot of my late teens - they were my gateway band i guess! because of them i got into a load of other bands that i do have all the albums of, have seen a bunch of times in concert, etc. i will always love blink for that, and... dudes can smash out those catchy singles, right!
so, mark and his brother and brother's girlfriend were all planning to get tickets to the show, and he asked me if i'd want to go. i got all nostalgic, explained how blink were my first, but i'd not listened to them in yeaaaars. he laughed, scolded me for not keeping up and insisted i listened to the whole back catalogue that day. i obliged him, because, what did i have to lose? besides six hours to great pop-punk tunes, i mean. so, six hours later, i told him i was in. of course i wanted to go see blink again! it would mean that my gig-life had come full circle, and the sentiment certainly was not lost on me; first gig in adelaide at 14, last gig in london on the brink of 30... kind of awesome?
so, the day came to buy the tickets, and mark was frantically reloading, reloading, reloading, trying to get these tickets. he reckons it was the most stressful three minutes of his life, and i don't doubt it. so, initially, there was only going to be one show. the day before the tickets went on sale i saw travis tweet something about a second show... i tried to get more info, but couldn't. the morning that the tickets went on sale, they all sold out in minutes. or so we thought. once the first show had sold through, suddenly there were tickets available for a second date, two days later. he refreshed once more, and just like that, four tickets were ours.
so, we went along to plan b in brixton for pre-party vibes, then headed in about 8:30 to catch the end of the support act; i think they were called neck deep. they were actually pretty decent too, which is sometimes rare for a support! they were really reminiscent of the late 90s pop punk, so were the perfect band to get that crowd going. we probably caught three or four songs, which was plenty, and then we waited while the crew did their thing and set the lads up for their final night in london. not twenty minutes later, it was go time.
and then for the next hour and a half, it was hit after hit after hit from their last six albums. they pulled out the classics, some of the newer (2011.. ha) ones, and threw a lot of slow stuff in there, because... they're bloody old, you know! travis barker is a maniac on the drums, like... for real. he has so much energy, it's incredible to watch. i quite fancy drummers, and i reckon he's why. he was the first like, band guy i really fancied as a teenager, and seeing him live really like... made me remember why. fiiiiiiiiit.
i did not stop dancing. not once. it was so hot in there, you could basically see the steam rising from the crowd, but for the only time this summer, i did not care. not one ounce. i was having the best time, being 14 all over again. there was a girl dancing next to me who i reckon was in the exact same boat. in a crowd full of emos, we were the only two normally dressed girls, but dancing along like we bloody meant it. we kept fanning each other and putting our cold glasses on the back of each other's neck. it was really cute... although the strangest show of camaraderie i've ever been involved in...
when it was over, and as we slowly piled out of the venue, we were met with torrential rain. the crowd roared with delight; well pleased, really, as we were already soaked through and rain felt like heaven on the hot skin. it was a sea of half naked people spilling onto brixton high road, and the poor merch lot out on the street were trying to palm off their saturated wares. quite a sight, really, and not one you see every friday night in south london!
tell you what though, it was the best friday night i've ever had in south london.
i wanna go baaack, take me back!
