Throughout my years I have had obsessions, many obsessions. From Stereophonics in 1998 to Taylor Swift in 2014, they have bounced genre-to-genre, one of which was Blink 182. I LOVED that band. I had been dying to see them but it took them years to make it to these shores after cancelling a tour post-9/11. When eventually the pop punk trio did make it here it was Leeds Festival 2003 and I was gutted, they were terrible and this weekend, watching them on the tv headlining Reading brought the memories back.
Blink 182 weren't awful live, in fact, I saw them numerous times in arenas and they were brilliant, entertaining, funny, I was a teen and they were still in their twenties. Now I'm in my late twenties, they are almost forty and jokes about masturbation and songs meeting girls at 'rock shows' are no longer applicable to either party. The first time I saw the band (Leeds) and the last time (as a fan) at Brixton Academy were both terrible, I had grown up, the band split, reformed, released an album that didn't really do owt and they returned to headline Leeds and Reading in 2010 and reminded me that I was no longer a teenager. It was just awkward!
For some reason, probably due to the lack of headline acts, four years on, no new material and Blink 182 were asked back, to headline Reading and Leeds and from what the BBC showed it was just cringing to watch, and that is after stomaching Greg James' presenting/interview skills all weekend (he really should have at least Wikipedia-ed Paramore before asking how they have stayed tight all these years, a band who have lost two members and almost split). Blink 182 shave tunes, Dammit, All The Small Things, What's My Age Again... but despite playing live since 1992 Tom still can't sing, he has two kids, one aged twelve who is probably too mature for his fart jokes. C'mon guys, grow up.