The OG Blink-182 Is Touring Down Under In 2024 & All We Can Say Is We’ve Missed You
Published October 11, 2022
Oh my God, Blink-182 is coming to Australia in 2024. I repeat: BLINK-1-8-FUCKING-2 IS COMING TO AUSTRALIA IN 2024.
As if that news wasn’t ‘yuge enough the OG lineup — Mark Hoppus, Tom DeLonge and Travis Barker — will be reuniting for the first time in nearly 10 years.
The fact the founding members are getting together again is nothing short of massive, considering the band’s rocky history.
Blink-182 initially went on “indefinite hiatus” in early 2005 amid growing tensions in the band, and DeLonge announced he would be leaving several months later.
The band members didn’t talk for a few years until Barker was involved in a devastating plane crash in 2008. Both DeLonge and Hoppus visited him in hospital, and the trio eventually reconciled and decided to get back together.
Blink-182 started touring again and released their sixth album Neighborhoods in 2011, but issues started bubbling when it became clear DeLonge’s priorities were different to Barker and Hoppus’.
In 2015, DeLonge’s manager allegedly sent Barker and Hoppus an email explaining he didn’t want to work on any Blink-182 projects indefinitely, and instead wanted to focus on his non-musical pursuits, which turned out to involve UFOs and space.
DeLonge then took to Instagram denying he actually exited the band, so honestly, who bloody knows what happened. Not my circus, not my monkeys.
Despite quitting/not-quitting twice, DeLonge said he was keen for an OG Blink-182 reunion back in 2020. Then a year later, he revealed him and Hoppus had started talking on the reg again after the latter was diagnosed with cancer.
The fact Barker will be coming Down Under is also bloody massive — he experienced post-traumatic stress disorder following the horrific plane crash, and only played Blink-182 shows if he could drive to the venue, or travel by boat.
In August 2021, the drummer hopped on a plane for the first time in more than a decade, when him and Kourtney Kardashian Barker flew to Mexico, so really, we can thank her for making this Australian tour possible. Thank you for your services, Kourt.
Blink-182’s Australian tour will kick off at Perth’s RAC Arena on February 9, followed by Adelaide Entertainment Centre on February 11, Melbourne’s Rod Laver Arena on February 13, Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney on February 16, before concluding at Brisbane Entertainment Centre on February 19.
And in tremendous news for punk stans, the très iconique Rise Against will be joining Blink-182 on the tour. What more can you ask for?
Oh, I know: a new Blink-182 single! That’s right, this Friday, October 14, the band will be dropping their new single ‘Edging’. It sounds like it’ll be disgustingly horny and I’m bloody fanging for it.
For the eager beavers among us, there’ll be a shit-ton of pre-sale tickets available. Blink-182 fan club pre-sale will kick off at 12pm on Thursday, October 13, while Live Nation pre-sale will commence at 1pm on Wednesday, October 19. If streaming services make you cream your jeans, Spotify pre-sale will start at 1pm on Wednesday, October 19.
General public tickets will go on sale on Thursday, October 20 at 1pm on the Live Nation website.
See you in the mosh.
Source: Supplied / Jack Bridgland
