Blink-182: The Half-Naked Truth

Blink's Tour, The Mark, Tom and Travis Show, is staged as a drivein movie, with a giant retro billboard suspended from the ceiling and films projected on the screen behind the band — including messages to enjoy our refreshment center and some vintage gay porn as the band hits the stage. Their opening line, as it turns out, is "Hey, what the fuck is up with Austin tonight?"

In ninety entertaining minutes, the band zooms through nineteen songs: most of Enema of the State, plus highlights of the previous two albums, the concert favorite "It Would Be Nice to Have a Blow Job" and a truncated cover of Christina Aguilera's "Genie in a Bottle." When a bra is thrown onstage, DeLonge holds it over his eyes and does an impression of a fly; Hoppus tells the crowd that the original title of "Going Away to College" was "Daddy Broke My Butt." In short, they act just like they do offstage, only with musical instruments strapped around their torsos.

Toward the end of the evening, Hoppus announces, "Here's the deal. We're going to play three more songs; say, 'Thank you, good night'; walk offstage; and then, whether you like it or not, we're going to come back and play you two more songs. So you need to decide whether you want to stick around or leave early to beat the traffic. Either way is fine with me."

Events play out exactly as Hoppus has predicted, with one unadvertised bonus: Before the band returns for the encore, the PA plays Sisqó's "Thong Song." Hoppus, wearing only his boxer shorts, runs out onstage and spends a minute waggling his butt at various sections of the audience, to thundering cheers.

After the show, a sweaty Hoppus discusses how while Blink still might tell the crowd of their general love of breasts, they no longer specifically encourage the women in the audience to reveal them: "I just get super bummedout when thirteenyearold girls show their boobs. That's not right." The crowds have gotten younger and more estrogenfilled, he says. "When we started off, it was all fifteen to twenty-year-olds. Now, we're the first show for a lot of kids, so I just want them to have fun and get out safe."

For DeLonge, the most important thing is that the fans go home entertained. "We have a good sound guy, so as long as we play somewhat OK, we're not going to sound bad," he reasons. "But if we make kids laugh, that's something they're going to remember forever. I hate it when a band plays and is just silent between songs. With us, we can't wait until the songs are over. 'Hi! We've been waiting to talk to you. It's been a long two and a half minutes, but we're back!' "

"We know that our success will be shortlived," says Hoppus, then reconsiders his word choice: "Well, not shortlived, but we'll only be able to do this for a finite amount of time. No band goes on forever — except the Rolling Stones, and those guys ought to stop anyway." He snickers. "But when the end does come, I'll just say, 'Thank God that I got a chance to do exactly what I love.' "

[From Issue 846 — August 3, 2000]