Las Vegas Weekly

July 24, 2009 · 3:30 PM

Photo Gallery: Profanity? Crowd surfing? It’s a Blink-182 rock show

By Don Chareunsy

Tom DeLonge of Blink-182 performs at The Joint in The Hard Rock Hotel.

Photo: Erik Kabik/Retna/www.erikkabikphoto.com

By Don Chareunsy, Vegas DeLuxe editor

“Chuck Norris masturbates to us!”

You know you’re in for a crazy night at a concert when masturbate is one of the words that can be written in a review without editing.

The boys were definitely back in town, as Blink-182 singer-bassist Mark Hoppus, singer-guitarist Tom DeLonge and drummer Travis Barker reunited last night at The Joint in the Hard Rock Hotel. It was the punk pop rockers’ first concert together in nearly five years and Travis’ first show with Blink since the fiery plane crash last September in which DJ AM and he survived.

(This show was added last-minute after the first booked concert -- tonight’s -- sold out. Quite a few fans mentioned to the box office and security -- basically whoever would listen -- that they didn’t know about the added concert until the last minute.)

Everything one would expect at a Blink show was on full-on display: Profanity. Mini mosh pits. Profanity. Crowd surfing. Profanity. Talk of male genitalia and masturbation. Profanity. Jackass banter between Mark and Tom. Profanity. Talk of sexual acts involving dads. And, oh, profanity.

The punk-pop trio hit the stage at exactly 10 p.m., and for the next 1 1/2 hours didn’t disappoint as they ripped through a strong, confident 20-plus-song set. Not surprisingly, Blink’s biggest hits from their hit albums Dude Ranch, Take Off Your Pants and Jacket, Enema of the State and Blink-182 were the most well-received: “What’s My Age Again?,” “First Date,” “Josie,” “Rock Show,” “All the Small Things,” “Adam’s Song” and the tender “I Miss You.”

“This is the first real Blink-182 tour in five years, and you’re the first ones to see it,” Tom, who was sporting a brace on his right elbow, told the crowd to a roar of approval. “Everyone else can suck it!”

One of the night’s most memorable highlights was Travis -- heavily tattooed, shirtless, sweaty and wearing a backward green cap -- and his dizzying, hard-hitting drum solo, in which his drum set and he rotated clockwise and counter-clockwise. Travis easily won the audience-cheering popularity contest over Mark and Tom.

I was seated at a second-floor VIP table of four with self-described original Blink-182 fans Bryan, Jodi and Sarah, insurance industry employees who had traveled from Ohio for the concert (Jodi and Sarah said they were attending tonight’s concert, too). After Valencia, the first opening act, an animal-print-adorned woman -- I’ll call her Miss New Mexico, as she was from New Mexico, she said -- introduced herself and gave all of us high-fives. Blink’s VIP fans sure are a friendly bunch.

Bryan, Jodi and Sarah proved to be nearly as entertaining as Blink. Upon introducing myself as Mr. Vegas DeLuxe Robin Leach’s editor, they exclaimed, “We’ve met him!” It was at The Playboy Mansion in 2006 or 2007, when Holly, Bridget and Kendra were still with Hef. “He was a really nice guy,” Bryan said.

Sarah, who lists “What Went Wrong” and “Carousel” as two favorite Blink songs, admitted to stalking the band over the years. Last night was her sixth Blink concert, and tonight will be her seventh. After the plane crash involving Travis, she thought to herself, “If (Travis) is alive, they have to get back together!” Her wish came true.

Valencia and Motion City Soundtrack proved worthy opening acts, and MCS was especially noteworthy. Frontman Justin Pierre, with his big hair and black-rimmed glasses, is an engaging and charming performer and vocalist, and the band has the chops to be a headlining act. Justin noted that Mark Hoppus produced the band’s new CD.

Blink-182 is back at The Joint tonight, with Motion City Soundtrack and either Valencia or Chester French as the opening acts.

Other notes

*Blink-182 is my fourth concert at the new Joint, which opened in April with The Killers and Paul McCartney during its inaugural weekend, and each time I’ve had different seats. It was general admission/floor for The Killers, putting me about 25 to 30 feet from frontman Brandon Flowers; third-floor balcony for Kenny Chesney -- the balcony has incredible, if maybe too loud sound; floor seats for Santana; and the second floor for Blink. I checked out the second-floor VIP suites during media night, and it should come as no surprise that the suite seats are totally sweet.

There’s no bad seat at The Joint, so the Hard Rock Hotel should be happy and proud about the accomplishment.

*The Joint’s second-level VIP area smelled like a pleasant, nondescript cologne the entire night, a nice change from B.O. after a few hours at any concert.

*Security doesn’t mess around at The Joint. Crowd surfers were immediately grabbed by security and run off the floor to … well, where I don’t know. The back of the floor? And don’t even try to enter the VIP area without a ticket, because you’ll be ushered out faster than Paris Hilton goes through boyfriends.

*Finally, a few of the night’s censored quotes from Mark and Travis: “You guys are so f*cking great!” “Travis Barker thanks you for the hand job!” “Mark is getting hard!” “I f*cking did awesome on that song!” “Go home and f*ck your dads again!” “I really miss you, everybody,” after performing “I Miss You.” “Mother f*cking Las Vegas is the sh*t! Thanks for coming tonight!” “Thank you very much! We’ll see you guys tomorrow night!”

Welcome back, boys.

Follow Don Chareunsy on Twitter HERE.

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