Blink-182 Reunites With Tom DeLonge For New Album and World Tour
It seems that all the small things couldn’t keep Blink-182 apart. Tom DeLong, Mark Hoppus and Travis Barker, a.k.a, Blink-182
Toni Gonzales
It seems that all the small things couldn’t keep Blink-182 apart. Tom DeLong, Mark Hoppus and Travis Barker, a.k.a, Blink-182 announcing they are gettin’ the band back together. That’s music to the ears of old school Blink all over.
We’re coming. Tour’s coming. Album’s coming. Tom’s coming. Tickets on sale Monday. New song “Edging” out Friday. https://t.co/lJmgXqI4ab pic.twitter.com/7y0ZoYTcQc
— blink-182 (@blink182) October 11, 2022
The pop-punk band dropped the news with a saucy social media video post detailing a new tour and new music earlier. Both developments are more than welcome news. But, it's the rejoining one of the group's founding members, Tom DeLonge, that had fans all over reaching for flannel in the back of the closet and breaking out the credit card for upcoming concert tickets.
Before the band ever takes the stage fans can expect two things. First, Blink-182 will be releasing a new song, “Edging,” on Friday. The new song will be on the group's new album set to be released next year ahead of the tour.
Who’s Coming with Blink-182
Blink-182 has 70 shows scheduled for the tour starting in March of 2023 and going through February of 2024.
The tour is set to have several legs spanning the globe with stops in North America, the United Kingdom, Europe and Latin America. Opening acts have also been announced with Turnstile (North American leg), Rise Against (Australian leg), The Story So Far (UK and European leg) and Wallows (Latin American leg) all hitting the stage with Blink-182.
The trio have also been announced as headliners, along with Green Day at the When We Were Young Festival in Las Vegas. The festival takes place in October of 2023 and will also feature 30 Seconds to Mars, the Offspring, Good Charlotte and others.
Busy Boys
The last time Blink-182 released an album was 2019’2 Nine, almost 25 years after its first album, Cheshire Cat, dropped in 1995. In that time the band has gone on to become one of the most popular musical acts of a generation.
While the band has been silent in the last few years, they have been far from quiet.
Travis Barker has been in the spotlight with some regularity recently. Barker has been seen courting and marrying Kourtney Kardashian on her hit Hulu show, The Kardashians. The pair have been seen packing on as much PDA as the show’s TV-14 rating will allow. With plots like infertility, step-kids and a wedding, Travis has been seen a lot in the show's two seasons. Early this summer Travis made headlines once again with a bout of pancreatitis.
But his health scare was far from the biggest. Mark Hoppus told fans of his cancer diagnosis of a blood-related cancer, more specifically, stage IV diffuse large B-cell lymphoma in April of 2021. Months later, after intense chemotherapy Hoppus was declared cancer-free.
Since then Hoppus has been writing a book and hosting a radio show on Apple Music called “After School Radio.” That is on top of launching record company Verswire.
— the ghost of mark hoppus (@markhoppus) September 29, 2021
As for Tom DeLonge, the guitarist and singer has been making his presence known in the UFO world. DeLonge is known for his theories on UFOs and for publishing videos that would go on to later be declassified and re-released by the Pentagon. He also co-founded a company called To The Stars, an entertainment company that produces content for tv and film that is informed by their connections to government agencies.
Blink And You Might Miss A Member
Blink-182 first formed in 1992 in the basements of YMCA’s all over San Diego. Originally the band consisted of Tom DeLonge, Mark Hoppus and Scott Raynor. After leaving the band, rejoining the band and then subsequently being fired from the band, Raynor would exit Blink (before adding the ‘182’) to make room for drummer Travis Barker.
The trio would rise to a level of success not seen since in the late 90’s and early 2000’s. But in 2005 tensions would get the best of the band with the end result being Tom DeLonge leaving Blink-182. The threesome would reunite in 2008 after Travis Barker was nearly killed in a plane crash. That crash killed four people and injured a third. The band hit the road and stayed together for a few years before DeLonge would part ways with the band again in 2011. Since then, Matt Skiba has been the band's third person. No word on what will become of Matt now that a new tour has been announced.
Tickets for the new tour go on sale Monday, October 17 at blink182.com.