Blink-182 have rescheduled their 2011 European tour
Punk-Rock Kings blink-182 have, to the regret of their millions of fans, rescheduled their greatly anticipated 2011 UK tour. This will be the band’s first UK tour since their reformation in 2009, after a five-year hiatus.
On the band’s website, the following message was posted from the three band members, Mark Hoppus, Tom DeLonge and Travis Barker:
“It is with heavy hearts that we have to announce our planned 2011 European Summer tour has been rescheduled. When we booked the tour last year, we were confident that we would have the new album out before the Summer. Turns out we were mistaken as the album is taking longer than we thought and won’t be out till later this year. We hoped we would have some new songs to play rather than do another ‘greatest hits tour’ which you all saw last Summer. As much as we know our fans would be cool with that, we feel that we owe you guys something new when you spend your money to come see us. Frankly, it’s what needs tocontinue for us to remain vital. The three of us are working very hard to do what we set out to do when we re-formed…get a new blink-182 album recorded. Apologies to all of our fans who have bought tickets and were looking forward to the Summer shows but we’ll be back soon with the rescheduled dates in Summer 2012, have a new album out and be able to play new songs for you all.”
Blink-182 played at Reading and Leeds Festival in 2010 but, as mentioned above, played only their old songs. However, I personally feel (and I know a huge number of my friends who are also massive blink fans do as well) that their fans would have preferred a tour which featured a greater number of their old songs, as it was their old songs which made them what they are today. Many of blink’s fans have been following the band since their first album, Buddha (although their first studio album was Cheshire Cat). I know I would much prefer to hear the band return to their first few albums and embrace what they used to be, which was what got them where they are today. Their first few albums were pure punk-rock. Their last album, the self-titled blink-182, was a much darker and more emotive venture for the band, as they went from one end of the spectrum – fast, upbeat punk songs about frivolous subjects with, more often than not, language and lyrics so explicit you had to make sure your parents were nowhere near the house before you played them – to dark, moody songs which reflected the struggles that the band was going through at the time and the rising tension between the members.
The tickets for the band’s upcoming UK tour were £40 each, which is a high price for fans to pay to then be disappointed with the announcement of a complete reschedule. The tour, which was meant to take place through July this year, has now been rescheduled for next June. An entire year is a long time for the band to make their fans wait, especially as it follows, for many who didn’t get to see them at Reading or Leeds last year, a five year wait since their last tour in the UK before the band’s split.
If we are all being made to wait an extra year to see the heavyweight punk-rock kings, I think blink’s fans are all thinking the same thing: this new album better be worth it.
altpopunk 