Concert review: Blink-182 w/ Alkaline Trio & End It | 09.26.25, Hollywood Casino Amphitheater (with photo gallery)

Photo of Blink-182’s Mark Hoppus and Tom DeLonge by Jen Ruff

It was 1992 in Poway, CA and a band would form that would definitely leave many marks along various music genres till this very day. The recipe for a classic simplistic band is vocalist, guitarist, bassist—of course bands are smaller and larger, but that’s just a great formula. Two releases would come from that band to little notice but then the formula exploded. Dammit. Warped Tour catapulted this trio and lit a fire at the bottom of the proverbial ladder and Blink-182 have continuously climbed all up and around and through it.

This night at Hollywood Casino Amphitheater started out with End It, a hardcore band out of Baltimore, MD who’ve played our city at shows at very tiny clubs like The Sinkhole and Heavy Anchor so to be on this huge stage was odd for them. It wasn’t their crowd either except for a handful of humans that have artistically diverse interests. I enjoyed their 21 songs, which for a hardcore band is like five regular songs. I hope that this tour helped get them thousands of new fans so they’ll continue to come here because their energy was outstanding, their musicianship was heavy and raw, and their message between songs of love and respecting people is one we all can’t hear enough of.

It had to be a hoot to be Blink-182 and have Alkaline Trio open for you but since Matt Skiba was in Blink for a bit, I guess it probably felt like a big ol’family reunion. While less successful commercially than Blink, music aficionados across the world greatly admire these three from our closest frenemy (Chicago). Skiba, bassist and vocalist Dan Andriano, and drummer Atom Willard came ready to show out. The band, firmly in its third decade and armed with a catalog of emo and goth-tinged punk rock, seemed happy to be playing and basked in the adoration of the sold-out audience. 

Still touring to support their 10th studio album—Blood, Hair, and Eyeballs, released in January 2024—the trio opened with “Private Eye” to start their dozen song set. The newer music has the occasional moody and metallic touches, like on “Bad Time,” but never strays far from punk. Their energy stayed high through “Oblivion,” “Sadie,” and wrapped with “This Could Be Love” and “Radio.” 

Michael Buffer of “Let’s Get Ready to Rumble” fame cut the intro to the guys in Blink and it just seemed surreal. Normally at this point I’m ready to observe the songs, the mood, the crowd, but I just didn’t. Instead, I stood there recalling times they’ve made me laugh or, on very rare occasions, cry. I appreciated this moment in time as an inflatable penis surfed into the crowd, everyone knocking it around. With a tour called Missionary Impossible and opening with “The Rock Show” and “First Date,” we were all immersed in legendary Blink-182 mode. This bands tenacity has really stood the test of time through cancer diagnosis (bassist Mark Hoppus), a plane crash (drummer Travis Barker), multiple break ups with the band (guitarist Tom DeLonge) and a litany of factors that have definitely challenged the trio. It was difficult to notice this evening: they exchanged dude-like banter, jumped around having fun and connecting, and we were all along for the beautiful ride. The songs traversed all of their releases small and epic and everyone there most assuredly left having heard their favorite song. 

“What’s My Age Again” took us all back through the streets of Cali watching them jog naked on MTV, “All the Small Things” where they’d have their stab on boy bands, “Dammit” where most of us met the band but not one soul was quiet during what I feel is their biggest success, “I Miss You.” To hear 20k+ screaming “Where are you?! And I’m so sorrrrrrryyyyyy” and be a voice screaming with it was such a release, for the crowd and the band. 

For me “Stay Together For the Kids” will always hit hard. They’re GenX with me. You feel the reality of your family life and feel like someone else (or millions of someone elses) knows where your teen angst came from. What you’ve survived. What you get from a live show that you missed for over two years during a pandemic. We take music for granted so much. It’s always there and probably will always be there for bands like Blink, but I feel our world is making this industry suffer. We digitize everything and only when we can’t have it do we really need it. BUY music, see live shows, buy the merch. Music saves lives. It always has and it hopefully always will. So here’s your holiday. Hope you enjoy it this time, you gave it all away. It was mine. So when you’re dead and gone will you remember this night? 20 years now lost. It’s not right. | Diane Ruff