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When you’re not feeling well, most people call in sick. When you’re Tom DeLonge of Blink-182, that’s not an option. The show must go on.
On Wednesday night, Blink brought the “One More Time” tour to Fiserv Forum, their first tour since DeLonge reunited with Mark Hoppus and Travis Barker for the album of the same name in 2023. Their current run of dates also included the final headlining slot of Lollapalooza in Chicago on Sunday night. Wednesday brought a completely different experience than the festival show, however, putting the band in the round, with a stage built to look like the smiley face logo from their 2003 self-titled album. Over the course of the night, the band would play to all four sides of Fiserv Forum, getting a bit more up close and personal, and that’s before their jokes about hooking up with your mom.
Openers Astronoid and fellow San Diegans Pierce The Veil set a heavier tone to start the night, with delightfully punishing sets of technical guitar-driven metal and screamo, respectively. If you couldn’t wait for the summer and the Warped Tour growing up, it was the type of variety that gave you just a bit of a nostalgic feel. The heaviest Blink would get, however, would be walking out to the cryptic theme of WWE superstar The Undertaker before launching into opener “Feeling This.” From that point forward, the trio were very much the same playful, slightly immature guys that fans quite literally grew up with.
While the band on stage and the songs being played were familiar, the stage production surrounding Blink this time around was certainly leveled up compared to previous tours. Being in the round allowed Mark Hoppus and Tom Delonge to wander around the stage freely, aided by mechanically rotating microphones and pedal boards that could shift the entire stage. Travis Barker’s drum riser would also spin to face all of the arena, and as is now customary on all Blink-182 tours, Barker and his drum kit would be lifted in the air, where he would stay for a couple of songs on Wednesday. On top of all of this, there were plenty of pyrotechnics and flamethrowers throughout the set to make the show feel like more of a spectacle than any previous Blink-182 set. It was arena-level production from a band that had long thrived without it, but also very much benefited from the added theatrics.
If you were expecting nothing but the greatest hits from Mark, Tom, and Travis, that wasn’t going to be the case. After all, the band were there to tout material from a new album, and in total, four tracks from “One More Time” would make the setlist, including “Dance With Me” and “More Than You Know,” which arguably play better live than their recorded versions. The band would also give Milwaukee a sample of what’s to come, with the unreleased track “Can’t Go Back,” slated to be on a deluxe version of “One More Time” later this year. There were also deeper cuts spliced into the 22-song set, such as “Not Now,” a single from a 2005 greatest hits compilation and “Wendy Clear” from breakout “Enema of the State.” It was the kind of set that appealed to fans that had stuck around for the long haul, including turbulent years before DeLonge reunited with Hoppus and Barker. It was also a way to tour material that may have fallen by the wayside due to the time that DeLonge was in limbo.
However, that wouldn’t be the only turbulence that Blink-182 would have to work around on Wednesday. Early on, DeLonge admitted to the Fiserv Forum crowd that he wasn’t feeling well, but was going to power through anyway. His voice was shot, with the guitarist crouching and drinking water between sets to try and carry on. He would make it about two-thirds of the way through the show before having to sing was noticeably taking a toll on what was left of his voice. Fortunately, that was at least enough time to reach “I Miss You,” a song where his vocal part was always going to be picked up by a packed arena of fans at full voice. On “Down,” DeLonge would do his best to chime in as he could, appearing frustrated with himself while he labored through the song. As anyone who's ever had to drive home from work sick will tell you, he probably just wanted to go rest, and understandably so.
While it certainly didn’t benefit Blink-182 to be reduced to only one vocalist, it made for an interesting home stretch to Wednesday night’s show. The trio had to call some audibles, including nixing snippets of +44’s “When Your Heart Stops Beating” and Box Car Racer’s “There Is,” both of which had been included in their Lollapalooza set. It also included scrapping “First Date” and “Always,” both of which are singles where DeLonge carries a good chunk of the vocal duties. In their place, the band went back to some of their earliest material, with the Hoppus-led “Going Away To College” and “M+Ms,” both of which played well to the longtime fans of the band. Hoppus let the crowd know that they were going off-script, with the Fiserv Forum fans being largely supportive of the situation.
Vocal issues aside, the band soldiered through their biggest hits, with the crowd filling in for DeLonge on “All The Small Things.” They would end on “Dammit,” complete with Hoppus singing a bit of Taylor Swift’s “We Are Never Getting Back Together” in the bridge. With confetti swirling down and the smoke from the pyro clearing, you could see DeLonge saying “Thank you” and “I’m sorry” to the fans in the pit by the front of the stage. There was one last pop, though, as they would walk off stage, and Kourtney Kardashian would make a cameo to hop into husband Travis Barker’s arms on the way out of the arena. (Side note: second Kardashian concert appearance of the summer. Maybe they don’t mind Milwaukee.)
All things considered, Blink-182 made the best of a less-than-ideal situation on Wednesday night. If you didn’t know that Tom DeLonge was sick, you really wouldn’t have been able to tell until things ultimately derailed. Even when they did, the band made sure to still give Milwaukee a full show, complete with big production and most of the songs that they were expecting to hear. While the tour may have been titled “One More Time,” it certainly won’t be the last time that Blink-182 plays Milwaukee, and when they come back, they’ll be a band looking to redeem themselves.
