“More good music is coming soon.”
This has been on the marquee of The Wellmont Theater in Montclair, New Jersey since it went on a summer vacation to complete some renovations and develop their new relationship with national concert promoters Live Nation.
On September 6th, the promise of “more good music coming soon” will be fulfilled as the venue will re-open its doors with pop-punk heroes blink-182 christening the venue’s new era.
This stop is among of one of the many landmark performances the band will be giving in during the fall. Why landmark? First, they’re going to be re-opening one of North Jersey’s only true, concert venues.
Following The Wellmont show, blink-182 will hit Atlantic City, and then come back to the NYC-area for two benefit shows. On Sept. 10, the band will perform at the newly opened Starland Ballroom in Sayreville, NJ to support Sandy Relief as well as cancer and diabetes research and treatment. On Sept. 11, at the Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn, the band will donate their entire performance fee to benefit burn treatment centers, plus research and treatment for cancer, diabetes and other life-threatening diseases. Among their festival shows, Blink-182 will join an all-star line-up including The Replacements, Fall Out Boy, The Pixies and more in Chicago for Riot Fest. At the Denver-area Riot Fest, blink-182 will share a stage with The Replacements, Iggy & the Stooges and more.
Those are some pretty important, landmarks hows in our opinion.
Now, if you can indulge me for a second, I’d like to wax poetic about blink-182. This is one of my bands, one of the bands I’ve grown up with and for them to be returning, to my backyard, performing a slew of historic shows like this, it sends tingles up my spine.
I’ll never forget the feeling of first listening to “Up All Night”. I remember sitting in my college dorm with my headphones on and thinking Holy Shit. I can’t believe I’m listening to new Blink-182.
There aren’t many bands that can get that kind of rise out of someone. To be honest, I didn’t even think I’d feel that way until that exact moment. But it just goes to show how important Blink-182 are to the pop punk scene. In all of their glory and goofiness, Mark, Tom and Travis, will forever be remembered as rock stars who changed the game. While Green Day may have showed that you can keep things simple and still make great songs, Blink took that a step further by showing that you didn’t have to take yourselves too seriously either.
Through the years their music has matured quite a bit. I personally think Blink-182 is delivering their best work to date. It really shows how much they’ve grown as musicians and it’s been really cool watching them evolve. Even though they’ve grown up, they still keep things light and fun, bringing about one of the most energetic live shows today.
I’m really excited to see them touring again. It’s even more incredible that they’re playing such more intimate venues and donating proceeds to great causes. It’s really going to be a huge treat for the diehards and it really shows how much these guys care about their fans.
