This past weekend was huge for pop-punk, as the classic Blink-182 lineup of Tom DeLonge, Mark Hoppus, and Travis Barker made its long-awaited return at Coachella 2023. Before and after the set, the group’s members reflected on it and how they got there.
After the performance, DeLonge shared a photo of himself on stage giving the middle finger. He wrote, “From break ups, to plane crashes, to cancer… @blink182 is f*cking back. We’ve only just begun to offend. Ya can’t cancel this sh*******tttttttt.”
In his post, DeLonge referenced a 2008 plane crash that resulted in four deaths, but Barker was one of the survivors. Barker sustained burns on about 65 percent of his body and said he nearly lost his foot. Barker avoided planes for years after that, only taking his first flight since the crash in 2021.
As for the cancer, DeLonge was referring to Hoppus, who opened up about his cancer diagnosis in 2021 and is working on a memoir about his experience.
Hoppus had a similarly spirited message before the big day, writing on Instagram, “Chemo to Coachella. Very much in my feelings today. Grateful to be here and excited to play a rock show with my friends tonight.” In a post from after their set, he added, “Super fun show. Thanks @coachella.” Also after the show, Barker offered simply, “Coachella we came [party hat emoji].”
Coachella we came
— Travis Barker (@travisbarker) April 15, 2023
Uproxx’s Carolyn Droke noted of the Blink performance, “Joining together on stage, it felt like no time had passed. Mark and Tom were continually cracking ‘your mom’ jokes like it was still the ’90s. To their credit, their set did feel like it transported the crowd back to their 1999 inception, playing all the early tracks like ‘The Rock Show’ and ‘What’s My Age Again.’ They closed out their set with three back-to-back greatest hits, ‘I Miss You,’ ‘All The Small Things,’ and ‘Dammit.’”
Blink-182 is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.