Nikon Theater at Jones Beach can be a challenging venue for bands. Looking out into the crowd of this rather large amphitheater is like facing a wall made of people. The balcony level is so distant from the stage, that performers should consider it a victory if they are able to connect and elicit any kind of response from the sky high fans at all. But the boys of Blink-182 and My Chemical Romance didn't seem to have much of a problem doing that Saturday night, the first of two nights the Honda Civic Tour was to play at Jones Beach.
After a solid opening set from alt-rockers Manchester Orchestra, the Tri-State Area's own My Chemical Romance took the stage with the frenzied "Na Na Na...", kicking the evening immediately into high gear. After coming home nearly deaf from the screams of the various MCR shows I've attended, I expected complete mass hysteria at this performance as well. But, as I said earlier, the venue setup makes it impossible to create that kind of intense atmosphere, so the mania was contained to a dull roar in comparison. However, judging from the groups of kids dancing in the upper level aisles to "Planetary (GO!)", MCR was doing a good job of reaching the outer limits of the crowd. Given the fact that the more expensive seats down front were not sold out, loads of kids had already snuck up and filled in the lower floor sections by that time, so the balcony fans had plenty of space to rock out.
It was interesting to see My Chemical Romance in the position of opening for someone else. Besides having to shorten up their setlist, they still had some work to do to win over the crowd. Going into this tour, I assumed that MCR totally shared Blink-182's fanbase. But it was clear from the screams when Blink came out onstage, that was not the case. Though MCR has a big enough following to fill Madison Square Garden and got plenty of love Saturday night, it was definitely a Blink-182 crowd.
Earlier this year, Blink-182 canceled their would-be summer tour overseas to finish up their new CD "Neighborhoods" (scheduled to be released September 27, 2011), citing one of the reasons as being that they didn't want to just do a Greatest Hits rerun of 2009's reunion tour. Opening the show with "Feeling This" and immediately going right into new song "Up All Night" set the tone that this would be a night where, yes, old favorites would be played, but that also we would be introduced to their newer material. Knowing there's a risk in alienating a crowd when an unfamiliar tune is played, guitarist Tom DeLonge would intro the fresh music joking that "It's a new one. So stand there and stare at us." The new stuff will most likely please all fans, as they are a good mix of the new school melodic Blink 182 and the old school super fast punk Blink 182.
Being that the band is now 20 years old, it's a good sign for their future as a band that they continue to attract a young crowd. Of course what this also means is that the newcomers may not have discovered the oldest of Blink songs that made the setlist. For example, "Carousel", which got a smaller reaction and less of a singalong than it did back in 2001. So what's an old classic to some, is now a new song to many. And even though the band are in their thirties and are all fathers now, fans worried they may have matured need not worry. Their well known stage banter is still worthy of a high school locker room, and their sense of humor is still in tact, as evidenced by Mark randomly tuning his guitar to another key mid-song, making Travis laugh while leaving Tom completely confused.
The weather was rainy on and off enough that we were denied the full Travis Barker drum solo experience (where he plays over the crowd on a mobile raised platform). But as DeLonge put it "We don't need the spectacle, we just need Travis." Truth. Watching Barker whip his drumsticks back and forth between cymbals, playing lightning fast drum fills to a heavy hip-hop track is entertainment enough. Besides having multiple music projects going on at all times, it's clear just by watching him bash away that he is a man who is passionate about what he does, and it's awesome to watch.
After the confetti-blowout finale of "Dammit", the band closed the night playing their foul mouthed short-but-not-sweet "Family Reunion", sending the kids (and most likely future Civic Tourmates Matt & Kim who were in attendance) into the Long Island rainy night with a smile.
Check out photos of all the bands and scenes from the show here.
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