Photos by Laura Buhman
I had a breakdown in my car before I made my way to The Target Center in downtown Minneapolis for the show on Tuesday night. I honestly couldn’t tell you why. As usual, I attribute it to stress and lack of sleep, but I was really just feeling moody and needed a good cry. After I pulled it together, the only thing I wanted was a live concert, and, man, were the concert Gods thinking of me and my mental health because they had the perfect show waiting for me.
After an ambient opening, Astronoid figuratively slapped the audience to attention. They hit the quickly growing crowd with a wall of sound that literally took my breath away before easing into their epically beautiful, heavy sound. Never heard of Astronoid? Me either. This Massachusetts-based post-metal band started back in 2012 and have been making waves ever since then. Although, at first, I questioned why this seemingly nameless band was opening on such a giant tour, it didn’t take long into their opening song for me to understand. The way Astronoid balances beauty and heaviness is a thing of genius that should be envied. There were points in their set where I was filled with an almost overwhelming sense of emotion and others where it took every ounce of me not to get on the floor and start pushing and shoving my way around the crowd of people.
Although Astronoid only graced the in-the-round-styled stage for thirty minutes, they made every second count. They easily filled the entire arena with their delightful sounds and utilized the entire round stage, ensuring nobody in the room felt forgotten. This may be the first I’ve heard of Astronoid (and maybe you, too), but it certainly won’t be the last. This group proved that they have the power to do an arena show and that can take a band nearly anywhere even if you aren’t a household name… yet.
Sure, I wasn’t one of the many able to sing along to every single word, but there were plenty of super fans in the audience, which made Pierce The Veil’s set that much more exciting. Although we still have megastars to take the stage to close out the night, Pierce the Veil was treated like royalty throughout the set. When they said put your hands up, everyone in the audience, all the way to the very last row, had their hands in the air. I feel like Pierce the Veil is just on the edge of being able to do a tour like this on their own, and I can’t wait to be there for it, telling all the super young kids about all those times I saw them when growing up. I have watched Pierce the Veil go from club shows to medium-range venues and now to this and it has truly been an honor. Their surprising yet absolutely perfect cover of Radiohead’s “Karma Police” was just the cherry on top.
The band instantly had the audience going down nostalgia lane, kicking off their set with “Feeling This” from their 2003 self-titled album. It wasn’t until the fifth song when the band started incorporating some of their newer tracks into the set, but you didn’t hear a single complaint from anyone in the audience. Blink 182 is legendary. My thoughts on this band aside, there’s no denying that they are truly a staple of the scene, a household name, the household name that brought pop-punk to the mainstream, so having such a nostalgia-heavy set just seemed to fit them. That being said, their new songs are written a bit differently, especially when it comes to the vocal range. Although I loved hearing the nostalgic songs I used to play on repeat when I was a teenager, their newer tracks sounded ever so slightly clearer and more polished. This all could also be because Tom DeLonge was feeling more than under the weather, but either way, this power trio pushed through.
Although the boys were up to their typical teenage boy jokes and banter between songs, and they played all of the predictable hits, they had some surprises up their sleeves. The first was a treat for me. They performed “Obvious” from that 2003 self-titled album. I’m not sure what it is about this song, but it’s one of their more b-side tracks that I obsess over, so hearing that live was beyond a treat. Another treat (understatement, but I can’t think of a better word right now) was hearing “When Your Heart Stops Beating” from +44 and “There Is” from Boxcar Racer. Both of those bands are side projects of members of Blink 182, and I’ve just come to terms with the fact that I will never see either live, so getting just even one song of each was unforgettable (even if the snippet from “When Your Heart Stops Beating” was too short and quite subdued when compared to the original.
There were all kinds of moments throughout Blink 182’s time on stage. From moments where I wanted to continue that slight mental breakdown I had had before the show to moments where I couldn’t help but laugh at some of the childish jokes being said on stage. I don’t know if people around me were feeling the same things, but I can tell you they were feeling something, and that’s all that matters. Blink 182 has been doing their thing since 1992. I’m not sure what the future holds for them, but I know that this band single-handedly changed my life, and I was just so over the moon to have the chance to experience them live again.
Tom was right. Aliens exist.
