Reckless Abandon

Blending together their trademark adolescent antics, Cali-punk roots and blistering drum solos a la Travis Barker, Blink-182 headlined the stage at Darien Lake last Friday, drawing a crowd of around 18,000 into a frenzy that hasn't graced this region of NY since the mid 2000s.

We arrived in time to catch the bulk of opener Fall Out Boy's set, unfortunately missing out on Chester French, but gladly skipping the watered-down lineup of the new and not so improved Panic! at the Disco.

The stage blared an FOB-lettered set that flooded light behind the band as they shredded such favorites as Thnks fr th Mmrs and Grand Theft Autumn. Their setlist was a predictable blend of old, new and covers; however, they reminded us of how much we've enjoyed their music over the years when they closed with oldie-but-goodie Saturday.

Given that we had been cross-training our ears with Blink's albums for the past few weeks, we were totally prepared for what we anticipated to be the concert of the summer. Yet, despite guitarists Mark Hoppus and Tom Delonge's commitment to hilarious banter and your mom jokes, halfway through their set we were terrified that Enema of the State was as old as we were going to delve into their discography. But, we were calmed by one of our underrated favorites, Man Overboard, which was soon chased by Josie.

At this point, we befriended a pack of dudes from Nova Scotia, because one of their intoxicated cohorts was yelling "Play something old!" And, thankfully, Blink's encore of Carousel and Dammit increased the average age of the songs played.

Now in their 30s, the boys are still bringing the A-game that they did in the mid-late 90s. Whether it was Barker's brush with death or simply the 4 years off, the energy and entertainment factor of the show was exponential. Blink 182 has been on our concert to-do list since our introduction in 8th grade, we just hope that they remember more of the older tunes that got them where they are in the future.