Blink-182’s Global Tour Leads the Aughts-Rock Revival
If you were to gaze at the lineup of the When We Were Young music festival without any additional context, you might guess that it took place in the year 2003. After all, its headliners include a who’s who of bands that first peaked roughly two decades ago, from Blink-182, to Green Day to Good Charlotte. And yet, the two-day event didn’t take place during the George W. Bush presidency. In fact, it’s happening three months from now, in the fall of 2023.
And already, the festival is sold out. Which is no fluke. Since its debut last year, the event — essentially, Live Nation’s answer to the now-ended Warped Tour — has grown into a major hit.
“We launched a When We Were Young festival out of Vegas, we hoped to sell 40,000 tickets,” Live Nation Chief Executive Officer Michael Rapino said last year during an earnings call. “We sold over 160,000 tickets in Vegas; so it’s a huge success in a brand new festival.”
These days, everywhere you look, Live Nation is capitalizing on a growing trend — people can’t seem to get enough of the rock bands that soundtracked the late ‘90s and aughts. As the bands reunite and revive fan-favorite albums, they are setting off on global tours, generating headline-worthy revenue and experiencing a resurgence in popularity.
Last year, Blink-182 brought back its classic lineup: Tom DeLonge, Travis Barker and Mark Hoppus. They coupled the announcement with news of a nearly yearlong, global tour that over 50 dates would take them everywhere from Madison Square Garden in the US to Qudos Bank Arena in Australia.
The band’s North American leg of the tour, which ran from April to July, grossed $85.3 million and sold 564,000 tickets, according to Billboard Boxscore. The popular live performances helped catapult Blink-182 to the number eight spot on Bloomberg’s Pop Star Power Rankings for June, based on Pollstar data.
Their revival on tour has translated to streaming as well. Over 18 million people listen to the band on Spotify monthly, and not just for their beloved early singles like All The Small Things. Their song Edging, which was released in October 2022, reached number one on Billboard’s Rock & Alternative Airplay chart and has accrued over 38 million streams on Spotify.
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To get to this point, the band overcame several challenges. Hoppus battled cancer, and Barker experienced a traumatic plane crash. Until recently, the three members also hadn’t played together publicly in almost a decade. But when they finally did reunite, fans were waiting ravenously.
Other bands who came up around the same time as Blink-182 have witnessed similar success of late. In 2021 Weezer, Green Day and Fall Out Boy set out on their Hella Mega Tour around the US and Europe. The tour sold 659,062 tickets and grossed $67.3 million, according to Pollstar, kicking off the broader trend.
When My Chemical Romance initially reunited in 2019, it was hard to imagine the band reaching new heights on the road. But when their Covid-postponed tour resumed in 2022, the band came into its biggest live success. Last year, it grossed nearly $88 million, per Billboard Boxscore.
What exactly is driving the momentum? It could be that fans who grew up with the music are now older and have more disposable income. Or perhaps the bands are reaping the benefits of Gen Z’s strong interest in Y2K fashion and aesthetics. Or maybe the mantle of rock arena stardom is finally being passed on to them from the prior generation of aging rockers.
Bands like Green Day might not be as fresh faced as they were when they debuted. But compared to the likes of Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel and Elton John, they look downright spry. As the chorus of Blink-182’s famous song goes, “What’s my age again? What’s my age again?”