Blink-182 & Lil Wayne in San Diego

Blink-182, Lil Wayne and Neck Deep hit San Diego’s North Island Credit Union Amphitheater on August 7th, 2019. Neck Deep, a Welsh punk rock band, kicked off the night with “Motion Sickness”, “She’s A God” and ended with “Where Do We Go When We Go”, warming up the crowd for Lil Wayne.

DJ T. Lewis came out to rally the crowd. He asked if we were ready for the “greatest rapper alive”. It seemed we were waiting for Lil Wayne to come out for a long, long time, while DJ T. Lewis kept the crowd fired up. The stage set up had drummer KGE killing it up on high-rise drum kit, while the sound of guns fired from the wall of speakers. Lil Wayne gave props to the band, the crew and said he wasn’t shit without the fans. What an impressive stage presence and fans were totally into it.

With only three members onstage, the layout was pretty awesome, allowing attendees to see the whole band.

Anxiously awaiting Blink-182 to hit the stage, fans saw Travis Barker’s drum kit centerstage. With only three members onstage, the layout was pretty awesome, allowing attendees to see the whole band. Travis Barker is entertaining to watch, with all of his stick tricks. When the third song started, we saw “Aliens Exist” in the form of huge blow up aliens crowd-surfing up front. When the song ended, Travis took his shirt off and ladies all over the arena swooned.

Mark Hoppus saw a sign in the crowd and asked what instrument the fan wanted to play. He said “guitar” and the boys brought Ray up on stage; he jammed “All The Small Things” with the band, like he belonged there. He was awesome! Afterward, the stage went completely dark for “Happy Holidays, Bastard”. Blink then played “Mutt”, “Wendy Clear” and “Anthem” before the stage went dark again. You could see a small possé with flashlights moving through the crowd. “Down” was played in the middle of the amphitheater acoustically. Blink closed out the show with favorites “First Date”, “Dammit” and (if you like to cuss, like I do) a rowdy rendition of “Family Reunion”.

I’m always a little apprehensive about mixed genre concerts, but the fans seemed to be into all three acts. There was a distinct difference in knowing all the words to every song of one band or the other, but to enjoy music across all the genres is something special. Even after the amphitheater lights went on, a lot of fans stayed in their seats hoping for just one more song.

Photography by Heather Vandemark

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