Tom DeLonge reunites with his former band members Mark Hoppus and Travis Barker to reform the original Blink-182 lineup. Along with the announcement of the reunion, the band announced a new single “Edging”,  which was released Friday, October 14th, and is to be part of a full-length album that will be released sometime in 2023. Blink also announced they will also be going on a world tour beginning in March of 2023 and ending in February 2024.

These announcements have excited thousands of fans of the pop-punk genre and people who grew up in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Blink-182 has not been together since 2015 and has not recorded music together in over a decade, the last time being in 2011 for the album Neighborhoods. 

The band was founded in 1992 by guitarist and vocalist Tom Delonge and bassist and co-vocalist Mark Hoppus. The two would release two albums but saw little success. This would change shortly after Travis Barker joined the band in 1999. The same year as Barker joined, Blink released Eneama of the State, an album that would go on to sell 15 million copies worldwide and launch the band into the mainstream. 

Blink’s next album Take Off Your Pants and Jacket, released in 2004, saw just as much success. Again selling 15 million copies and the album reached the number-one spot in Germany, Canada, and the U.S. 

This period between 1999 and 2004 was when the band was at its peak popularity. Despite being at their highest point, inner turmoil still plagued the band. DeLonge felt satisfied with the band and felt there was nothing more he really wanted to accomplish with the band. This forged a rift between Delonge and the other members, who thought Delonge was being disrespectful and ungrateful to them. 

After many years of inner discourse and hiatuses, DeLonge officially left the band in early 2015. DeLonge left Blink feeling accomplished as an artist and wanting to explore other avenues. These other avenues included working with his new band Angels and Airwaves and studying and producing documentaries on UFOs and other conspiracy theories. 

The other band members also dipped their toes into other avenues as well. Starting in 2019, Mark Hoppus has been hosting the radio show After School Radio on Apple Music 1. Barker has been making appearances in multiple currently populated artists’ works. These artists included Machine Gun Kelly, Post Malone, and XXXTentacion. 

Hoppus and Barker continued the band even after DeLonge’s departure. Delonge was replaced by Matt Skiba, the guitarist and lead vocalist of the band Alkaline Trio. With Skiba as their vocalist and guitarist, Blink-182 released their seventh and eighth studio albums, California and Nine. Matt Skiba also went on multiple tours with the band from 2015 to 2021. However, with DeLonge returning to the band, fans, and Skiba himself, question whether he will still be included within the band and if he will be asked to join their tour.

 Many fans question how long this reunion will actually last given the history of the band. Even with this doubt in mind, thousands of fans are still excited to get more music from Blink-182 and to be able to see the founding members perform together once again. 

If you wish to see Blink-182 live in concert, unfortunately, they are not playing in the Philadelphia area, but they are playing in Pittsburgh and New York in May of 2023.