My Life In Lyrics: Blink 182 Rocks Toronto August 17th

Photos Courtesy of Savannah Miranda

It seems like Blink-182 has been around for as long as I can remember. I think the first time I'd ever heard of them was during a talent show in middle school when my fellow classmates stood up to perform "Adam's Song" in front of the entire school. I must admit, at the time I began listening to them because my girly crush at the time was in the band, but even today, 15 years later (yet another hint as to how old I am really getting - haha), they are still a band that I will occasionally fall back on.

The show itself was like no other that I've been to this year so far. A lot of the shows I've attended were geared towards the younger crowds as they either a) haven't been around long or b) are focused on that of a younger generation. Blink has been around for quite some time now and a lot of their "young" fans have grown up and are living their own lives. The average age at the Molson Amphatheatre on August 17th was 25 or older. There were of course people of all ages but when I looked around, everybody seemed to be in my generation.

Molson Amp, Aug 17, 2011. Photo Courtesy of Savannah Miranda

A friend approached me about going to the show with her as she couldn't find another companion who was able to go on such short notice. I can never say no to a concert (and I thank her endlessly for taking me with her) and so I agreed because we always have fun when we're together! To be honest though, when she mentioned the show I was more excited to be seeing My Chemical Romance more than Blink 182. MCR was probably one of the first "punk" bands (if you want to call them that) that I ever listened to. I was a country girl growing up and then I was all about the Boy Bands for the longest time. They were the opening to more music and a wider variety than I was used to.

Now I know this is supposed to be a review of the show but since I only knew about 10 per cent of all the songs that were performed, it's kind of pointless for me to go on about something that I don't know all about. So I guess I will talk about the vibe of the entire venue. This show at the Amp was probably the first one I'd been to there since 2005. I'd forgotten how much a huge venue like that could fill so easily and how much more fun it seemed than just going to a show at the Air Canada Centre. The open concept, the amphatheatre shape and the full crowd just made everything seem so much more intimate - even with 15,000 people in the sold out crowd. It was a full out rock show. Fist pumping, people smoking weed everywhere, and everybody singing to the music they knew so well. I know you see that at every concert you go to, but this time (to me at least) it was a little different than what I am used to.

Molson Amp, Aug 17, 2011. Photo Courtesy of Savannah Miranda

I guess my only complaint of the evening was the sound quality. The last show I went to at the Amp we were in the pit and I was a little tipsy (no use in denying), but I do remember it sounding better. I am going to put the blame on the placement of where we were sitting (great seats btw) but we were to the far left of the stage and the speakers were directed towards the front so the sound ended up being muffled. And being somebody who is hard of hearing to begin with, I just had to go with the flow and bob my head to the beat. The songs I did know the words to I sang along, but with most of the music, I just listened and enjoyed viewing people singing to their favourite band.

Check out Blink-182's website on news of their album, which gets released on September 27th, 2011.