It’s fair to say that this year’s Eden Sessions line-up has been comfortably the most impressive in its ten year history. Marking the milestone birthday have been performances from Plan B, Example, Chase and Status, Labrinth and Noah and the Whale, but undoubtedly the main highlight of the sessions was the visit from pop-punk legends Blink-182 on Sunday.
The band consisting of Mark Hoppus, Travis Barker and Tom DeLonge arrived at Eden in the midst of their extensive European tour which had already seen them perform throughout the UK as well as at numerous other locations across the continent.
Following the announcement that Blink were set to make their maiden visit to Cornwall, Eden’s phone lines were jammed and demand by far outstripped supply leaving many fans disappointed.
Those lucky enough to get their hands on tickets were treated to a show that befitted the reputation of a band with just under 5million Twitter followers between them.
Bands performed throughout the day with the main support coming from Cornish group The Crowns. The Crowns have a growing reputation and are due to perform at the Reading and Leeds festival in August. The band was treated to a good audience for their set due to the many early arrivals who hoped to get a good spot for Blink.
Anticipation grew as the crowd packed into the intimate
arena right back to the grass banks and the glowing domes of Eden helped create
a unique and mesmerising atmosphere.
The Californian punk rockers continued to work through their
entire back catalogue, blasting out hits spanning six albums and eighteen
years.
Rock Show, What’s My Age Again and I Miss You all went down
particularly well in the early parts of the set with the crowd belting back every
word with vigour and the mosh pits typically chaotic.In between songs the band happily shared their trademark rude jokes and other trash talk with an amused audience.
As the daylight began to fade the atmosphere intensified and the audience were treated to a number of hits from the new album Neighbourhoods.
Listening through Blink’s back catalogue you will hear examples of the increasing maturity they developed throughout the years which reflected in the music they produced. Some tracks off Take Off Your Pants and Jacket hinted at a more mature and less punk-rocky approach, before the following self-titled album consisted mainly of darker sounds. Neighbourhoods however, attempts to encompass both approaches and new song Hearts All Gone in particular, rolls back to the years to their earlier material and went down well amongst the lively crowd.
From my experience whenever a big name rock act comes to Cornwall the crowd compensates for the usual lack of such bands in the region and the audience at Eden on Sunday certainly did this. Some of the crowd sat and even stood on other people’s shoulders, bouncing and shouting at the top of their voice.
The rowdyness reached a crescendo when Blink performed arguably their biggest hit in All The Small Things with everybody jumping and singing along. They then performed early single Josie before retiring briefly backstage before returning with a spectacular encore.
The encore began with Travis taking centre stage for his drum solo Can a Drummer Get Some which underlines his credentials as one of the world’s best drummers, the audience left in a state of disbelief by the rapid movement of his arms.
Following Travis’ solo he was once again joined by Mark and Tom as they completed the set with Carousel, Dammit and Family Reunion, before taking five minutes to toss numerous items into the scrambling crowd.
As the audience began to slowly leave, they departed safe in the knowledge that they just had witnessed an astounding performance from one of the biggest bands ever to come to Cornwall.
Blink-182’s visit to the enchanting Eden Project displayed to Cornwall just why they can be classed alongside Green Day as one of the biggest punk-rock bands on the planet.
