On September 17th, the
Honda Civic Tour made a stop
in Camden, New Jersey as a
part of its’ 10th Anniversary
Tour.. The bands included Matt
& Kim, My Chemical
Romance, and headliners
Blink-182. Basically, if you’re
a pop-punk music lover, this
was one of the best line-ups in
history.
The Honda Civic Tour also
focuses on more than just putting
on a great concert. The
tour tries to educate all fans
about the importance of “going
green” and trying to save our
planet from being destroyed.
Most of the the tour buses and
other vehicles use a biodiesel
fuel which lowers the carbon
footprint the tour leaves
behind. On top of that, they
partnered up with the Keep A
Breast Foundation and they
have a traveling bus that educates
people at every show
about how they can help lower
the risk of cancer.
Matt & Kim was the first
band to take the stage that
night. A duo out of Brooklyn,
NY, the band consists of Kim
Schifino on drums/vocals and
Matt Johnson, who plays the
keyboard and sings lead
vocals. As a band, they are different
than My Chemical
Romance and Blink-182, as
they have more of a hip-hop
influence. In fact, during the
set they actually broke out a
cover of Biz Markies “Just A
Friend” much to the delight of
the mostly young 20s crowd.
They ended their half hour set
with arguably their biggest hit
“Daylight” and made way for
MCR.
My Chemical Romance is
known for having a very energetic
live set, and they did not
disappoint the Camden crowd.
Although they have ditched the
“emo” label, and moved on to a
much more upbeat and happy
version of the band, they are
still the same old guys. Their
old stuff contained lyrics such
as “singing songs that make
you slit your wrists” (Cemetery
Drive), but the new MCR 2.0 if
you will has lyrics like “I can’t
stop now because I’m dancing”
[Planetary (GO!)]. Regardless
of the lyrical and appearance
change, they are still dedicated
to making good music. In fact
they scrapped an entire album
before putting out their latest
entitled “Danger Days: The
True Lives of the Fabulous
Killjoys”. In Camden they
played a set that covered their
entire career, opening with “Na
Na Na”, which was the first
single off “Danger Days” when
first released. After diving
back and forth between old and
new, they finally closed off the
set with “Welcome to the Black
Parade” which was followed
by the traditional ending of
“Cancer”. The also played the
legendary punk songs
“Teenagers”, “I’m Not Okay (I
Promise)” and “Helena”.
After a short break, the lights
went out and the crowd erupted
into thunderous cheers as
they knew it was time for the
headliners. The cameras
flashed, the mosh pits started
and before anybody knew what
was happening, Blink-182 was
onstage blasting their hit
“Feeling This” sending the
crowd into an all out frenzy.
They played their newest single
“Up All Night” (featured on
“Neighborhoods” which comes
out September 27th) second in
the night, followed by older
hits such as “The Rock Show”,
“What’s My Age Again?”, and
“I Miss You”. About halfway
through the set, they played
“First Date”, and after the end
of the song, Hoppus
announced they had a special
guest. The rapper Bun B came
out and performed a song off
of Barkers solo album, to
which the crowd tried to turn
the rock show into a rap show.
They played 2 more new
songs, followed by “All The
Small Things”, and closed the
first set with the old punk jam
“Josie”. At the conclusion of
the song, a curtain dropped
down, leaving the crowd wanting
more of the punk rock legends.
The curtain soon vanished
revealing a flying Travis
Barker who was now on a flying
drumset that came over the
crowd. After he finally was
back on solid ground, Blink
played a few older songs, and
closed it out as they have been
for years with the songs
“Dammit” and “Family
Reunion” combined, which
included an explosion of confetti.
Blink-182 may be in their
40s now with families, but they
haven’t changed. They still
have the maturity level of 13
year olds, and play with the
intensity of hyperactive teens.
Blink-182 is back ladies and
gentlemen, and the Honda
Civic Tour just proved that.