Blink-182 rocks 1st day of Four Chord Music Festival
In Blink-182’s song “Turpentine,” co-lead singers Tom DeLonge and Mark Hoppus join their voices together to belt out “What If I’m not like the others?”
For any of the thousands of pop-punk/emo fans gathered Saturday at Four Chord Music Festival, they found plenty of kindred spirits as they sang, bounced and crammed together for more than 10 hours of music — with another full day waiting in the wings Sunday.
The Four Chord festival, back for its 11th edition, returned to EQT Park in Washington after a year at Carrie Furnace at the former U.S. Steel Homestead Steel Works.
The festival, which has featured bands like Rise Against, Bad Religion, The All-American Rejects, Something Corporate, A Day to Remember and All Time Low in the past, is a one-stop shop for national and local pop-punk, emo, punk rock and indie bands. (It essentially boils down the old Warped Tour experience into a one-stop shop.)
This year’s fest had Blink-182 and Jimmy Eat World starring the first day, with gothic rockers AFI and influential punk band Jawbreaker, which has never played Pittsburgh before, on Sunday.
Blink-182 is arguably the biggest band to headline Four Chord, having sold out PPG Paints Arena in 2023 in their last stop here.
A videotaped message from ring announcer Bruce Buffer built up the anticipation for Blink-182, which hit the ground running with “The Rock Show” and “First Date.” Their show had fewer frills than their last arena appearance here, which had Barker’s drums rise 20 feet into the air. There was plenty of lighting effects and pyro this time, including a giant flaming middle finger at the end of the night.
Besides the 22 songs the band squeezed into their 22-song set, there was a lot of banter … a lot. Topics included plenty not suitable for a family newspaper, but other references included “Baby Shark,” Pittsburgh’s role in steel production in World War II, the hotness of the women at the show, the attractiveness of their own guitar tech, testosterone supplements, moths described as “sky lobsters” and more.
After “Online Songs,” DeLonge blamed vodka for being slightly behind on his singing with the song’s rapid-fire vocals.
Whatever the reason for all the banter, the co-frontmen seemed to be having a good time.
“It was so much better when Tom had quit the band,” Hoppus joked after “Feeling This.” “Way better.”
Blink-182 hit seven of their albums, with six from “Take Off Your Pants and Jacket” and five from “One More Time.” Their songs’ blend of sincerity coupled with immaturity might have best been exemplified with “Stay Together for the Kids,” which takes a child’s point of view on divorce.
Hoppus, who was wearing a Duquesne Incline T-shirt, described the song as “a little sad and emo” before cutting the sentiments by making a crude joke of his own, while the song itself ended even heavier than usual.
While DeLonge and Hoppus provided the banter, drummer Travis Barker put on a high-energy performance, equal parts flashy and precise, as he showed off his prowess on “Down” and “Roller Coaster.” He also took on lead vocals on “(Expletive) Face,” a punk blast lasting about 30 seconds.
Blink-182 covered their 30-plus year history, with fan favorites like “Anthem Part Two,” “Dumpweed” and “I Miss You. They closed out the night with a cover of Descendents’ “Hope” — fitting as DeLonge’s guitar has the band’s sticker on it — before ending with a trio of heavy hitters: “What’s My Age Again?,” “All the Small Things” and “Dammit.”
While Blink-182 may have leaned on their humor, Jimmy Eat World muscled through 40 minutes of straight-ahead rock, opening with a blistering “Pain.”
The veteran Arizona emo legends skipped a lot of the chatter, opting instead to play more of their faster-tempo songs. Drummer Zach Lind, in an interview to preview the show, said they’d tailor their set to set up Blink-182 and that they did. (Lind was also sporting a Hawthorne Drum Shop T-shirt, repping the McKees Rocks store.)
As always, singer/guitarist Jim Adkins looked like he was pouring himself into the music, dripping sweat as he sang.
A newer song like “Something Loud” fit alongside the crushing “Bleed American.” Jimmy Eat World closed with three crowd pleasers, all off 2001’s “Bleed American” album: “A Praise Chorus,” “Sweetness” and “The Middle.”
After Jimmy Eat World, there was a 30-minute break — the longest of the night — with only five minutes separating the shows on the alternating stages. This created the opportunity for people to try to cram, bulldoze and squeeze even closer to see Blink-182, with personal space at a premium.
Rising emo band Hot Mulligan closed out the night on the second stage, with Jimmy Eat World and Blink-182 finishing off on the main stage.
“We didn’t (expletive) practice before we came to do this,” singer Nathan Sanville said. “This is a recycled setlist, baby.”
A marriage proposal close to the stage took place during the band’s penultimate song.
“This festival is weird,” Sanville said. “I love it.”
The band, which had opened for Fall Out Boy at PPG Paints Arena in 2024, rocked through songs like “Drink Milk and Run” and “And a Big Load” before closing with “BCKYRD.”
Bowling for Soup tried to serve as comic relief with guitarist Jaret Reddick and bassist Rob Felicetti unleashing a stream of consciousness on subjects ranging from Reddick’s food dislikes (bacon, pie and mayonnaise) to killing lantern flies. They riffed on their songwriting skills or lack thereof — “Give it up to most of the bands (playing today) for only knowing four chords!” Reddick said — with several references to Blink-182.
“I wanna see you put your phones up like we’re playing (Blink-182’s) ‘Adam’s Song,’” Reddick said of “Turbulence.”
Over 40 minutes, Bowling for Soup ran through nine songs, including “Today is Gonna Be a Great Day,” instantly recognizable as the theme song for Disney’s “Phineas and Ferb.”
They closed with a pair of covers: “Stacy’s Mom” from Fountains of Wayne and “1985” by SR-71, in addition to playing earlier snippets of Toni Basil’s “Mickey,” Quiet Riot’s “Cum on Feel the Noize” and the Beastie Boys’ “(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party!)”
The melodic punk rockers State Champs cited shows at Stage AE, (long-closed) Altar Bar and the Warped Tour for Pittsburgh memories.
They had plenty of crowd surfers, and their set included “Common Sense,” a song just released earlier this month.
Set Your Goals, the San Francisco band named after a Civ song, blasted through a set of heavier, hardcore-edged pop punk.
The band shouted out Little Giant recording studio as well as Blink-182 and Jimmy Eat World, with singer Jordan Brown adding, “We grew up on those bands.”
“Goonies Never Say Die!,” off their 2004 self-titled EP, went hard.
A day to remember: Amanda Stoner and her son Shawn, both of Canonsburg, got mystery tattoos at the Dr. Pickles Tattoo Aftercare booth.
“I figured why not?” said Shawn, after sticking his arm through a hole in a tarp where he could feel, but not see, what was happening. “Let’s have me some fun.”
For Amanda, the flowers on her wrist were her seventh tattoo while Shawn’s smiley face put his number in the twenties.
Amanda Stoner and her son Shawn, both of Canonsburg, each got tattoos at Four Chord Music Festival on Saturday. They already had connecting chains
— Mike Palm (@mikepalm.bsky.social) September 14, 2025 at 12:39 AM
The pair also got linking chains a year or two ago.
“We got these as a symbol of the chains between a mother and a son,” Amanda said.
Her husband Dennis, who had one tattoo from his days in the Marines, didn’t get one.
“That’s their thing,” he said with a smile.
A look at some of the merch available at Four Chord Music Festival pic.twitter.com/Yf8sLts0er
— Mike Palm (@MikePalmMedia) September 14, 2025
On sale: The vendors village was filled with tents by companies like Elder Emo Co., Warm Beer and Born Dead, where you could find baby onesies, socks and plenty of unauthorized mashups, like a Taylor Swift shirt with the Misfits logo.
A Pabst Blue Ribbon booth featured a pop-up barber shop.
While there were plenty of T-shirts, vinyl and posters for sale, the most unusual may have been the Boy in Blue Stripes golf balls at $50 per dozen.
Related
• Review: Rilo Kiley bring reunion tour to Pittsburgh after long hiatus
• Q&A: Jimmy Eat World drummer Zach Lind, whose dad coached for the Pirates, back in town for Four Chord festival
• 2025 Pittsburgh area concert calendar
Waiting game: On the bad side, the lines for everything were long. A trip to the portapotties looked to be about 15 minutes as it wrapped onto the playing field, with lines for the physical restrooms stretching even further mid-afternoon.
Saturday’s lineup: A long day of music started with Boy in Blue Stripes, followed by Keep Flying, Patent Pending, Charly Bliss, Pittsburgh’s Eternal Boy (which features festival founder Rishi Bahl), Homegrown, Driveways and Knuckle Puck.
Sunday’s lineup: AFI and Jawbreaker headline the show, which also includes Alkaline Trio, Say Anything, Face to Face, The Wonder Years, Drug Church, Pittsburgh’s Punchline, Koyo, Deathbyromy, Sincere Engineer, Like Roses, Runt and Mallory Run.
Mike Palm is a TribLive digital producer who also writes music reviews and features. A Westmoreland County native, he joined the Trib in 2001, where he spent years on the sports copy desk, including serving as night sports editor. He has been with the multimedia staff since 2013. He can be reached at mpalm@triblive.com.
Remove the ads from your TribLIVE reading experience but still support the journalists who create the content with TribLIVE Ad-Free.