Photo: @JODESELLIOTT / TIKTOK
Californian pop punk trio Blink-182 finally acknowledged the last-minute cancellation of their Christchurch show during a recent Melbourne concert, by taking a jab at the South Island city.
In a clip circulating on social media, the band's drummer, Travis Barker, mistakenly addressed the Melbourne crowd as Sydney, before bassist Mark Hoppus kept the joke going with a gag about the recently cancelled show.
"To be honest Sydney sucked so f...ing bad, we had to cancel Christchurch," he said.
Guitarist Tom DeLonge responded: "F... Christchurch."
"That's a gnarly name for a town, can you imagine naming your f...ing city that?"
"If I were God," replied Hoppus.
Mark Hoppus, Travis Barker, and Matt Skiba of Blink-182 perform onstage at the 2020 iHeartRadio ALTer EGO at The Forum on 18 January 2020 in Inglewood, California. Photo: Rich Fury / Getty Images via AFP
The New Zealand leg of the reunion tour of the pop punk trio - known for hits such as 'Miss You' and 'All The Small Things' - was first announced in 2022, before being later rescheduled due to fast-selling Australian tickets that saw the band add four more dates to their tour leg across the ditch.
The cancellation of the 4 March Christchurch show was announced in an email to ticket holders in February, citing "unanticipated logistical issues outside of the band's control".
Neither the band or its members had addressed the cancellation on social media since the announcement.
Christchurch Blink-182 fan, James O'Caiside who had tickets to the Wolfbrook Arena concert, said he was not surprised by the band's comments.
"To be fair, they've always ripped on anything live. I would happily hear them say, 'F... you Christchurch' in Christchurch."
Councillor Andrei Moore, who heads the arts and creative industries portfolio at Christchurch City Council, condemned the comments.
Writing on Facebook, he said: "Disappointing to learn of Blink-182 saying 'f*** Christchurch' on stage in Melbourne after cancelling their sold-out show that many Christchurch folk and visitors bought tickets for 18 months in advance.
"We've been through more than our fair share of challenges over the years which have led to many concert cancellations but I can't ever recall any of them being followed up with an attitude as bad as this one."
A spokesperson for the promoter recently told Stuff there would be no further comment or statement, outside of what was emailed to ticket holders.
The band will still play Auckland's Spark Arena on 2 March.
This story was originally published by Stuff.