Tom DeLonge has spent most of his adult life hearing strangers sing blink-182 songs back at him. On Tuesday night in San Diego, he was the one watching from the crowd, and the scale of the response appeared to catch him off guard.
The singer and guitarist attended the Padres’ playoff game against the Milwaukee Brewers at Petco Park on 6 October, local time. When the home side carried a lead into the eighth inning, the stadium sound system cued blink-182’s ‘All the Small Things’, a regular ritual at the ballpark. More than 43,000 spectators joined in.
Television cameras cut to DeLonge as the crowd sang the chorus. He appeared to well up, then joined the singing himself and raised his hands. The clip travelled quickly across music and sports feeds, a rare moment in which a musician could see one of his songs functioning almost independently of the band that made it.
For DeLonge, the setting matters. He grew up in Poway, near San Diego, and has long supported the Padres. Blink-182 formed in the area in 1992 before becoming one of the most recognisable names in pop-punk. A record that began as a bright, irreverent single has now become part of the sound of a hometown team’s playoff run.
‘All the Small Things’ came from 1999’s Enema of the State. Its enormous crossover success helped push blink-182 well beyond the alternative circuit, even as some listeners argued over what the band’s popularity meant for punk. More than a quarter-century later, that old question seems less urgent than the sight of thousands of people knowing every word.
The Padres beat Milwaukee 4-3 in Game 3 of their National League Division Series, keeping the postseason contest alive. The singalong took place with the home team protecting its lead, but the song’s role at Petco Park is not new. It is played when the Padres are ahead as they enter the bottom of the eighth.
As SB Nation reported, this was a hometown connection built over years, rather than a one-off celebrity camera shot. Consequence also documented the moment and linked the broadcast footage.
For blink-182 fans, the video needs little explanation. It shows the distance a song can travel from the studio to a city, and how strange that journey can look when its co-writer happens to be sitting among the people singing it.
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