Blink-182 brings rock back to Coachella with late-breaking set

LOS ANGELES: Rock band Blink 182 played its first show in almost a decade at an hour-long set at Coachella.

Entering to 'Also Sprach Zarathustra' - aka the theme to '2001' - Travis Barker, Mark Hoppus and Tom DeLonge, playing together for the first time since DeLonge left the band in 2014, wasted no time reembracing the juvenile, fun, ridiculous double-time punk-pop that made them breakthrough radio stars in the late '90s and early aughts, opening with 'Family Reunion' - a song whose lyrics are unprintable in a family publication, reports 'Variety'.

The band shared the same Jackass-style ease they did 20 years ago in their prime, with DeLonge and Hoppus cracking wise about genitals, the Dalai Llama and UTIs as they blasted through their set.

'Rock Show' was an early highlight: as the biggest rock band on an international-pop-leaning bill, it was near-nostalgic to hear a giant shouty singalong, and the audience would only scream along louder as the set built its way to the moody 'I Miss You' and the seminal hit 'What's My Age Again'.

Though Barker hurt a finger earlier this year, forcing the postponement of the band's tour, there was no sign of injury here - his playing felt crisp and precise, and the band felt tight and rehearsed.