Blink 182 News

If it hadn't been for drummer Travis Barker's near-fatal airplane crash last year, Blink-182 might not be touring this summer.

But after a five-year hiatus, the rock trio -- Barker, Mark Hoppus and Tom DeLonge -- will embark on a nearly 50-date North American arena and amphitheater tour, beginning July 24 at the Joint in Las Vegas, and wrapping October 3 at the Borgata Events Center in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

The trek will feature support on various dates from Weezer, Fall Out Boy, Panic at the Disco, All-American Rejects, Taking Back Sunday, Asher Roth and Chester French.

"My goal was to have name-brand acts all the way," Blink-182 manager Rick Devoe tells Billboard.com.

The rock act has also tapped stage designer Martin Phillips to help create "the most ridiculous display of lights and images we can imagine," Hoppus said in a statement. Phillips has worked on tour stage designs for such artists as Kanye West, Daft Punk and Nine Inch Nails.

Rumors that Blink-182 could reunite after its messy split in 2005 started last year after Hoppus posted a blog saying that Barker's survival and the death of Blink-182 producer Jerry Finn had put the band members back in touch.

"Unfortunately it took something catastrophic to do it, but sometimes that's how life is," Devoe says. "These guys got together for the right reasons."

Blink-182 confirms that it is writing new songs, but "the word on the street is that this tour is about the hits," says Devoe, who couldn't say when a new album might be released.

The manager adds that Blink-182 fans who are short on cash this summer will be happy to learn that amphitheater lawn tickets will be available for $20. "If you have $20, you get in. No fees or anything," he says.

Tickets for the Live Nation-produced tour go on sale May 30 at livenation.com.

Blink-182 doesn't plan another North American tour until the band releases a new album, Devoe says. He notes that Blink-182 can't work as quickly as it used to because the band members have family obligations and live in different cities.

"Everyone has got full lives," the manager says. "It's a different Blink, in the sense that you have to pick your kids up after school, and one of your kids has dance class and the other kid has this."

(Editing by Sheri Linden at Reuters)

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