blink-182 Are Teasing Something Big, Is It Tom?

blink-182 are teasing something big, and one historically very reliable source believes that something big includes the much-speculated return of Tom Delonge to the lineup.

The San Diegan pop-punk icons wiped their Instagram clean over the weekend and updated their official website to show only an animated version of their bunny logo, tapping his foot, with yellow banners reading "under construction" and bold text reading "hard at work, check back soon". The band also updated all of their social media profile images to the 'smiley face' logo from their greatest hits collection, before the official blink-182 Twitter account then started liking many Tweets from a decade ago, kicking up a bit of a Tweetstorm. The hype intensified with further when a series of billboards started to appear around the world stating "your future is cumming, in the blink of an eye", with a link to the band's official website and an image that appears to be a new blink-182 logo.  

If this ain’t saying something idk what else to tell you. #blink182 pic.twitter.com/IbAVhwqfC9

— JAKOBY (@Jakoby_182) October 8, 2022

It certainly looks something big is about to drop from blink-182 and the man behind Chorus.Fm (formerly absolutepunk.net), Jason Tate believes that something involves a tour next year WITH Tom Delonge in the lineup.

Tate, who has long been considered one of the most reliable sources for blink-182-related news, and is one of a very small number of people that Mark Hoppus follows on Twitter, has shared rumours about Tom's return in several of his recent newsletters for subscribers, indicating that a tour would be taking place next year that would include Tom Delonge.  Those newsletters somehow found their way onto Reddit, prompting Tate to send out another newsletter where he basically confirms that everything he has commented on so far relating to the prospective reunion has come from official sources.

"I don’t want to ruin a band’s surprise. It’s why I don’t just pour it all out there, give every detail I know, and spill it widely. And in this case, oh boy, did I find out a lot. And it was the breadth of what and where I heard stuff. Labels, managers, booking agents, people at venues, bands, producers, and people hearing band members talk about it firsthand. It got to the point where I was joking about it being the worst-kept secret in the industry. But it wasn’t until I finally heard hard dates, knew some contracts were signed, and even heard potential announcement dates that I was willing to give massive hints about what was coming and put my reputation on the line with the news."

Adding further fuel to the fire, a Chicago rock DJ straight up went and proclaimed Tom's return and a Chicago tour date as being a fact. As per a report from Rock Revival, Troy Hanson, Cumulus Media’s Vice President of Corporate Programming for Rock Formats made the following comments on Q101’s Brian, Ali & Justin Podcast.

“Tom DeLonge has rejoined blink-182 and they are coming to the United Center,” Hanson stated. The United Center is the sports and entertainment arena in Chicago. If the band is confirmed to play at the United Center, the show is most likely part of a full-scale North American arena tour."

Earlier this year, Mark Hoppus denied that a blink-182 reunion with DeLonge was imminent following a slew of rumours.

Speaking on his Discord, Hoppus stated that "there is no news to share. There is no announcement. Today is thirty years of blink-182!"

He added that if there were any blink-182 and DeLonge reunion news, the band would be making quite a lot of noise about it, and not cryptically teasing fans with old photos on social media and Funko Pop! Vinyl figures.

Since DeLonge's departure from the band for a second time in 2015, blink-182 have released two full-length albums with Skiba, 2016's California and 2019's Nine. 

To date, DeLonge's last work with blink-182 was 2015's Neighborhoods, which received a mixed response from fans.