As Blink-182’s curtain dropped, the ground opened up in front of us and where there had been a milling crowd of festival-goers there was suddenly and surreally a dark chasm. There was nothing to do but to charge forward with everyone else; I can remember little about the first two songs other than being trapped in a human dishwasher, the crowd hurling me about with inhuman efficiency.

The ‘pit soon settled, just in time for the one-two punch of “Rock Show” into “What’s My Age Again?” Whenever the boys played a song I recognised (like “Always” or “First Date”), it was incredible, with everyone chanting along and a fantastic, crisp sound (ring-in drummer Brooks Wackerman did a great job), but there were too many unexceptional tracks in between. Their announcement “From now on, nothing after 1997!” got the biggest cheer of the night.

Still, I enjoyed myself – they didn’t waste too much time with banter (aside from a skeezy “Tits out for the boys” interlude), and the finale of “Josie” into “Carousel” into “Dammit” (with a “Family Reunion” coda) was everything you’d expect, complete with an impromptu circle pit opening up behind me as confetti rained down upon the crowd.

Read about The Offspring, Metallica, and my summary here.