NEPA Scene Staff

Linkin Park and Blink-182 team up for special ‘Blinkin Park’ show at Hersheypark Stadium on July 30

Linkin Park and Blink-182 team up for special ‘Blinkin Park’ show at Hersheypark Stadium on July 30
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From a press release:

It was announced today with a “Funny or Die” video that multi-platinum-selling rock bands Linkin Park and Blink-182 are coming together for two huge “Welcome to Blinkin Park” shows at Citi Field in New York City on Friday, July 28 and Hersheypark Stadium on Sunday, July 30 at 7 p.m. with special guest Machine Gun Kelly.

Tickets for the Hershey concert, which are $40.10, $50.10, $64.60, $77.60, and $94.60, plus fees, go on sale next Friday, May 12 at 10 a.m. and will be available at the Giant Center box office (550 Hersheypark Dr., Hershey), online at hersheyentertainment.com and ticketmaster.com, at all Ticketmaster outlets, and by phone at 717-534-3911 or 800-745-3000.

Formed in 1996 in Agoura Hills, California, Linkin Park rose to international fame with their 2000 debut album “Hybrid Theory,” which was certified diamond by the RIAA in 2005 and multi-platinum in several other countries. Their following studio album, “Meteora” continued the band’s success, topping the Billboard 200 album chart in 2003, and was followed by extensive touring and charity work around the world. In 2003, MTV2 named Linkin Park the sixth greatest band of the music video era and the third best of the new millennium. Billboard ranked Linkin Park No. 19 on the Best Artists of the Decade chart. In 2012, the band was voted as the greatest artist of the 2000s in a Bracket Madness poll on VH1 In 2014, the band was declared the Biggest Rock Band in the World Right Now by Kerrang.

Having adapted nu metal and rap metal to a radio-friendly yet densely layered style in “Hybrid Theory” and “Meteora,” the band explored other genres in their next studio album, “Minutes to Midnight,” in 2007. The album topped the Billboard charts and had the third-best debut week of any album that year. Linkin Park continued to explore a wider variation of musical types in their fourth album in 2010, “A Thousand Suns,” layering their music with more electronic sounds and beats. Their fifth album, “Living Things,” in 2012, combines musical elements from all of their previous records, while their sixth record, “The Hunting Party,” returned to a heavier rock sound in 2014. Their upcoming album, “One More Light,” will be released on May 19.

Linkin Park has collaborated with several other artists over the years, including rapper Jay Z in their mashup EP, “Collision Course,” and many others on the remix albums “Reanimation” and “Recharged.” They have sold over 70 million albums worldwide and have won two Grammy Awards.

Formed in Poway, California in 1992, Blink-182 currently consists of bassist and vocalist Mark Hoppus, drummer Travis Barker, and guitarist and vocalist Matt Skiba. Founded by guitarist and vocalist Tom DeLonge, Hoppus, and drummer Scott Raynor, the band emerged from the Southern California punk scene of the early 1990s and first gained notoriety for high-energy live shows and irreverent lyrical toilet humor. Blink-182 was initially known as Blink until an Irish band of the same name threatened legal action; in response, the band appended the meaningless number “182.”

In its early years, Blink-182 toured heavily behind the band’s 1995 debut, “Cheshire Cat.” The group signed with major label MCA Records to co-distribute its second album, “Dude Ranch,” in 1997. Raynor was fired midway through a 1998 tour and replaced by Barker. The group’s next two releases, “Enema of the State” in 1999 and “Take Off Your Pants and Jacket” in 2001, were enormous successes on the strength of radio and MTV airplay. The eponymously titled “Blink-182” followed in 2003 and marked a stylistic shift for the band.

DeLonge quit in 2005, sending them into what was termed an “indefinite hiatus.” They reunited in 2009, producing the trio’s sixth album, “Neighborhoods,” in 2011. In 2015, DeLonge again exited and was replaced by Alkaline Trio guitarist and vocalist Matt Skiba. The band’s latest album, “California,” was released on July 1, 2016.

Blink-182 is considered a key group in the development of pop punk; the band’s combination of pop melodies with fast-paced punk rock featured a more radio-friendly accessibility than prior bands. The trio has sold over thirteen million albums in the United States and over 50 million albums worldwide. In 2011, the New York Times asserted, “No punk band of the 1990s has been more influential than Blink-182,” and even as the band receded after its 2005 split, “its sound and style could be heard in the muscular pop punk of Fall Out Boy or in the current wave of high-gloss Warped Tour punk bands, like All Time Low and The Maine.”

The Hersheypark Event Special is available for this show. Present your concert ticket at the Hersheypark Ticketing Services Building the day before, day of, or day after a concert to receive discounted admission.

The wristband policy will be in effect for this concert. Fans are permitted on the Hersheypark Entertainment Complex property beginning at 7 a.m. on May 12. Two hours prior to the on-sale, fans will be directed in front of Giant Center box office, where they will be issued a numbered wristband. Wristbands are available for one hour and, at the conclusion of that hour, a selected fan will randomly choose a wristband that will determine the line order. Once the line is in place, fans arriving after the wristbands were issued will be escorted to the end of the numbered line.

See NEPA Scene’s review and photos of Blink-182’s concert with A Day to Remember and All Time Low in Scranton last year here.