"Listen to this," Mark Hoppus brags as he breaks into the descending chords that close "Stay Together For The Kids", "it's not very complicated." He's right, of course, but then this is a man who knows music doesn't always have to be. In the unlikely event that anyone turned up here expecting to witness daring musical experimentalism, they would have left with an empty stomach. For those who wanted big, brash punk sounds to bounce to, this was a feast.
Recent hit "Feeling This" is as close to innovative as Blink 182 get, joint vocalists Hoppus and Tom DeLonge sparring over amphetamine-pumped verses before breaking into a downbeat, lilting chorus. It combines their trademark breakneck pace with a melancholic undertow that often seems to lurk behind their clowning façade.
It also showcases what a tight live band Blink 182 are, absolutely comfortable with each other's abilities and able to accelerate from slow to terrifyingly fast in seconds. Their muscular sound effortlessly fills Wembley's great cavern, a task which has foiled many numerically superior bands. Travis Barker, in particular, is a stunning musician, with a ferocity to his drumming not seen since Dave Grohl's Nirvana days.
They play their two trump cards early. First, there's the dayglo pop of "All The Small Things", the kind of song Good Charlotte must lie in bed masturbating over nightly, stuffed full of catchy goodness. Then there's the epic misery of "Stay Together For The Kids", mumblingly sad verses giving way to a pulverising thrash of a chorus and a howl of pain from DeLonge. Astonishingly, it manages to make American suburban angst sound moving, a trick Bret Easton Ellis never quite pulled off.
After this, many of their songs sound more generic, but even on the lesser numbers there is usually something distinctive about the Blink 182 sound that lifts them above dross imitators like Sum 41 or, worse, Bowling For Soup. Even the shoddy mish-mash of "Miss You" is rendered intriguing by Tom DeLonge's heroic whine, the sound of brattishness raised to a near art form. "Go", on the other hand, lacks a tune but compensates with its manic energy.
It's easy for the British press to sneer at the often-formulaic American skate-punk scene, but as long as we come up with bands as stunted and feeble as Snow Patrol or Feeder, this particular pot will not be accusing any kettles. Yes, it's difficult to imagine anyone really living inside Blink 182's music, but it makes for a fun weekend break, and sometimes that's just enough.
