The band is touring behind it’s first new LP in seven years
When Angels and Airwaves are in town, Everything’s Magic.
The alt-rock keystones have returned to the road to promote their new studio outing Lifeforms. It is their first full-length LP in seven years. Last night, the band stopped at Franklin Music Hall in Philadelphia to perform for a capacity crowd.
Bad Suns started the show with a stellar set. It is their first time on the road since their Mystic Truth Tour back in 2019.
The California natives have a new album in the works called Apocalypse Whenever which is due out January 28 via Epitaph Records.
Angels and Airwaves wasted no time showcasing their new album. They kicked things off with “Kiss and Tell,” then launched right into “Timebomb” and “Euphoria” – all offerings from Lifeforms.
Before playing “Tunnels,” the band exited the stage as frontman Tom DeLonge stayed to give the crowd some backstory on how the tune came to fruition. Describing the experience he had moments after his father passed away, DeLonge said it was that experience that led him to be able to write the song’s final lyrics.
The emotion in the venue was palpable.
That same feeling would return later in the set.
Before playing “Rite of Spring,” Tom dedicated the track to his long-time blink-182 bandmate Mark Hoppus, who recently battled cancer.
“My friend Mark [Hoppus, blink-182] came down with Stage 4 cancer and now he’s fucking clear of it,” DeLonge exclaimed. “So this song is about my broken family. About my dad having all these extra girls on the side, and him and my mom fighting. I got kicked out of high school, and I knew these two skateboarders at this other high school I went to, and one of them was a good friend of David’s [Kennedy, Angels and Airwaves] and mine. And he came up to me and he was like, ‘Hey, you should meet my girlfriend.’ And this girl comes up and she goes, ‘I hear you’re starting a band.’ She goes, ‘My brother is moving down here. His name’s Mark and he plays bass guitar.’ This song is for Mark because he’s fucking cancer-free.”
Other highlights from the show included “The Adventure,” “Everything’s Magic,” “Secret Crowds,” “Rebel Girl,” and more.
The band wrapped up their 15-song set with “Heaven.”
The North American leg of Angels and Airwaves’ Lifeforms Tour wraps up in California next month with two shows at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles and a final show at SOMA in San Diego.
