The news was revealed on the radio station Q101 Chicago
Tom DeLonge is reportedly back in blink-182. According to Troy Hanson, Cumulus Media’s Vice President of Corporate Programming for Rock Formats, DeLonge has officially rejoined blink-182 and the band is planning a North American arena tour. Hanson broke the news on the Q101’s Brian, Ali & Justin Podcast – Chicago’s alternative rock radio staton.
“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 the United Center, the show is most likely part of a full scale North American arena tour.
Next year marks the 20th anniversary of blink-182’s 2003 self-titled album. Released via Geffen, the platinum-selling record would be the band’s last before a lengthy hiatus. They regrouped in 2011 and released Neighborhoods, which is the band’s final LP to date with Tom Delonge.
blink-182 parted ways with DeLonge back in January of 2015. Unsurprisingly, there were conflicting reports about how the situation unfolded. The band recruited Alkaline Trio frontman Matt Skiba to fill in after DeLonge’s departure.
“We were all set to play this festival and record a new album and Tom kept putting it off without reason,” the band said in a statement at the time. “A week before we were scheduled to go in to the studio we got an email from his manager explaining that he didn’t want to participate in any Blink-182 projects indefinitely, but would rather work on his other non-musical endeavors. “No hard feelings, but the show must go on for our fans.”
“To all the fans, I never quit the band,” DeLonge said on his social media at the time. “I actually was on a phone call about a blink-182 event for New York City at the time all these weird press releases started coming in. Apparently those releases were ‘sanctioned’ from the band. Are we dysfunctional, yes. But, Christ.”
At this time, neither blink-182 nor Tom DeLonge have commented on the situation. Bassist and vocalist Mark Hoppus completed a tough battle with cancer last September. Before he started his chemotherapy treatment, he had a visit with blink bandmate Travis Barker and DeLonge.
“It was the first time that all three of us were in the same room in, like, five years,” Hoppus told Billboard back in August. “It’s actually better than it used to be. There was no agenda. There were no lingering grudges. It felt very back to what it should be: three friends sitting in a room.”