Fans of blink-182 were left asking, “Where Are You?” on Wednesday (Mar. 1), after the band – Mark Hoppus, Travis Barker, and the returning Tom DeLonge – announced that they would postpone the start of their world tour due to Travis, 47, undergoing surgery to fix his wrecked finger. With the first leg of the tour set for South America this month, Tom, 47, broke the news via an Instagram video that the band wouldn’t make it. “I wanted to say I’m so sorry to everyone in South America that we couldn’t be down there,” he said. “This is something that we have been aiming to do for so long, and we worked so hard, and we just kind of had one of those freak accidents that nobody saw coming.”
“Travis needs to go in and have surgery on his finger, and we have to get that well, and we have to get that strong before we can do anything else,” Tom added. “This is just so sad. These were the biggest shows we ever played; these are some of the most important places in the world for a band. This was like the pinnacle of our career was coming down and playing for you guys, so I really want you all to know that we’re devastated.”
Thankfully, Tom said that the band was going to make up the postponed dates in 2024. He apologized for the delay to all the fans who have been waiting to see the Mark, Tom, and Travis show again. “This is just devastating on so many levels. But, we’re going to get Travis better, and we’re going come down, the three of us, together, and we’re going rock, and we’re going have an incredible time with you guys.” Tom stressed “from my heart to yours” how much playing for the fans means to the band and that this decision was not something they took lightly. “This is not something that we could even have saw coming. It is just devastating. But we love you, Blink 182 loves you, and we will see you soon.”
Travis announced on Feb. 27 that he had “surgery tomorrow” after injuring his ring finger twice during rehearsals for the tour. The IG Gallery gave fans a gruesome look at just how damaged the digit was, with the knuckle seemingly swollen to the point where it appeared to be in the wrong place on the finger.
What happened? “I was playing the drums at rehearsals yesterday, and I smashed my finger so hard I dislocated it and tore the ligaments,” Travis tweeted on Feb. 8. Less than two weeks later, he sported a brace on his left hand while on a stroll with Kourtney Kardashian, right after he shared via Instagram Story that he’d hurt his finger again.