After a sold-out 2023 season, plink182 is back at the Adelaide Fringe in 2025 for more covers of classic blink182 songs reimagined as a solo piano recital.
Performed by singer Jesse Miles, the self-proclaimed lovechild of Tim Minchin and that guy from Greenday, plink182 reinvents fan-favourite hits like ‘Dammit’, and ‘All the Small Things’ as haunting and emotive cautionary tales for the “ageing, elder millennial in all of us”.
Fans of Triple J’s recurring Like a Version program will be right at home as plink182 offers a variety of melancholic and nostalgic renditions that examine the band’s influential back catalogue and showcases the deeper meanings behind their songs.
“My show is for fans of blink182 who want to hear those classic songs stripped back,” Jesse says. “But even those who aren’t fans of blink will hopefully find something to love – that songs they may have dismissed in the past can have another side to them.”
He performed the first version of plink182 at the 2023 Fringe including a wider variety of pop punk material, but this year the show hones in on its namesake and returns in 2025 with a more focussed and polished performance.
The idea for the show started when Jesse taught himself to play piano by learning these classic blink182 songs – much like he’d done two decades prior with guitar.
“A lot of people grow up learning guitar by playing these songs so I wanted to apply that same logic to the piano,” he says. Approaching the same material on a different instrument naturally lent itself to “slower, “Bowie-esque renditions” which ultimately inspired the idea to perform them live, cabaret style.
“I try to infuse these songs, and the show itself, with a bit of my own story and present these classic songs in an authentic and lived in way that allows people to really connect with the lyrics,” Jesse says.
At its debut in 2023, plink182 was received by a sell-out crowd. One local review at the time summed it up: “Miles’ performance is built on the understanding that there is a fine line between stupidity and sentimentality. He hones in on and enhances the tenderness he’s found in the songs that informed his youth. The retelling of these much-loved nineties and noughties hits has taken us on a trip down memory lane while proving the power of evolution in new iterations.”
With the Adelaide Fringe gearing up for another stellar year of music, arts, and entertainment, longtime fans (or not!) of blink182, piano enthusiasts, or anyone looking for something new to treat their ears to will love plink182: the pop-punk piano recital.
Tickets range from $15-20 and can be purchased via FringeTIX.
WHAT: plink182: the pop-punk piano recital RETURNS
WHEN: Fri 28 February: 7:00pm | Sun 9 March: 2:00pm | Sat 15 March: 7:00pm
WHERE: Eliza Town Hall, 128 Prospect Rd, Prospect
PRICE: Full price: $15 to $20 | Concession: $18 | BankSA Cardholder: $15 | Companion Card: $0
DURATION: 1 Hour
For more information, click here.
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