Charlie Baker is going to a Blink-182 concert in Las Vegas this weekend
The Massachusetts governor did say he was going to "let it rock" in his second term.
You just won a second term as governor of Massachusetts in a landslide election. How do you celebrate?
Blink-182?
Yup. Blink-182.
Gov. Charlie Baker and his family are traveling to Las Vegas to see the 1990s rock band in concert this weekend, his office said Friday morning. They’ll return to the Bay State on Monday. According to a spokeswoman for the 61-year-old Republican governor, Blink-182 is “one of his favorite bands.”
The band is playing Friday and Saturday at the Pearl Theater at the Palms Casino Resort.
Following in line with former boss and mentor, the Grateful Dead-loving Gov. Bill Weld (who wrote an obituary in The Boston Globe for Dead frontman Jerry Garcia), the governor has been unabashed in his music fandom, even in the Corner Office.
Baker’s favorites include “songs my kids listen to,” the Dropkick Murphys, Linkin Park, Green Day, Blink, and “loud bands from the 70s and 80s” — such as Aerosmith, AC/DC, The Clash, The Ramones, The Who, Journey, Def Leppard, and Meatloaf — according to his campaign Facebook page. Following Prince’s death in 2016, the governor had the Zakim Bridge lit purple in honor of the pop legend’s life. At the time, his office noted Baker’s belief that “Purple Rain” is “one of the best albums of all time.”
Boston magazine thoroughly documented Baker’s “shamelessly Top 40,” yet eclectic, music tastes in 2015, revealing that the governor was a regular participant in writer David Bernstein’s song-name Facebook game, even during a closely watched debate over Boston’s 2024 Olympic bid. Baker said he was “multi-tasking.” The article also includes a video of Baker singing and dancing to The Temptations song “My Girl” at a barbecue in 2014.
During his victory speech Tuesday night, Baker promised his second term as governor would be “nonstop, pedal-to-the-metal, let it rock,” Apparently, this weekend, he’s just getting a head start.
