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Hoping to beat traffic, Sarah and I left her house at a grueling 7:30 a.m. We got caught in a decent amount of traffic, especially hitting the Mass Pike toll and the exit that we needed to get off. There was about a miles worth of traffic on the highway full of kid driven cars excited about the Warped Tour. We got there a little after 10 a.m., which wasn't bad considering someone I knew left at 11 a.m. and didn't get there until 5:30 p.m. because of traffic.
As we were walking in on wet pavement (it had rained earlier that morning), I heard someone say that this was gonna be a mudfest. Getting caked with mud and having a two hour drive home was not a good combination for me, so I tried to stay away from the mud as much as I could, which proved to be impossible from the beginning, forcing me to change my goal to keep my clothes from getting muddy. My dried gray shoes are resting comfortably on my porch because no one wants to touch them.
I'm sure I wasn't the only one hoping to stay clean, but people seemed to enjoy the mud more than the bands. There were mud fights, people sitting in mud, girls with mud prints on their chest and people ambushing their unsuspecting friends with mud. It was a very interesting thing to watch, but I was glad I was on the sidelines (until I became an innocent bystander to the mudfight).
In addition to mud, bands also played. I found myself carefully walking from stage to stage so not to lose my shoes in the mud, though I almost did twice. This was a fun challenge that a lot of people seemed to be enjoying.
The first band I saw, which was a total accident, was The Kinison. They were on the Hurley stage which we happened to be walking by at the time. I saw them once in Providence, and they completely blew me away with their great stage presence, a stage presence that was lacking today. I'm thinking that it was because the Warped Tour isn't as intimate as a small Rhode Island club, but I was a little disappointed. The music sounded pretty tight and Blood Brothers like, but they all stood pretty still. The singer was wearing a green flowered bathing suit with a drug rug that looked pretty funny.
Looking at my trusty schedule, I saw the The Esoteric was playing the Hot Topic stage soon. I was excited about seeing them because I missed them at Metal Fest and I'm a big fan of With the Sureness of Sleepwalking. We waiting for awhile, listening to MXPX play on one of the main stages in the background, but they weren't setting up or anything. I saw two of the guys from the band just waiting there with sad looks on their faces, as was mine. When I saw them putting drums back into cases, I went over and asked if they were still playing. They told me that some of the guys were stuck in traffic and that they might be playing later in the day. Disappointed, I went with Sarah so she could take pictures of The Starting Line.
What I heard of MXPX sounded decent. I was never a really big of them, but they were alright to listen to, even though they didn't play "Doin' Time," which not only is a good song, but the only one of theirs that I know.
The Starting Line were better than I anticipated...at first. Their songs were very cutesy, which explained the hoards of girls trying to jump over the barrier. I started getting bored towards the middle of their set, which only got progressively worse as they kept playing.
We made it to the Volcom stage to watch Over It play. They had a smaller crowd than I expected, but it didn't seem to bother them as they played with a lot of energy. Everyone but the drummer wore matching black shirts, which I'm betting was planned. They played a pretty good set, though the Volcom stage was fucking loud.
Paramore was playing at a different time than my now not so trusty schedule told me, so we decided to walk back to the Volcom stage so Sarah could watch the Street Dogs while I conducted an interview. While walking by, Atreyu was playing "You Give Love a Bad Name," by Bon Jovi. Being a big Bon Jovi fan, I made Sarah stop and we watched the rest of their set, which only consisted of "Lip Gloss and Black."
As I walked to meet back up with Sarah, I walked by A Wilhelm Scream playing "Anchor End." Being my favorite song by them, I listened to it before making my way back to the Volcom stage. When I got there, Sarah told me that the Street Dogs' drummer was running late, meaning that they hadn't played yet. This was good because I was still able to watch Street Dogs, but bad because I couldn't see A Wilhelm Scream. Looking back, I think I made the right choice, as tough as it was.
Street Dogs had a huge crowd, full of probably every street or crusty punk at Warped. Mike McColgan bummed me out by calling this Boston, even though it was obviously Northampton (which is closer to New York than it is Boston, in case anyone is keeping score at home), but he made up for it by again proving why he is such an amazing front man. He totally owned the stage and the crowd. He was constantly over the barrier letting fans sing along to every word. The music was really tight and McColgan put them over the top. Street Dogs played one of the best sets of the day, easily.
Strung Out opened their set with the great "Too Close to See," which made fans happy. Jason Cruz's voice sounded very strained when he sang (though his scream was still very strong), and the band sounded tired. Even though this wasn't Strung Out's best performance, they were still entertaining and I enjoyed watching them.
Funeral for a Friend had a huge crowd that was eating out of their hand. I wasn't expecting the crowd to be this big, but the fans were loving them. I enjoyed hearing the Welch accents in between songs. Those accents make people sound so smart. They opened with an older and screamier song that I never heard and wasn't too fond of. I'm a huge fan of Hours, which leans more towards the melodic rock side. They played "Roses for the Dead" next, which made me happy.
Unfortunately, Boys Night Out was playing at around the same time as Funeral for a Friend, which prompted us to go to the Smartpunk stage to watch them (a complaint I have about Warped Tour is that you are forced to make decisions like this-grrrr). We missed about a half a song and were able to get pretty close to stage, despite the mom patrol. She wouldn't let us walk any further because her kids were there. Connor Lovat-Fraser was sporting long hair and a beard, which resembled Woody Harrelson. The addition of keyboardist Kara Dupuy, who also contributes vocals, sound amazing live. Dupuy has a great voice and her keyboard chops added much more depth to their music, even their older songs. They played a good mix of songs from all their albums, including "Composing," "Purging," and "I Got Punched in the Face for Sticking My Nose in Someone Else's Business" (I guess this is a pro Adam Sandler band).
I heard Story of the Year as I was walking towards the press tent to conduct another interview, and they didn't sound all that bad. I had to check the schedule to make sure it was them, because I hated their music. They did play two fast songs, which I enjoyed thoroughly, though I still doubt that I will ever purchase one of their albums.
Sarah watched Dropkick Murphys while I was doing the interview. I have seen Dropkick Murphys in concert twice before: once in September 2004 and again in March 2005; both sets being an hour long, featuring "Tessie" and "Dirty Glass," and both were held in Boston. I was disappointed that neither song graced the eager crowd at Warped Tour, but this was also only a half-hour performance. DKM managed to fit in a great deal of older songs during this time, while mixing in some newer songs; one well-known example being “Sunshine Highway.” The audience was going crazy, which was great to watch. I was pretty psyched getting to see DKM because I had a photo pass so I got up close to the band and got some great pictures without having to worry about getting other peoples’ heads in the way, as there were no people in front of me. Basically, that was a great feeling, one that I enjoyed, as I am so much shorter than most of their fans! I appreciated seeing the fans get totally into the songs. A total punk-rock mom was standing in front of me with her young daughter, whose hair was dyed dark blue, encouraging her to sing along. I also thought it was cool when they threw their hands in the air and yelled, “hey, hey, hey!” The Red Sox flags were definitely there, which I thought was also cool. All in all, it was a great day, mostly due to the awesome performance put on by DKM.
After the interview, I was about to leave the press tent when I ran into somebody that I knew. I was talking to him for a little while when I heard Circa Survive playing on the Ernie Ball stage. I figured that I would be watching Dropkicks, since they were playing at the same time, but I was stoked to hear them play and walked over to watch their set. They sounded incredibly tight and had a good sized crowd, especially since they were competing against the hometown favorite Dropkick Murphys. Anthony Green has an amazing voice that sounds as good live as it does on CD. I'm so glad he's not in Saosin anymore, as (in addition not liking Saosin) his voice is much more suited for Circa Survive.
I was torn because Fall Out Boy was playing at the same time as I am the Avalanche. I opted to watch the latter, but they were running late, which enabled me to watch Fall Out Boy play "Sugar, We're Going Down," which I've been listening to constantly on Pure Volume. After that, I headed back to the Hot Topic stage, as I am the Avalanche was getting ready to play. I was really excited to hear them, as I loved The Movielife and liked what I heard from their E card. They had a lot of sound problems, which was the reason their start was delayed. Once they did start, they were very impressive. It was good hearing Vinnie sing in a band again.
I am the Avalanche play slow to mid tempo rock music, but it fucking rules. They played with a lot of energy, though it was annoying having to hear a lady with a megaphone tell people to stand in a single file line for a Mest signing.
I was able to catch one Gratitude song, which I didn't think was going to happen. Jonah Matranga seems like he lets the music take over his body, which makes for some great stage presence. I only caught one song because I had to meet up with Sarah at the main stage to see The Transplants, but that one song was very enjoyable to watch.
Sarah didn't want to take pictures of The Transplants, so I swiped her pass and made my way to the front, which was an awesome experience. Getting to see Travis Barker play so close was amazing (he is a tremendous drummer), as was seeing Tim Armstrong. They played a great set, including a cover of "White Riot" by The Clash. I liked how they spiced up some of their songs, especially "Gangsters and Thugs" and "Tall Cans in the Air."
The sun started beating down (I was somehow already sunburned, though this was the sun's first appearance) on my burning neck as Thrice took the stage. I was more interested in checking out their new songs than anything, but their old ones were enjoyable. Some songs they played were "Silhouette," "Artist in the Ambulance," and "Deadbolt." Dustin Kensrue also played a rendition of "Stare at the Sun" by himself, which was mellow, but set a nice mood and received a huge response.
Thrice did play two new songs. The first one was called "Image of the Invisible," and it definitely showed the band going in a slightly different direction while still very much being Thrice. It was pretty slow with a lot of different drum beats, but the guitars still wailed and it was still a well written and catchy song. The second new song they played started off very mellow, was followed by a slow heaviness before getting aggressive with screaming. The vocal only part was really cool, as was the screamy part that it built up to. I'm excited to hear Vheissu when it comes out, although I won't be pronouncing it all that much.
After Thrice played, I got caught in another Warped dilemna. The Offspring were playing the main stage, Darkest Hour were playing the Hot Topic stage, and Bane were playing the Triple Crown stage. I was walking towards the Triple Crown, as Bane always puts on an incredible show, but I decided that it would be smart of me to watch a few Offspring songs. Again, I grabbed Sarah's photo pass and went up front to take some pictures. They played "Come Out and Play," as well as two songs I know but don't know their names. They sounded pretty tight, but I love seeing Bane live, so I left in hopes that they'd play close by soon (even though Bane plays local shows a lot, but I can't get enough of them).
We finally got to the ghetto stage where Bane was playing, and I quickly made my way up to the front, camera in hand. Along with Street Dogs, Bane had the most impressive set of the day. The plowed through their songs like hardcore veterans, even though there were a few technical difficulties.
One rarity was that there was a lot of dead space in between songs. Having seen Bane enough to know that Aaron Bedard always has a lot to say, I found this odd. When he did talk between songs, his words were meaningful. He reminded the crowd that punk rock was about rebellion and said he was worried that it was getting swept up by M2 and big record labels. Personally, I have a small problem with punk rock being the "in" trend right now, but I'd feel better about it if kids just getting into this type of music took time to research its roots instead of just assuming that the bands they hear on the radio are punk rock pioneers.
Bane played such classics as "Count Me Out" and "Can We Start Again" and "Give Blood" as well as the soon to be classic "My Therapy" before closing with my favorite, "Swan Song."
Even though Mae was starting their set, we decided to leave, as it was already 7:30 and we had an over two hour drive ahead of us. This was the longest that I've ever stayed at Warped, which led to sore legs, muddy shoes and ringing ears, but it was well worth it. As much as I would have liked to watch Mae, I couldn't think of a better way to end the day than by watching Bane slay the stage.
Reviewed by RF