Amongst the dust and sweat and free macaroni and yoo hoo, I did manage to see a few bands at the Vans Warped Tour this year.
Of note:
S.T.U.N. surprised the heck out of me. I expected the usual Warped Tour-ish punk band, but got something completely different. I guess I could call it art punk. I wasn't terribly impressed with their recorded material, but live they just killed. The guitars worked together to push out something reminiscent of the old school punk sound combined with new power rock or something like that. The drummer totally abandoned all sanity and just went crazy, knocking over equipment throughout the whole set. The vocals barely held everything together and had a sense of urgency about them that made you sit up and listen. They closed out their set with a cover of Pink Floyd's "Another Brick In The Wall," and by the end of the set, the guitar was thrown to the ground, the vocalist left the stage in a fury, the bass was upside down on top of the bass amp, sending waves of feedback throughout the auditorium, and the drummer was left with nothing but a kick drum and a floor tom, while the remainder of his equipment was scattered around the stage. It was pretty intense to say the least. I'd recommend seeing these guys, and give their CD another listen while you're at it.
Andrew W.K. was pretty crazy as well. He had this amazing rapport with the crowd, and could basically make them do whatever he wanted, from yelling, "woooooooohuhhhhhh!" to jumping up and down, to dancing like a crazy person. It was like being at a really wild Tony Robbins seminar or something. He just pumped up the crowd and talked about fun and how awesome the day was. I was into it.
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Article comments
1 - BRICKLAYER
Yo Amber,
Did you see Thrice, Taking Back Sunday, Rancid or Coheed and Cambria? C'mon, I want a review of all 100 bands! I'm thinking about going to the show in Pittsburgh, but I'm afraid the youngn's will think I'm a narc and give me a beat down. I've been to several Warped tours, and my memory may be warped itself, but I swear in 1997 i saw Sick of it All, Hatebreed, Snapcase, and maybe Limp Bizkit (first record was just out, they were actually kind of cool, like an arty rap/hardcore hybrid, Fred was wearing a furry Kangol fisherman cap-though now I will not fess up to ever listening to them-but I won't letcha check my cd collection)all on the same bill, and oh yeah, Social Distortion closing the show-Mike Ness prattling on about being a "real" punk, blah, blah, blah. Get over it, dude. I could be confusing shows, though. The thing I remember about my last Warped was how ungodly hot and packed it was, finally seeing Suicidal Tendencies (first album=TOTAL GODHEAD, all following albums=horrible crossover poo poo)and being a little let down, and missing most of Agnostic Front's set because I couldn't get from stage to stage. Their guitar player was p.o.'d about something and smacked the roadie around right on stage! I felt sorry for that dude.
2 - Amber
Rancid sucks. Coheed and Cambria were boring, just like on the CD.
I wish I could have seen Suicidal Tendencies and Agnostic Front on Warped tour, that would have ruled.
3 - BRICKLAYER
Ouch, Brick is hurt. Me likey Rancid, and the Coheed cd (mostly becuz the singer sounds like Geddy Lee!). And I'm not sure if the part about seeing Suicidal and Agnostic was sincere or a poke, but either way, okay, thanks. You did not mention Thrice, but if you are going to degrade, please abstain, as the Bricklayer can only take so many shots to his musical taste in one day, from the webmistress who inspired him to check out both the Blood Brothers, and Most Precious Blood (thanks for that, by the way)!
4 - Amber
Haha oh gosh.
No I didn't see Thrice. And I was serious about ST and AF.. they rule. Rancid bothers me for some reason, and the vocals on Coheed and Cambria grate on my nerves after a minute. that's all I mean.
5 - The Theory
amber amber... I don't know if you should be criticizing Brick's bands after mentioning really enjoying the All American Rejects show... haha. And I wish I could have seen Andrew WK. I hear he has an insane concert.
and bricklayer... go and don't worry about what the youngun's think.
peace.
6 - Amber
Theory!! You are a youngin too so don't hate..
AAR were good. They held my attention, which is more than I can say for most of the bands that were on the bill.
The ones I listed were the ones that I liked. I didn't wanna make this too much of a hate post. Haha.
Anyway warped tour was fun. Get out of your houses and go, children.
7 - The Theory
heh heh. i don't hate. i just found it ironic...
peace.
8 - BRICKLAYER
Yo Theory,
I think that I will go to represent the post 30 demographic. OLD AGE CREW represents! That is, if the weather is nice, my knees don't ache too much, and the work isn't piled too high on my desk. I'll be the old guy in the Johnny Cash t-shirt, continuously drinking water and looking for a shady place to sit down. Oh yeah, I dig your reviews dude, keep 'em coming!
9 - chris weaver
fuck you, rancid is the greatest band
10 - Mac Diva
Free macaroni? Where?
11 - Eric Olsen
Logic as devastating as #9 is irrefutable.
12 - jxdthe#1
DK,TSOL, all the lost are gone again, thanx and riddance boomers, yah fukin hazzies.You wasted your lives by raising US, now your wasting our lives, bye-bye future