The Vans Warped Tour

Music and skateboarding have been inseparable from the beginning. It seems only right that these two unconventional art forms join together to form the Vans' Warped Tour. This is a two-day event perched on the San Francisco Bay featuring large and small stages, skate ramps, over-priced food and merchandise booths selling punk rock memorabilia.
My girlfriends and I arrived just in time to see the Movielife's set on the smaller Drive-Thru Records stage. These guys are a five-piece pop-punk band from New York. Their drummer was on his honeymoon so they borrowed another one named Brian from Brand New. They were high-energy and even did the ever-popular rock star jump in unison before hitting a hard power chord. The crowd rocked out to "I Hope You Die Soon" and "Hand Grenade" as they screamed along with the lead singer.
After the set we explored the rest of the punk rock festival. There were so many stages and booths set up that it was hard to know where to go. So the logical solution to this dilemma was to hit up a beer garden. You could easily tell the average age of these concertgoers by the emptiness of the gated designated drinking areas. Tumbleweeds could have passed through undisturbed. On our way, we stumbled upon Trust Company. Apparently they are getting a lot of media attention, and they were one of the more interesting bands. The guitar was influenced by Rage Against the Machine, but the band claimed their originality with their smooth time changes from fast to melodious emotional rock. They ended up their set with their popular song "Downfall," featured on their album The Lonely Position of Neutral, just released on July 23rd.
The next band we checked out was Finch. These guys rocked the Drive-Thru Records stage. Not only were these guys pure eye candy, but they played really good music. We saw the small, packed stage from afar and were magnetically drawn in. The emotional vocals and guitar almost had me jumping into the San Francisco Bay until they were interrupted by high-pitched screaming vocals by the guitarist. These guys put on one of the best shows on the tour. They are definitely worth checking out. Once again I found myself in the beer garden, which was conveniently located next to where The Casualties were going to be playing. Some diehard punk fans may think these guys were the only real punk band there, besides perhaps Bad Religion. Most of the kids at this show probably don't even remember the 1980s, but The Casualties taught them a history lesson on what punk once was. There isn't much more that can be said except that The Casualties are punk as fuck.
On a conflicting note, if anyone has a soft spot for 1980s new wave techno then you have to check out the Æffect on Fueled by Ramen Records. I don't know how this Florida-based band ended up on the Warped Tour, but they were rad. They were fully set up with the keyboard and drum machine dancing while they sang and played songs reminiscent of early Depeche Mode. The crowd consisted of some other bands on the tour and my friends and I. The Æffect (and the beer combined with the sun) made me want to bust out some Molly Ringwald dance moves.
Flogging Molly is a great band to listen to anytime, anyplace...but nothing compares to seeing them live. The experience is always amazing. They had one of the larger crowds at the tour and had everyone's hands in the air for the tune "Devil's Dance Floor." Flogging Molly's energy is infectious, and I don't think that anyone can see them and not fall head-over-heels in love with their music. Their musical membership includes, but is not limited to, mandolin, banjo, accordion and fiddle. They played a mixture of music off of Swagger and their new album, Drunken Lullabies. If you see one band live in your life, it must be Flogging Molly.
As Flogging Molly played their last note, I had to jump the fence to their next-door neighbor Alkaline Trio. This was the band I had really wanted to see on the tour. They were a favorite among my friends and I in my hometown and we would drive up to Berkeley to see them at the Gilman. Originally based in Chicago, the band has gone through its share of drummers. But guitarist Matt Skiba (who know resides in Frisco) and bassist Dan Adriano (Formerly of Tuesday) have kept the band going. I always left their shows feeling satisfied, but that is far from how I felt after seeing them on Sunday. During the first few songs, the vocals were barely audible, and I thought that maybe the crowd was expected to sing the lyrics. After this technical difficulty was fixed up, they continued their set as kids who had just graduated from Punk Rock 101 smiled and sang along to songs about liver damage and heartache. They did play one of my favorite songs, "Cooking Wine," which appeased me a bit. My expectations were probably too high, but I thought they played better in a small room with a five person audience. Their new drummer Derek Grant is really very good though, and I hope to catch them in a smaller venue sometime in the future.
The grand finale was Bad Religion. Just when I thought the event was seriously lacking in punk rock points, old-school punkers Bad Religion brought the generations together. These guys have been around since I was in diapers, and they are good at what they do...playing punk rock. The last song they played was "Sorrow." This is one of those songs that lingers in your head, and the festival became a ghost town as we filtered out of the venue. The Vans Warped Tour is a fun, but tiring experience that leaves one sun burnt and wondering what happened to punk and disorderly kids.
- Janna Perry

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