Warped Tour 2008
Me + 6 hours in the sun = super tan Lyn. Yes, I am back home after spending the day at Warped. Here is how it shook out.
12.30 arrived at the Amphitheatre formerly known as Coors. Headed straight to the board near the main stages to figure out my schedule.
12.45 hung out at the Hurley/Smart Punk stages. Caught Human Abstract on Smart Punk. They were godawful.
1.15 Aggrolites on Hurley stage. I’m a dork, I was trying to catch the Color Fred, there were two Hurley stages. FAIL. But the Aggrolites were fine for the three songs I caught.
1.45 Story of the Year on Main Stage Right. So sue me, I like a couple of SOTY songs. And I actually think that their lead singer, Dan Marsala is quite the showman, so I was all in. They did I few songs I didn’t recognize, not a surprise since I only have their second album and have only seen them live once before this. But then they did the single from their new album, “Wake Up” and then did a good one from Page Avenue, “In the Shadows”. Of course when they segued into “Until The Day I Die”, the crowd went crazy. Yes, there was a sing-a-long. As if. Solid set for sure.
2.15 The Bronx on Main Stage Left. Oh heck yeah. The SOTY crowd dispersed and we got an intimate set from the Bronx. They looked like they were having a good time up there. I peeped Tim Pyles and (I think) Robin Roth from the side of the stage rocking out to their set. Matt Caughthran, their lead singer, braved coming out into the crowd and sang an entire song in the pit. Awesome. I think there were a lot of people that walked away as new fans.
2.45 Say Anything on Main Stage Right. Max Beemis and crew brought out the tween girls. Max was pretty smarmy but I would expect that considering the songs that he writes. Crowd faves were “Alive with the Glory of Love”, “Shiska” and the set ending one-two punch of “Wow, I Can Get Sexual Too” and “Belt”. (Funny thing about Max’s in between songs banter - he was pubbing Gil Mantera’s Party Dream on the “dancy stage”. We saw this band at SXSW - they were a sorta frightening S&M techno band. Yikes.)
3.15 The Academy Is...on Main Stage Left. By far the most crowded stage of the day thus far. I lasted half a song before I decided I was hungry and wanted a beer.
4.00 Street Dogs on Main Stage Right. Didn’t really see them since I was really just hanging out before Rise Against, but my ears perked up when they covered Black Flag’s “Rise Above”.
4.15 Rise Against on Main Stage Left. I was pretty pumped to see RA again since they rock me out every time I see them. Tim and the boys started off strong with the classic “Black Masks and Gasoline” and then went into “Give It All”. They stopped midway through “Give It All” as security came out and told Tim that there was someone down in the pit and they needed to make sure they were okay. Tim made small talk for a few minutes and then they started “Give It All” near the bridge to finish. The sound on Tim’s vocals were spotty, but that didn’t take away from the hard hitting set of music they ripped through. (Full set list if you rawk on.) Before “State of the Union”, Tim got political on us and spoke out against the War in Iraq, to cheers from the crowd. He also gave a shout out to old school fans and the Che Cafe. Right on. They ended the set with a new song and “Prayer of the Refugee” with a pumped crowd singing along to the lyrics…
Don’t hold me up now
I can stand my own ground
I don’t need your help now
You won’t let me down, down, down!
4.45 Beer o’clock before heading back to the Main Stage for MCS.
5.15 Motion City Soundtrack at Main Stage Left. I love me some MCS. I love their pop sensibility and their quirky lyrics and Justin’s fro. Another crowd dominated by the tween girls, we were treated to “My Favorite Accident” and “This is For Real” right away. Then Justin introduced LGFUAD. Another crowd pleaser “Everything is Alright” was next. Then it was “It Had To Be You” with these stellar lyrics - Let’s get wrecked on pop tarts and sex and see the Taj Mahal. They ended their set with “The Future Freaks Me Out”.
5.45 Against Me! on Main Stage Right. I was surprised to see that Tom Gabel wasn’t set up in the center of the stage - maybe to protect himself from hecklers? Dunno. But they started off with three songs from last year’s excellent album New Wave - the title track, “Stop” and then “White People for Peace”. Then it was “Pints of Guiness Make You Strong” (good lyrics for sure) and “Sink, Florida Sink”. I thought their set would be as tight as Rise Against’s but they didn’t seem to polarize the crowd like Rise Against did. But ending with “Thrash Unreal” was a no-brainer so everyone left singing.
And then I really left. Now on to watching the Olympics.
