Concert: Warped Tour 2009

The long awaited Warped Tour review commences now. Sorry for the wait. The times are quite busy during the changing of the months, my friends. Especially with the more exciting concert that occurred two weeks post-Warped, which is still fresh in my memory (that being All Points West). Nevertheless, grab a cup of coffee, sit back, relax, and enjoy this long review, you fucking scenester.

The 15th Annual Van's Warped Tour stopped in Oceanport, NJ, on July 19th. A beautiful day, to say the least. And just to throw it out there: I've been getting very lucky with nice weather when it comes to shows this summer: The Shins - nice, no humidity (though indoors); Warped Tour - hot, but breezy; All Points West - temperate, then slightly chilly at night. No complaints about the weather. And the trip down the Garden State Parkway was chock-full of old jokes, friendly annoyances, and predictions. With this being many of my friends' (who were with me) umpteenth Warped Tour, the day was worth looking forward to, mainly because ska music had returned in heavy force to the tour.

After pounding warm brewskies in the parking lot, the five of us (Sean, Camilo, Colin, and Guo; all the buddies from All Points West, minus Eric, but plus Colin) walked through the various lots and into the entrance, which was cluttered with young scenesters, desperate for individuality and attention, sporting ridiculous clothing and moving in awkward evasive maneuvers. My guess is they're parents couldn't wait to drop them off so they could go drink themselves into a shame-free-offspring bender.

Ads, ads, and more ads were grown onto the fences, road signs, and pavement sections like vines and weeds. They ranged from shitty cover bands to awful blogs (Who put this Never Mind the Mainstream sticker on this parking cone?) College drop-outs looking for drug money held up flyers like picket signs with the words: "(Blank band) plays at (blank time)", "Free Hugs!", "Will mosh for food!", and other exasperating passages that made me question why I'd be spending the next 7-8 hours with people like this. But in the back of my head, it continued to lightly dawn on me: "You'll be skanking with the dedicated few in just a few hours, so be patient."

Beer: 8 bucks. Okay, whatever. The one thing that Warped Tour beat All Points West on was the Beer Garden. Better beer, better quantity, and not so many people. A lot of chill folks, including Warped veterans (those who bragged about seeing Deftones, The Specials, Sublime and The Vandals) telling us the proper way to hunt for ladies at a show like this. Needless to say, we did not take the old men up on their generous advice. Once the beer was consumed, we took a dive to the outskirts of the venue, all the way at the end, near the main stage, to see the schedule. A lot of bands, I see. Interesting. We picked our desired acts and we were on our way.

Up first: Bayside on the Hurley stage. We were pretty far back for these guys. I have some high school buddies who were pretty into this group. I'm a fan of vocalist Anthony Raneri; he's got a solid set of pipes and a somber tenor. The rest of the band played well, and even for someone who is fair-weather fan, I was amused. Nice warm-up for the punk-heavy day, if we had even decided to spend most of our time going that route. Best tune: "The Walking Wounded" off the 2007 album that bares the same name.

It's important for me to describe the layout of the show itself. Many stages here, guys. A lot of them sponsored by MySpace or Skateboard companies, you know, kids stuff. That's to be expected. But food was everywhere, as were drinks, and of course, there were novelty tents, promising "Q&A's with the band!" or "Free Giveaways!" I was not there to spend a million bucks on T-shirts or stickers. Alcohol was my only expense. And the breeze felt so nice that you could barely feel your skin burning. That's what the shore area will do to you. But really, just a lovely day.

Next: Senses Fail. ... Let's move on, shall we?

Followed by: Streetlight Manifesto on the Hurley.com stage. Finally, some ska action. I knew this band would be the first dub, punk, reggae, ska, or two-tone act out on stage. They're still a small Jersey band out of East Brunswick (Rutgers University area), though their records have received critical acclaim and much praise from both punk and ska publications. Some local friends met up with us for this joyous occasion. Warped Tour is a great show for friends. Many of them were younger, but hey, we're immature, so we could relate. Streetlight exploded onto the stage after Senses Fail finally shut up. Lead singer Thomas Kalnocky received a large pop from the crowd. He came out in a sling. Turns out he had a little stumble not too long ago and fractured his wrist. Ouch. Still, the man sang and the band played as if their wounded leader was 100%.

Streetlight Manifesto, as band, has evolved over the years, and so have the fans. The Streetlight boys have moved on past the childish beef with former-ska alliance Catch 22 and have gained an enthusiastic audience of their own. Members have come and gone, but the core members remain a talented group of musicians who bring both exuberance and high-octane power to their live sets, along with raw and melancholy lyrics in their songs. Some of their tunes bring you up high, and then bring you down hard, crashing like a roller coaster off the tracks. People in the pit were so connected to the sound and dance that they barely noticed the half hour fly, which is a shame because for someone like me, I’m used to Streetlight headlining smaller gigs up north and playing for hours on end with multiple encores. Still, the sound was ferocious and newer tunes dominated the fast-paced set. Best tune(s): “Failing Flailing”, “Would You Be Impressed”, and “Somewhere In The Between”. Very pleased on how much energy they could put into a short set. Great group of guys and great music to match. Check them out. Moving on.

Streetlight Manifesto - "Here's To Life"

NEXT!: The always fanatical and spunky Less Than Jake came on the main stage. Nice, some Warped old hands. The were through doing their “Price Is Right” parody set from 2007, but still juvenile enough to come out to the Star Wars theme. That was indication enough that we were in for a fun set. Roger Manganelli and Co. came out loud and connected with the audience right away. No surprise there. However, they were victims to the short time slot on stage. But it didn’t stop them from completely ruling the concert grounds. The skanking was great; a good mix of oldies and newbies. Crowded, but you were able to move and strut your stuff. At a few points, I decided to do some crowd surfing. While I was in my “Cowabunga!” trance on the sea of arms, I lost my cell phone. Luckily, I was able to find it – on stage. Security gave it back after I yelled at them and they got off their high horses. What a lucky snag. Camilo’s picture made the Star Ledger which was fun. We also flung hats off kids’ heads (always a pleasurable game), and got drenched in our own sweat to one of the greatest bands of the day. Best tune(s): “The Science Of Selling Yourself Short”, “The Ghosts Of You And Me”, and “Look What Happened”. The band signed off and we all applauded graciously. A band well played, a crowd well skanked, and a job well done by everyone around. Killer.

Less Than Jake - "Plastic Cup Politics"

Hitting the Smartpunk.com stage next in a drunken stupor: NOFX. The guys spent most of their time telling extremely racist (but funny as hell) jokes to each other, before welcoming out one of the only Black guys on the tour, one of the various members of The Specials who plays the trombone (awful with names, my bad). NOFX impressed to an extent, but I’m still not a big listener. Maybe it would’ve changed if lead vocalist and bassist, Fat Mike, hadn’t stated “I’d rather be anywhere else but here”. I didn’t know how to take that one. Most people leaned to the side that it was a joke, but I thought to myself, “Meh, when’s Big D & The Kids table playing?”

At long last: My most anticipated act of the day and when of my favorite bands: Big D & The Kids Table came out to an overwhelmingly ecstatic crowd at the Hurley.com stage. The Doped Up Dollies came out to sing back-up, too. Here they are, pre-show, talking about the tour:

Big D, Short Chat

Okay, so let’s break it down. Despite being from Boston, these guys won the New York/New Jersey-highly-spirited crowd over. Playing mostly older tunes, the band (even with a small electrical error in the beginning of their opener, in which they made light of) reacquainted the fans with their standard hits. I was excited for new material, though, as their new release Fluent In Stroll dabbles into mostly stroll, dub and reggae, while all the songs are pretty much love songs (we can so tell Dave’s been maturing from a relationship). It already makes the list of my Top 10 favorite records of the year, even after being released in late June. A lot of people came in close for this one. The pits were a little slower, but that’s to be expected with the kind of music Big D plays. It’s not in your face, and for the most part, it’s just fun to sing and dance with your friends to. To our surprise, the definitive Big D song made its return after hiding from big, bad Pittsburgh. “LAX”, a rebellious number about snooty Los Angeles brood who have too much money and bad attitudes to compliment, caused the crowd to roar. Safe to say, the crowd knew it, loved it, felt it, and responded. Best tune(s): “Noise Complaint”, “I, I, I,”, “Steady Riot”, and “Little Bitch” (The Specials cover). I was hoping for “Wailing Paddle”, my group of friends and my own personal favorite, but all we got was bassist, bald and creepy-smile man, teasing us with the opening riff. Unfair, but we didn’t mind too much. The set was a ball. I look forward to a larger audience hopping on the Big D train and skanking to their new sound for years to come.

Big D & The Kids Table - "LAX"

Ska had retired for the day. And no one really wanted to stick around and inhale the reefer with Westbound Train. Bummer. But we were treated so well by all of it. Only one band worth our while remained: Bad Religion. Talk about veterans! These guys deserved the headline over “A Day To Remember” (in a few years, who’s really going to remember a band like that? A-Ha! That destroys everything they were wittingly hoping for). One more band and then the day would be done. Bring on the Bad Religion.

Now it’s time to note that at this point, my back was withering in pain. A bit of a personal note, my doctor had informed me of pretty extreme back spasms in my lower lumbar region. I thought I was just growing more! It’s about as fun as school in summertime (and believe me, I know what that’s like). So the dancing and moshing and what not definitely agitated my already sore back. Whatever. If it meant I had to stand back and actually watch a band, rather than bounce around and get wild, then so be it. Bad Religion was the band to watch. Much like Tool fans weeks later, T-shirt baring fans propelled themselves towards the stage, opening pits and clearing the area of the weak. Lead vocalist, Greg Graffin, ignited the crowd with his mighty tones that acted as a call to arms for massive 40-year-old ex-frat boys to start beating the shit out of little kids in the pits. How natural. Strong, compact, and well-played; they proved that the old guys can still rock and attract more of a mature and seriously music-inclined crowd at a "teen-rawk" concert. Best tune: “Fuck Armageddon, This Is Hell”. And was it “hell”? No, but anarchy? At times, if you believed in it hard enough: close.

Bad Religion - "No Control"

My first Warped Tour (at 21? I know!) had concluded. A long day was done, back pain was bothersome, and a lengthy road trip up north was still in store for us. Like after any good ska show, we stopped at the nearest White Castle, ate delicious rat burgers, reflected on the day’s events, and as usual, I got a severe leg cramp. Must’ve been the dehydration. No need to do anything after the show. The night would be reserved for showering and sleeping, with the fulfillment of knowing that we witnessed a great show on a legendary tour, with feel good band and friends that know how to have a great time. One more great summer show in the books…Great Job!

Skank on.