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Vans Warped Tour 2004
Tower City Amphitheatre
07-23-04
What do
you get when you put together punk rock, extreme sports, and thousands of
hardcore fans?
The
Vans Warped Tour in its tenth year.
With
ten stages, approximately 100 bands, and merchandise and sponsor tents
taking over Tower City Amphitheatre and its parking lot, Warped Tour was
definitely a highlight of the summer. Celebrating its tenth year, the Warped
crew set no limits on this year's tour.
Punk
rock monsters like Bad Religion, Taking Back Sunday, Story of the Year, and
NoFx took to the main stages and rocked massive crowds of adoring fans. Up
and comers like LetterKills, Billy Talent, Matchbook Romance, and Bleed the
Dream drew large crowds to their mid-day sets.
Bands
took time to sign autographs in their tents, talk to fans, and take
pictures....always a highlight of festival-goers' day. Up and coming bands
passed out free stickers and CD's to get their name in circulation, wrote
their band name and set time in chalk all over the ground, and yelled for
passers-by to check out their merchandise.
Ahh...a
typical day at Warped Tour.
Each
and every set that I checked out was amazing. By far, the best I saw was
LetterKills. Lead singer, Matt Shelton, 's onstage performance is like no
other. His crazy, almost seizure-like antics keep the crowd rocking and
wondering what he'll do next. He surprised us all when during a vocal break,
he hung from a bar at the top of the tent, then swung his legs up and hung
upside down for awhile. Their first single, "Don't Believe", got everyone
moving and singing along at the top of their lungs. This was my second time
seeing LetterKills live, and they have only gotten better since the first
time. Definitely an amazing band to check out. Their debut album, "The
Bridge", gets released through Island Records on Tuesday, July 27, 2004.
A band
that was only supposed to play for five dates has ended up joining the
entire tour, and creating quite a buzz. From a small, college town in
Wisconsin, Number One Fan has created quite a fan base for themselves
through self-promotion and endless gigging. Their 20-minute set at Warped
Tour was my second live experience from Number One Fan, and they once again
blew me away. They have a great presence onstage, and work well together.
They always look like they're having the time of their lives, which is
definitely a good thing. Their debut album, "Compromises", will be available
August 3, 2004.
Another
up and coming band, Bleed the Dream, performed on the Volcom stage and
pulled together a large crowd that was rocking out the entire set. They
opened with their breakthrough song, "Villain", and kept the crowd's
attention from then on. Bleed the Dream also spoke fondly of their drummer,
who is courageously battling leukemia, and was unable to join Warped Tour
this season (thankfully, he is in full remission). They have amazing onstage
energy, and are comparable to the performance of LetterKills. Bleed the
Dream was definitely one of the bands I was most looking forward to seeing
at Warped Tour, and having that opportunity was amazing. They are by far one
of the best bands to check out on this tour, if you get the chance. Their
album, "Awake", as well as an acoustic version of it, titled "Asleep", were
both available at their merch tent.
Some of
the main stage sets, including Story of the Year and Yellowcard, obviously
drew huge crowds of mostly younger fans, who crowd surfed to the front, and
screamed every word to every song. Yellowcard put on a fantastic performance
with lots of energy, especially from violinist, Sean Mackin.
Harder
acts, such as From Autumn to Ashes and Underoath, rocked large crowds later
in the evening. Taking photos of Underoath proved to be a somewhat dangerous
task, with vocalist Spencer Chamberlain jumping from the stage to the
barricade numerous times. Keyboardist, Christopher Dudley, proved that just
being behind the board doesn’t mean you can’t rock out. The mosh pit was a
frenzy of arm-swinging, stomping, and spinning.
Warped
Tour also featured tents from companies with a message, such as TRUTH
(against tobacco use) and Peta (an animal rights organization).
Hey, we
can’t say we didn’t learn anything from our Warped Tour experience.
As an
added bonus, this was the first year that Warped Tour featured video footage
of the festival, available for download on Kazaa. Owners and operators of
Kazaa, with Altnet (the leading online digital entertainment distributor),
and a production crew from L.A. based Aloha Films, took exclusive footage of
the concerts, interviews, mosh pits, and the overall day, which was
available for purchase the very next day.
Overall, Warped Tour was an incredible day. The weather was great…not too
hot, with just enough wind. Once you battled the massive crowds and got to
where you were going, it was all worth it. After ten years, the Vans Warped
Tour only seems to be picking up more steam. I am sure we will see this as
being the most successful summer festival for years to come. (Melani
Alleshouse)
For pictures click
here.
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