Combine the hottest day in hell, a day you will never forget, some extremely talented bands, a press pass and a license to explore and dominate your biggest passion. This sums up Warped Tour for me. If you’ve never heard of Vans Warped Tour, where have you been? This monstrous tour has been going on since 1995 and has housed some of the largest bands on the metal and alternative rock scene including, Deftones, Incubus, Eminem, Less Than Jake, Rollins Band, Sevendust, Sum 41, Weezer, and Yellowcard to name a few. They have a massive line up of some 50+ bands every year.
When you get to the venue, you purchase a schedule as the line up changes daily. You are flung into a sea of some 50,000 people on an adventure gathering overpriced food (on the venues side not warped), water and to have your face completely melted off due to heat and superior music. This year there was an addition of Reverse Daycare for the parents to chill out in AC while their kids fight the heat exhaustion sure to befall them. The visuals to the day found me seeing grown men in tiny pink underwear running around trying to help sell CDs for a friend’s band, meeting super tan hunky guys throwing headphones on my head for me to have a listen to some of their music. This has landed about five separate bands places in the Shutter 16 schedule and I look forward to reviewing and working with them in the future. The beauty and marketing animal that is Vans! The merch tents are packed in so tightly around this enormous gathering they literally tilt to one side. If you are not carrying a few $100 bills, you aren’t coming away with much to eat but you can get away with picking up a slew of CDs for $5 a pop. At the event you will see insane dress codes, 2 foot high Mohawks, more tattoos and scantly clad youngins than in any other gathering. It’s like a Justin Beiber gathering but with kids that actually like real music. I swear I saw at least one hipster kid per every square inch of the venue but it led up to some of the best acts Charlotte has seen this summer.
This beast known as Vans took a moment to get into the zone for as it was overwhelming to anyone involved. There were so many bands to see, interview and photograph upon contending with the 100 degree weather and attempting to keep hydrated. We wanted to give the tour our complete all to bring back some great coverage for everyone involved. I can say this, the tour is amazing, it‘s daunting, it’s exhausting, it has talent and it‘s the real deal! Once we sort of took a minute to breathe and realize we weren’t going to get every band we wanted, we realized we still would catch a lot of them. Once our feet hit the pavement running, we made it into the selected photo pits, those mystical things fans at every single show ask how we get access into. What I will say about that is this, it’s an honor every single time I get in there no matter who the band or what the venue. This day it was special to me, it was Vans and I had access to every stage front on the tour. Each pit was picked like a special project to conquer, a baby to coddle, nurture and set free. We overcame the heat and respected the crowd, enjoyed the thing that music does to you in flickering moments when you are in front of real music stars.
The Breakdown for live shows we caught:
Relient K hit the stage promptly at 1pm to our delight. The Ohio-based group dove right into their brilliant set with veracity and spunk. I found them running on amps and forcing the fans, who at this time of day had all the energy in the world, to get into their set. I hadn’t seen the guys in many years and was happy to have a chance to experience them in this venue. They play to a large crowd how they would to a small, dirty club: hard, energy packed and with all of their might. They are a band to at least experience once in your life and if you are lucky, over and over. If you have yet to go to warped this year, try to make this set.
Next up was We Came as Romans. These guys were put on my radar by the amazingly lovely Levi Benton, lead singer of the band Miss May I. In an interview a few months earlier he announced they were going to be doing Vans and with that I asked who they were most stoked to see and he, of course, said WCAR. The young band is basically whipper snappers (yes, get my cane). Their metal core infused music was a crowd pleaser. They are one of those bands that persist to jump in unison to show how truly brutal their music can be and usually this annoys the piss right out of me but I enjoyed their take on it. Involving the crowd, dual lead singers David Stephens and Kyle Pavone, fed off each other and the entire band really had their shit together. Frankly, their genre of music is a good time for me period and they do it up right. I can see them growing on the scene and steamrolling most of the competition.
Again we hit the hot asphalt with fervor to make the set for D.R.U.G.S. This band, I almost cannot form words to describe. The singer, himself, is a tailored musical god. He’s basically stating openly “I got my shit together and formed this band for the betterment of the human race,” while he did not say this in words, with the performance they gave he might as well have; their message and lyrics hit the heartstrings. It gives those young ones hope that life will not always be crap, that those strange teenage years will not always be that hopeless. The older fan gets to reminisce with lyrics of “shouldn’t have dones” and positive to the “will do’s.” The live performance was a non-stop assault of energy and prose. All of the band members have been in some other well known band such as Dance Gavin Dance, Chiodos, Story of the Year. The band is comprised of deep lyricism, magnificent stage show and the first time I got to experience these cats with any real time to spare or not spare. Either way, I was mesmerized and so in the moment, I almost forget after three songs we had to get out of the photo-pit. When I gathered myself from the enigmatic trance I was caught in, I realized we had to book it over to the press area to start our ridiculously packed, yet fun interviewing times. D.R.U.G.S has been on repeat on my ipod since.
I then jumped headstrong into the interviewing part to this day. What an adventure! I saw everything from a brain eating photo-shoot to people making snow angels in plush green grass, open showers and table surfing. Our four-hour long interviewing extravaganza finally came to an end that you all will be able to see over the next few weeks an we then fell into the trap that is grabbing a simple bite to eat becoming an hour headache and put a dent in my pocket. For a single hotdog it was $5, fries $6, a regular soda size $6 or only $13 if you wanted a combo. That was the cheapest meal there. Some burgers were $10! I saw a dad in front of me buying for himself, his wife and daughter. He had to hand them a $100 for lunch. This is outrageous and definitely for another venue rant down the line but let me just say, looking around, I saw many young ones clutching their $20 bills as it was the only money they brought and they were actually having a conversation about whether they were going to buy some merch or get a water. That is a dangerous combo when you are outside and need to stay hydrated. At least they allowed free water refills all over the venue thanks to Vans. I’d think that Verizon Amphitheater would take that into consideration when they are hosting an all day event where people need to stay nourished to stay alive in the heat of the day. Not just this, but they were not prepared for the amount of people that would attack the concession counter like vultures. Each order was being made to order and taking an average of ten minutes per person in line. We stood in line over an hour to get a hotdog and a soda, missed three interviews and two live sets and almost suffered heat exhaustion being stuck inside of the small crowd of people stuck too close together for it being so hot.
While we were gathering food, Larry & His Flask were closing up shop on their energetic set off to the very left of where we were standing. The band has a full instrument section including a mandolin, trumpet, banjo, trombone, double bass, baritone and harmonica, as well as a vocalist and drummer. It was quite a sight to see at Vans! A Skylit Drive played on the Ernie Ball Stage next and it was super fun to watch while waiting for food. Then, grabbing a soda (for a minute) led to us missing the interview with Gym Class Heroes, Grieves and D.R.U.G.S. I could not express how incredibly disappointed I was at this fact. Stuff happens but WHY TODAY!!!
After the food debacle, we found our way to see one of my favorites to shoot, The Acacia Strain. I’ve had a history with this band streaming back to 2004, seeing them all over the East Coast. They put on one of those shows that you openly get to tell the band to fuck off and die. In fact, they lead the entire crowd in a whole montage of this and are known for flipping people off and proclaiming themselves as the ugliest band on the earth, minus their newer addition, “He’s Latin, there is no way for him to not be sexy.” The set was a bit late to start and even though we were rounding about toward the end of Vans where most fans are reaching their heat exhaustion limit, the fans still gathered up all that energy, hate and power to give the band a run for their money. They exemplify the way to show a crowd how to get rowdy and their fans are the ones to watch for if you end up in their pit. I saw young girls slamming boys, telling them what was up doing back-flips, while to the side hair wisps were flying and wind milling, fools letting out all that angst on that pit floor swinging their bodies in unison. The band gave us a lot of fan favorites and left me really wanting to see them again in a circumstance where I did not have to run out of the pit and hit the beat again to get on to catch the next band.
Running on to the next stage, we went head on into Full Force 5’s ending to their set. Lead singer, Solomon Olds put himself into a huge bubble and rolled himself off the stage into the crowd. He was thrown around all over the place and even with two enormous Hulk gloves on, he managed to keep the mic in hand, roll himself around like a hamster on a wheel and keep perfect pitch to his song. That man has talent. It was a crowd pleaser and made it worth booking back to see that part of the show. The stage they were on, the Nintendo 3ds Stage, was literally cut half way down the huge main stage of the amphitheatre, one side was Nintendo DS and the other side was the Tinny AP stage. It led to bands being able to go on in mere minutes once the other was done instead of the sometimes prolonged and awkward breakdown time that at some shows can last up to 30 minutes. Less than three moments later it was on to the set we were there to catch on the Tilly AP main stage in the amphitheatre we caught, Canada’s best, Simple Plan. The band is all made up of very handsome men that all look like they could be in a magazine modeling for Vans. Lead singer, Pierre Bouvier has a trademark nasal singing but he also has this sort of way on stage to command “all eyes on me.” The band has been around since 1999 with the same line up as today. It seems they have found their niche in the music realm and sort of monopolized on the stoner punk era and mastered it. The thing to their performance that was new from what I had seen them do before (since 2000 and on) was their sexual overtones. I was almost a bit disturbed watching front man, Pierre Bouvier grabbing his junk literally and asking these youngins if they thought he was sexy and if they wanted him. Of course, all the 13 year olds in their itty bitty string bikinis screamed in unison how they would do anything to do so. This was when they were introducing their new single “Can’t Keep My Hands off You.” Not to say the performance wasn’t fun and interesting, but this kind of caught me off guard. They also played fan favorite “Jump” and had everyone and their parents (who were not in reverse daycare) jumping their brains out in the crowd.
After this performance, we jetted on legs that felt like jelly after this long day. We came upon the Advent Stage one last time to walk into the photo pit where fans were making makeshift signs for the band Miss May I. One fan was contemplating proposing to the ever-adorable lead singer, Levi Benton. Her photo can be seen in the gallery at the bottom of the page.
Ohio natives, Miss May I took the stage with energy not many of the fans, bodyguards or the press had left. When talking with any band in interviews, they always stated that being the final band of the night was sort of not the best. Everyone by then has started leaving and/or was just too exhausted to really experience the music and to give that feedback. Today I think the fans pulled out all the stops and helped the band give it all and gave it back in return. Since the last time we caught up with them, the band gathered a few more tattoos, haircuts, toured Europe and joined Warped for the first time. They’ve also blossomed into the performers I sensed was coming as of the last show I had seen them do. Their excitement for Vans was splattered all over the stage. Drummer, Jerod Boyd stood upon his drums, scraping his sticks across his neck, giving the fans the idea of how brutality the band was about to assault them with. Bass player, Ryan Neff stood at the mic and hit his notes perfectly for the clean back ups he gives the band. His voice has matured, his stage antics as well. Not one of them was still. Levi Benton is an enigmatic front man and while he is cute, it’s not his only talent to add to this band. His non-stop jumping, running and hopping into the crowd gave us a full blast of MMI up close and personal. They had beach balls with MMI inscribed on them that they told the crowd to keep up for an entire song, and the fans did. The next song they decided to up the ante and had their tour merch guy crowd surf and again, the crowd was told to keep him afloat a whole song. He was sporting a bra but as Levi put it, “I’m not sure why he’s in a bra but it will do. Rip it off and keep him up, just no molesting please!” Watching him bounce around on the crowd and just watching the band perform and smile all the while doing so warmed me. This is music. This is the pinnacle time to enjoy it, hot as hell, energy waning in and out. This was the very last time MMI played their hit single “Swing,” a cover of the rapper Savage, live. I’ll be honest, I boo’d. That song is my jam and I play it anytime I can! They were quoted to say it’s fun and all to play but they want to move on to bigger and better things and focus on writing new music. “Relentless Chaos” was what they closed the night off with and during the performance, we had one more opportunity to see Levi hop into the crowd. And I had one more time to swing my arms and dance it up and it was a wrap. The crowd was attempting to leave one way and we were escorted back another. I crossed the parking lot, gave Levi a super hug, took some more photos and finally turned off my camera for the last time that night.
What I walked away with from this experience was that Vans Warped Tour is a well-oiled, multi-million dollar machine. It has its stuff sorted out going back to my first taste of the tour in 1999. I then attended 2000, 2002, again in 2004 or 2005 and now, the difference is epic. They have evolved and treat their bands, families and crew right. Also, they look out for their fans.
Its not all about making money, it’s about safety, music and the love of music. They have kept their heads on straight and have not lost focus on why all of us pay that $40 to get in the door. I wish the venues that held the shows would pay attention and not cause it to be so outlandish trying to stay hydrated or fed. Vans gave us ample water and places to fill up and for that, I commend them. The bands are given a blessing in promotion tools and on the whole, I think that Vans is a tour that other big festivals and tours should take some lessons from. I’ve experienced most of them and Vans is by far the most pleasant experience I have ever had in my long career.
Look forward to next year and I hope to see a lot more familiar faces there next time around.
Stay tuned over the next few weeks to catch loads of photo galleries and many of our exclusive interviews that we grabbed this one beautiful music filled day.
