San Diego Warped Tour was on July 3, I drove down with a few friends from Newport Beach, and strolled in at about 1145, realizing that Yellowcard and Midtown had just finished their sets. It always seems Warped starts at least 2 hours earlier than it says on the tickets, but anyhow, onto the bands...
We will begin with Drive-Thru bands, starting with The Early November. This was before anyone really knew they were signing to Drive-thru, and I only catched about half of their set since they played so early. Put it this way, I didn't miss much, infact it looks like they are not even old enough to drive yet haha. They seemed to have a lot of energy though and were having a blast up on stage playing for about 7 people in the crowd. The last song Kenny from the Starting Ling came out on the stage and sang for them, still nothing excited me at all. They sound similar to, well, the starting line for one, and NFG for another.
Allister: One of my 2 favorite acts of the day had to of been Allister. These guys put on an awesome show, playing all their hits off of "Dead Ends and Girlfriends" and playing quite a few new songs, ending with the sing-along song about the radio (sorry I forget the name, it is a month and a half after the show and I'm still on Europe time, just got back last night, so I'm pretty beat).
The Movielife : pretty much sucked it up, although they had a pretty decent sized crowd watching them. They played stuff off of their new EP "Has a Gambling Problem" and older songs as well. They just sounded off, especially switching from somewhat hard core songs where the music was quite poppy but the singer was screaming, and then going to something like "Walking On Glass", it just didn't sound right.
Finch: I caught the second half of Finch and let me tell you, they really are a great band. They had a ton of energy on stage playing everything off of their full length "what it is to burn". Surpringly my least favorite song in their entire set had to of been "Letters to you", probably just because I have heard it so many times I am sick of it, but still it is a great song none the less. Check this band out when they come to a town near you.
The Starting Line: Put it this way, Kenny is the man. I'd also like to point out he is born the same day as me, may 20, 1984 whichis pretty cool. But, anyway, he makes the band. They played a few new ones off their debut cd "say it like you mean it" such as "up and go" and a few others. They also played off of the EP "Cheek to Cheek," "Leaving," and "Saddest Girl Story." haha, all of which appear on the new cd as well.
Homegrown: This was the last band I saw on the stage, and they played pretty much the same as they always have in the past, which is fun to watch but nothing outstanding. They had some funny jokes, and luckily added a new guitarist for the shows (he is not in the band, just a touring guitarist for better sound) which makes their sound much tighter. The only dissapointment is that they didn't play the opener on "Kings of Pop." They managed to end their set with "Surfer Girl," which is the song that got them on the map. Oh, one more thing, if anyone remembers, their song on "Kings of Pop" called "kiss me, diss me" is not nearly as good as when they used to play it live before they recorded it, they had cooler lyrics for it that were funny and actually rhymed unlike the new lyrics (just the 2nd verse I am talking about). Anyone else remember this? you had to of seen them live in between their last 2 cd's which isn't hard cause it was something like 4 years.
Something Corporate: I guess I will finish up drive-thru here, ending on the main stage. SC is one of those bands you either love or hate, and in my case I love. Well, on cd at least. Live, they were somewhat boring, selecting a crappy set list. I don't know if it is just me either, but at San Diego the singer rarely ever even played the piano, he'd just play a few notes and then just stop, seemed pointless to even have it except for "Hurricane" during the bridge. The cool thing for them was they played two sets, later in the day playing on the drive-thru stage and playing a crowd favorite and a request, "konstantine", which I failed to see because I was busy watching NOFX.
NOFX: Boy have they gone down hill. I use to love this band, shit they were the best before Pump up the Valium came out. Now all they do is crack dumb jokes on stage, talk to each other, and preach their shitty ass opinions on people who want to hear music. If you want to preach put the words into a song, don't stand on stage and try to be like Anti-Flag, who sucks also cause they can not think of more than 3 phrases to say. NOFX played the same songs as always, "linoleum," "bob," and the ending of the "decline." When the hell did NOFX become political anyway? Hey Mike, Bush kicks your ass! Next band please.
Never Heard of It: This is a local band from West Covina, they really put on a good show, playing pop punk songs that can be compared to Midtown. They played on the "build it" stage, in front of about 15 people, and they really did a great job.
Another local act, from Pasadena, was Limipoint. They played on the Crieterion Stage, and I've seen this band over 15 times at least because my band has played with them a ton of times, and even though I do not love their music, they are still one of those bands that you can always watch and enjoy live. Check them out whenever you have the chance, they will not disappoint. They will be the guys always wearing all black, entirely haha.
Good Charlotte: I first saw this band because I went to see Mest while they were touring with GC, and I had never heard any GC songs (besides "little things")so I left half way thru their set. I later on was given their cd and I loved it, always playing it, but seeing them live in that big of an atmosphere did nothing for me, their very poppy sound seemed to disappear into the air, it was hard to even tell one song from another. They were much better in a small setting, so they need to hope that they stop getting big and keep on playing smaller venues, but we will half to wait and see with their new cd coming out.
Alkaline Trio: Holy shit I was looking forward to Alk3, the last time I saw them I had no clue who they were during the Face to Face tour 3 years ago or so with NFG and STD. Anyway, I'll sum up their performance in 2 words, IT SUCKED. They played horribly, it was like they didn't even care. Matt Skiba didn't give a shit and he knew he was sucking ass, although they did pull their sound together for their last song of the set "Radio" which sounded very good. The only thing that made their set fun to watch was these 2 girls who were in a fist fight kicking each others asses, and boy were they mad, pulling chunks of hair out of each others heads, it was quite scary, and everytime some guy would try to break it up, they would get kicked in the balls, haha these girls were violent chicks, and quite ugly.
Reel Big Fish: The other best band of the day, they played last on the main stage and they were beyond amazing. It was funny because they played right after NOFX and since they were the last band at least 3/4 of the people left Warped, and Aaron said goodbye to all of them right after they opened up with "I want your girlfriend to be my girlfriend too" (haha sorry I forget the name of the song) off of "Why do we rock so hard?". They also played "Beer" and "Sellout" from "turn the radio off" and played a handful of songs off of the new album "Cheer up". "Valerie," #3, #4, "DJ Boss (Sublime Cover--which they shouldn't have played, cause it was incredibly boring)), "Where have you been", and also played the crowd favorite from the soundtrack Baseketball (I forget the name of the song but you all know it, it is a cover also and a great oone at that). RBF really knows how to have fun during a show.
That was all the bands that I saw, well I did catch a little of Slick Shoes, Junction 18, Death By Stereo, and a few others but not enough to give an honest comment about. Oh yeah, and Ozma sucks, they are from my town Pasadena and geez they are boring. Well that is everything, and one more thing...did anyone else notice all the dicks at warped this year who seem like they have never been to a show in their lives before? And to all you dipshits you are in the back during a band and start coming to the front squeezing by people saying excuse me, well you're not fucking excused cause we all want to be in the front too, so shut the hell up.
I give Warped this year an 8, San Diego had a very nice breeze all day and didn't have the crowds like LA does, so that was a huge plus.
