[editor's note: Duk talked a lot of shit about the other Boston review, so here's his, spelling errors and all.]
Ahh the good old Warped Tour. Everyone knows that it's obviously NOT a festival dedicated to underground punk rock and the scene. Hell no! Clearly it's all about the benjamins and marketing, so my expectations were null as I approached my 7th Warped Tour in a row.
It was a grueling hot day with temps in the mid 90's. After waiting in line for what seemed like 3 or 4 days, they finally let us in. I immediately ran to the huge band scedule sign and my jaw dropped. Reach the Sky, the band I was there to see, was fucking playing first..in 5 MINUTES!! Fuck! Where do I go?! What is this "Maurice" stage? I scrambled to find the stage but I managed to find the RTS tent. I asked them where the band was playing and they hooked me up. Here's my low down on the show below:
Reach the Sky: Brilliant. There's nothing like a good, solid set from this Boston hardcore band. Their songs are filled with emotion and they rocked the fucking house! Huge pit, fist pumping sing alongs, it doesn't get any better.
Thursday: Headed over to the Main stage to catch Thursday. HUGE crowd, they brought out the water hoses to douse the kids and that was cool. They played the usual "hits" and the crowd seemed to love them immensely. The singer told the croud to go watch From Autum To Ashes, Unearth, Death By Stereo and other hardcore bands there. They ended with a blazing version of Cross Out The Eyes that ruled. Their new song was amazing too, lots of people are looking forward to their new EP coming out soon.
Circle Jerks: What can I say...the snot-punk legends were incredible playing all kinds of killer, old school songs. They had one of the best crowds of the day with many, many punks going crazy in cirlcle slams and whatnot. Great, memorable set.
MXPX: Caught some of them in passing...they played the same songs they always do. It was boring and uninspirational.
COMMENTS: At this point I had two hours of free time till the next band I wanted to see played. SO I wandered around and saw some interesting things like some skating and band tents and shit. I went to the slip and slide thing and saw something that did not shock me. A group of 5-6 meatheads made up WOW and FLASH ME signs and were standing at the end of the slide. Women were simply laughing at them. They were pathetic in their attempts to look at femal breasts. Another area had a group of 7 half naked men being told to rub shaving cream on their bodies...at that point I left. I thought to myself..."This crap didn't go on during the 96, 97 & 98 Warped Tours..." Wow, how far we've come...
Lo Ball: Caught some of them in passing. Pop punk played by th3 ladies. They like preening to the crowd and flirting with the crowd and whatever...
3rd Strike: Played a great, crowd moving set.
Death By Stereo: Awesome job by these boys, they played a great set that had the mosh going in a frenzy from start to finish. They played a new song that ripped!! One of the best sets of the day.
From Autumn to Ashes: Wow...big crowd for the little punkrocks.net stage. Immediately they had sound problems, but once they figured them out they tore the fucking joint up! They played a short, sweet set that had fans moshing and singing along like crazy. Great guitar work here, from Duchess to Take her to the Music Store to Short Stories...this set ruled!
Finch: no comment...don't like them.
unearth: Wow...they fucked the place up RIGHT! Huge crowd, tough guys freaking out everywhere, little girls and boys running for the hills crying for mommy, people bleeding, it was a thing of beauty. They played a ton of tunes basically just fucking rocked so hard.
Lagwagon: Good fun here...great set by these boys.
Then I went to eat some food of somekind and get out of the sun...before I left I managed to catch...
Bosstones: Seen then dozens of times over the years...this set was killer as always. Played some new tunes that were recieved real well.
Bad Religion: Had to play a shortened set because the Bosstones went over. BR simply rules the earth. They played hit after hit and capped it with 21st Century Dig Boy and the crowd went nuts.
All in all it was a decent show, a bit hot, a few too many meatheads, way to much pop-punk and way to much marketing and not enough skating. Where was the BMX freestyle? Moto x? More fan interaction with the Action SPorts? I'll go next year for sure.