Warped Tour 2002 seemed like a step in the wrong direction for the long running festival tour. Trying to hard to be extravagant with the off stage activities and not focusing enough on what the fans really come to see. This all changed in 2003. With like 20 less stages, less flash, and better bands.

This was the first year I was not accompanied by my brother after 3 years of his Warped companionship. So this year I grabbed up the BostonMusicGal and hit up 93 South to the Brockton Farigrounds. The new site of Warped Tour 2003 in MA, much smaller than Suffolk Downs where it has been held the past 3 summers.

Kicked in the Head, local favorites, were the first set of the day for me. Energetic and fun as they always are they sang the same songs I hear everytime I see them. Athough, this time, I must say that they seemed very excited to be playing their one date on this year's Warped Tour. They ran through a fast paced set of songs featuring through songs like "Arizona", "The Witness", "Tidal Wave", and the closer "Lost Cause."

After checking out the area and other stages the next set of the day was the Ataris. I have to admit, they are a little bit of a guilty pleasure. I never got too into them and never saw why so many people love them but I think their songs are catchy and fun to listen to even though I wouldnt buy a CD of theirs. The crowd seemed genuinely uninterested in the set though. The lead singer had to stop one of their songs 3 lines in just to remind the people down in front that he had made a specific request for them to circle around the sound tent. The only sign of emotion was when everybody seemed to be able to join together and sing that song they all heard on the radio, "Boys of Summer." They closed their set with "San Dimas High School Football Rules", My personal favorite. Also thrown in their were "Your Boyfriend Still Sucks" and of course "In This Diary" which they oddly dedicated to the Dropkick Murphys.....?

Andrew WK, Andrew WK, Andrew WK.... what can I say, the man is a genius. OK maybe genius takes it a little too far but you gotta love him. He is just a a fun loving guy that seems like he genuinely loves what he does and appreciates all the support and love we show him. A smile never left his face from the moment he started with "Ready to Die" until he closed with "I Get Wet". I really could not have been more impressed with his set. I am still ranting and raving about it to this moment. Inviting his whole crew out, as well as a special few people that watched on stage and a few sneaky crowd surfers up on stage for a huge party as he rocked through "Party Hard". I just love AWK and am counting down the days until September 9 (When his new CD hits stores).

We snuck a peek at Twizted before Mest came on. They were horrible. That's all you really need to know. Very cheesy white gangsta "I'm tough, die mothafucker die" rap. I'm not quite sure what happened at the end of their set but it seemed like they had just been booed off the stage and the fat guy with the white face paint jumped into the crowd in a bit of a huff. I was too far away to see what actually happened though.

Mest's set was a little dissapointing. Not being a huge Mest fan myself I couldn't really get into it too much. I was proud of them for not giving in and playing the songs I was sure I was going to hear, "Whats the Dillyo" and "Cadillac". They played a bunch of songs I kinda knew but couldn't tell you the names. The highlight of their show was when the lead singer dropped his pants and showed us his Simple Plan thong... and soon after that a little more of his middle region that I do not care to think about any more.

Pure chaos. That is what happened for the half an hour that followed the Mest set when local heroes the Dropkick Murphys took to the stage and played a rowdy set. As everybody knows, I bleed green and the Dropkick Murphys have my unconditional love. They just played song after song with no banter in between and a lack of the casual ballad like "Forever". Special guests during their set were the guy from Face to Face (name?) on guitar during "Road of the Righteous", Lars, Matt, and Tim from Rancid closing the set with "Skinhead" and a very unexpected appearance of Andrew WK on "Workers Song". You gotta love AWK. The Dropkick Murphys blew everyone away including me. For rows and rows of people it was complete chaos with most pits, circle pits, people just shoving people and people trying as hard as they could to do a little jig with the space that they definitely didn't have.

I couldn't handle much more after that exhausting experience. With enough I sat on the grass in front of the Ernie Ball stage waiting for Big D and the Kids Table to come on. They have never seemed more energetic and happy to be playing in their hometown. This was a top notch performance from them, as most are. They played the usuals like "GLD", "Checklist", "LAX", "51", "Myself" and "5 Kids Down" with a few others thrown in there. Impressive set from a great Boston band.

I caught a few songs from bands like the Mad Caddies, Suicide Machines, Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, but not enough to make a clear judgement on their performance.

That completes the Warped Tour 2003 Boston stop. I missed a few bands that I was hoping to see [Less Than Jake, Rancid] but overall it was a great experience. Better than any other Warped Tour in the past 4 years I woud say. Just one last suggestion for next year, let's make a crowd surfing rule: must be under 150 lbs to jump on my head, please.