Live at Shoreline Amphitheatre

Vans Warped Tour ‘11
Live at Shoreline Amphitheatre
"We Are Warped"
Nate Watts | 07/06/11 | Music, Reviews, Concerts |
This past weekend in Mountain View, California,
the 17th annual Vans Warped Tour hit its seventh
venue of the summer, and brought over sixty
bands out to shred the stages. This year’s theme,
“We Are Warped” was in full effect, pointing out
how the tour is a huge collective effort of so many
walks of life, styles of music, and age groups.
What started years ago as a DIY punk rock
festival, fused with extreme sports like motocross,
skateboarding, and BMX shows, now has
become more focused on showcasing a huge
number of bands from a variety of musical
genres, and providing an opportunity for fans to
get to meet and hang out with the bands between
sets. Not having seen the tour since 2002, I was
bummed that the lineups were not the punk acts I
used to enjoy like NOFX, Lagwagon, and Bad
Religion, and have instead shifted to mostly
metal-core and screamo bands. While things are
always destined to change, it’s always been a
cool opportunity for kids to get out and see all
their favorite bands in one venue, at a decent
price.
Sixty-plus bands, playing half-hour sets on five
different stages must be a nightmare to plan. With
over nine hours of music, it’s impossible to see
everyone you want to. Fourth of July traffic
caused me get there just an hour late, but I
already missed two of the bands I was especially
stoked to see, as Relient K and Go Radio played
the first two slots.
I caught up with Relient K’s Matt Thiessen
backstage, and he explained they never really
knew who was going to play at what time, until
the day of the show. He’d really had a great time
hanging out with and watching all the other bands
out there, and was most excited to catch shows from Bad Rabbits and Foxy Shazam.
While searching for a map and stage times, I
overheard Unwritten Law playing “Teenage
Suicide” from their self-titled 1998 disc. Sunburnt,
crispy, and just as crazy as the old days, lead
singer Scott Russo rallied through his set of
crowd favorites like “Up All Night,” “Seein’ Red,”
and acoustic “She Says” as UL’s raw punk rock
spirit brought up memories of concerts long gone.
Nice to see bands like them still holding down the
festival (and back after a ten-year absence for
inciting a riot in Sydney, Australia!)
Checked out a few newer bands like Moving
Mountains and Lucero, a talented
rockabilly/country punk act, out of Tennessee,
while looking for a schedule, and got to the
Taggert main stage just in time to see Pepper
Dressed in all-yellow Warped Tour Security
uniforms, Hawaii’s own rock/reggae natives got
the crowd amped up with “Give It Up,” but then
mellowed out, for tunes like “Stone Love.” They
haven’t done much over the years to further
themselves from Sublime comparisons, but the
fans didn’t care, and they seem to be doing pretty
well for themselves.
While waiting for The Expendables on the Tilly’s
Stage, we got to see a little of The Dangerous
Summer’s set, and their incredible drummer
going nuts on his kit. They reminded me a little of
a less polished Jimmy Eat World, and their new
album War Paint will be in stores July 19th
While playing, they mentioned their band name
between every song, and it got me thinking that it
must be tough to really stand out on a tour like
this. With over sixty artists to check out, and kids
in the audience dressing crazier than the bands
do, it seemed like the acts had to work extra hard just to get noticed. Perhaps that’s why bands like Black Veil Brides were getting so much love, with their KISS-style makeup, and
vampire-inspired costumes.
The Expendables were the local favorites of the
show. Hailing from Santa Cruz, the four guys got
things started off on a mellow reggae note, but
then got the crowd up on its feet with full-on rock.
They started jamming to “Down Down Down” and
even the older folks in the crowd and the kids
waiting for Dance Gavin Dance were having fun
and getting into it. Their dynamic shift between
dub reggae grooves and punk rock probably
ruined a few people’s highs, but showed a huge
musical range, especially on one tune where their
harmonic dueling guitars accompanied a double
kickdrum metal flair. The mustachioed quartet
then ended the set with crowd favorite “Sacrifice.”
One of the biggest highlights of the day was
Warped Tour vets, Less Than Jake. Having
played in Warped shows since 1997, their skapunk totally embodied what I remembered
Warped Tour to be. They didn’t mind kicking it
old-school with tunes like “Johnny Quest (Thinks
We’re Sellouts)” and “Automatic” from 1996’s
Lucky Streak, and the crowd was skanking and
crowd surfing off the get-go.
As the “old guys” on the tour, they were perfectly
content to indoctrinate the youngsters into what
Warped Tour used to be, by shaving a kid’s head
into a mohawk on stage, encouraging
chickenfights in the mosh pit, and bashing a few
other bands on the tour, saying that these days,
“There’s too much Paramore, and not enough
Pennywise.” They played their way through “All
My Best Friends are Metalheads,” “Sugar In Your
Gas Tank,” and “Spongebob Squarepants,” and
even passed out rolling papers with a free
download of their new EP Greetings From on
them.
By five o’ clock, a lot of bands started sounding the same, so we took a little nap in the shade on the grassy hill to listen to poppier acts like The Ready Set and Hellogoodbye.
Jordan from TRS had the teen girls swooning for his electro-pop-punk act and sounded pretty good on tracks like “Young Forever” and “Love Like Woe.” He also sounded really
appreciative to be on the tour, and that people had even heard of him.
Hellogoodbye, six lanky dudes in short Bermuda shorts, seemed to embrace their geekiness, and nerded out with their blend of power-pop, all while making fun of themselves and
quoting The Simpsons. They played quite a few from their new disc, Would it Kill You? like “Getting Old” and “When We First Met” and I found myself enjoying them much more than I
thought I would. Even on their closing number “Here in Your Arms” as Forrest Kline’s falsetto broke and he danced around stage, it was hard not to smile and remember that, yes, I
was still at Warped Tour.
We caught part of the Aggrolites show from Los Angeles. They seemed to draw a much older crowd and boasted a fun reggae/soul sound. It was more fun though, to watch the guy
dancing behind stage in a full traditional dashiki.
We sat through the unintelligible, guttural screams of I Set My Friends of Fire, whose only excuse was “I’m not angry, I’m just high” and then Simple Plan closed out the night. I think
half the crowd was over at the A Day To Remember show, but the youngsters who stayed to watch SP, were more than happy to avoid the metalcore show, in favor of feelgood poppunk. They were the first band to come on, who truly had an arena rock stage presence, and really embraced the crowd. It was filled with screaming fourteen year old girls, and not
very “punk rock,” but they know their audience well, and definitely played a great show with them in mind.
Pierre Bouvier and Co. got the crowd up in the air
for “Jump,” singing along to “Welcome to My
Life,” and Bouvier was out in the audience for at
least two songs, as the tweens behind me
screamed into my ears. They played a few
selections from their new album Get Your Heart
On! like “You Suck at Love,” but ended the set
with the band’s first single “I’d Do Anything” from
2002.
While Warped Tour is definitely not the
punkrock/X-games hybrid festival it used to be,
punkrock/X-games hybrid festival it used to be,
and the crowds seem to be getting much younger
(it could be me getting older), it was still a big
success and had a great turnout. The tour
continues this week through the Midwest, and
moves its way back and forth across the country
through the middle of August. Check the website
at vanswarpedtour.com for dates and bands.
Copyright © 2011 Hollywood Jesus. All rights reserved.