Hello everyone!! Once Again, The Vans Warped Tour hit NYC and I thought it hit with a bang.It seemed like a very good way to celebrate the Warped Tour's 10th anniversary. There were tons of bands, tons of enthusiastic people and tons of things to see and do. As usual there were an immense amount of bands such as :Bad Religion, Taking Back Sunday, The bouncing Souls, New Found Glory, Story of The Year, Flogging Molly, NOFX, Motion City Soundtrack, Lars Fredrikson and the Bastards, ANTI-FLAG, Matchbook Romance, Audio Karate and Many More!!
We(Edward and I) went around just exploring in between performances and stuff we wanted to see. The bands we saw were:Lars Fredrikson and the Bastards, Then we waited for Anti- Flag. Afterwards we did double duty and saw Flogging Molly and New Found Glory right after. Soon After, we went to see Audio Karate at the Volcom Stage and then ran to the Bouncing Souls. Somewhere in the mix I caught a bit of Taking Back Sunday. Then Bad Religion and Straight to Nofx. Now, the perfomances. Lars didn't do too much for me. I wasn't in that crazy wild mood just yet. Luckily, Anti Flag put me in the mood i was looking for. They really know how to get the crowd moving. They had a message, played it well and got the crowd amped. Flogging Molly was very good also. Dave King is one funny bastard. Constantly making jokes of just how Irish he was and how being at the warped tour will shave a good ten years off our lives. The Crowd was crazy for that one. Imagine a bunch of crazy people getting with a bunch of crazier Irish people and just moshing and kicking up dirt. Right after we ran to New Found Glory. Good Performance lots of good songs but it seemed like the crowd was way too amped just becasue it was NFG. I got a way too hyped vibe. I heard there was a special Janelle appearance in the crowd just surfing. I really like the Audio Karate performance because it was a really small crowd. Mostly comprised of my friends. It felt like a personal performance which was really cool. Then we stormed over to the Bouncing Souls which was pretty cool. They played a bunch of good songs like Sing Along Forever and The Something Special. Then, the highlight of my day, the Bad Religion show. I loved it. Greg Graffin really knows how to sing his ass off in a voice only he could pull off. So many songs I knew and loved and I just sang straight along through most if not all of thier songs. They put on a great show too. They know how to get the crowd up and around. Same with NOFX who actually played stuff in between their Mexican and Jew jokes. Fat Mike is a funny bastard. They played their more funny songs like Idiot Son of an Asshole, Franco UnAmerican, Drugs are good and Rancid's Radio. And we just caught Somewhere in Fullerton by Allister. Funny stuff, my favorite song by them and we just happend to have caught it.
There were of course other things than just the music. There were myriad tents and food stands. Which was mysteriously shady and annoying. There is this new drink out called Skaterade. Think of Red Bull, just trying to appeal to younger generation with something they can call their own. Also think of Nelly's own Pimp Juice just for more of a punk rock crowd of kids. Throw this all together and you have yourself some Skaterade. Im not too down with the message(After deep investigation, I realize this has credentials. I mean, Salman Agah, a great pro skater is apart of it) but ya can't argue with results can ya? I bought some and it tastes good. Not too bad of a deal for 2 dollars. But I hated the fact that water was 3 dollars and this Diarrhea starter in a can was 2. Which really just ties into my problem with the food. Have you ever tasted a 3 dollar hot dog? Let me tell you it is nothing special. Thats the only rip-off I can think of. You of course can try to sneak food in but, not so much of a good idea. Anyway, I am digressing from my point. The point is food is way too expensive and there's not a damn thing you can do about it.
Everyone loves free stuff right? We're right along there with ya. From the random stickers you get to Slim Jim merchandise that was just given out and random free cd's everywhere you can find something free. I especially love the way Epitaph just gives sheets and sheets of free stickers away. It just makes Epitpah better. Great Bands, free stuff, high energy all that stuff.
Okay, all in all the Vans Warped Tour 2004 was awesome and I hope it will be as good next year. And look for Skaterade. I now feel inclined to do my part in helping it sell.