Warped Tour 15th Anniversary

[NSL]

I made a thread for the last concert I went to, so now I'm starting one for the next show I'm going to.

On July 17th, in Camden NJ, I'll be attending the Warped Tour. I've wanted to go for a while now, but have never had the money, or always found better shows to go to. This usually happened because there wasn't enough bands to catch my interest. Well, this year, In This Moment is headlining the Ernie Ball stage, and that was enough to make me buy my ticket.

After receiving my ticket in the mail, I decided to peruse the list of bands that will be playing that particular show. I saw Black Tide, who is another great band that puts on a good show, as well as some others that I know of, but haven't heard much from. All in all, I'm pretty stoked to go, as I'm sure it will be more of a learning experience than most shows I go to now. I'll learn a lot of new bands, and find a lot of new music, and that's never a bad thing.

 

[The Bearded One]

I am PISSED that Warped Tour isn't coming to Jacksonville this year. Its the first since I remember they haven't came. I've only gone to the last 2 Warped Tours. It is awesome. Make sure you go with somebody who is up for walking around and talking to people. You will meet some awesome people to hang out with for the day. So much random stuff happens, too. Make sure not to just watch the bands, walk around and go to the booths. The bands usually just walk around and hang out with the fans. I almost got to meet Katy Perry who was just standing around.

As for the bands, its incredible. Once the first band starts playing, there is at least one band playing for the rest of the day. There are something like 5 stages, and new bands will start every 15 minutes somewhere. The 2 main stages alternate who's playing on it. Once one stops, the other starts. But the only downside is that they don't get to play an entire set. They only have 30 minutes so they have to cut back their set list a lot.

There are only 2 downsides. The first is that it is the middle of the summer. I'm not sure how bad it gets where your going, but in Florida, it gets brutal. Make sure to take sunscreen. Also stay hyrdrated. Luckily last year I bought some bands CD for $10 and got free cold water the rest of the day. The band sucked, but the water was awesome. There are people all the time passing out from heat exhaustion.

The other problem is that they change the schedule everyday, and they don't really compensate for smaller bands when bigger bands are playing. Last year I wanted to see Angels and Airwaves and Maylene. But they ended up playing at the same time. So sometimes you're going have to just make the best with what you got.

Warped Tour is awesome. Just stay hydrated and have fun. I'm thinking about going down to Orlando for it this year, but its a 2 1/2 hour drive. I'm not sure if I'd want to drive back that long after being in the Florida sun all day.

 

[NSL]

So, there's 6 days until the show I'll be attending. I'm getting more and more psyched as the days pass. My friend ended up backing out, but my brother will be going with me, and he's as die-hard of an ITM fan as I am. I'm also slowly getting him into bands like 3Oh!3 and SKSK. He knows a few others, and is excited to go.

I got a message from ITM today, saying they'd be in my area Wednesday (which they are, about 2 hours closer than the show I'll attend), and said they couldn't wait to see me again. I replied with, that's great, but I'm going Friday, in NJ. They would have sent me tickets if I had told them. Damn

Is anyone else here attending this tour this summer, or maybe even the shw Friday?

 

[NSL]

I've already covered the bands I saw in the Screamo/Hardcore/Metal thread, so I'll stick to reviewing the show experience itself here.

First off, I loved the set up. You were never too far away from a band to hear something, and there was tons of merch tents, and they made it easy to find whatever band you were looking for. Food/liquids were cheap, compared to most shows, and the people there were great, or at least 90% of them. Usually, it's half assholes, and it definitely wasn't here.

I got into a big argument at the tent where former soldiers, and ******ed protesters, were arguing against the war in Iraq. They had pictures up everywhere of Iraqis getting dragged from the streets with missing limbs, blood all over, and basically any horrible picture you can find on Google. I told them that while I'm not exactly "for" the war, I thought it was wrong that they didn't support the troops. I asked where the pictures are of the soldiers that same Iraqi just shot, or they Humvee he blew off the road with an IED. I told them that if they're going to tell the whole story, they need both halves.

I also had a great time talking with the Marines at their little recruiting tent. They had a pull-up bar, as well as some equipment out for show. I stopped by a ton of band's tents, as most of them were just sitting out, enjoying the show. I also had a run-in with Jeffree Star. I am by no means a homophobe, but he creeped me out. He also almost stabbed me with his umbrella, and I would have killed him. I was amazed at the amount of fans he had, as well as The Millionaires, and brokeNCYDE. Those 3 were clearly the worst there, and I was amazed at the turn out.

All in all, it was a great experience, and I look forward to going next year...