Warped Tour 2008 – Pomona, CA
Somehow when Warped Tour comes through Pomona it always has the luck of falling on the hottest day of the year. This year was no exception – highs at the Pomona Fairplex and plenty of cash was spent on water and Powerade to stay hydrated. Even so, the heat seemed like an afterthought with such great bands all around. After standing in line for almost an hour in what felt like a greenhouse, the line finally started to move and after jetting inside, we quickly picked out our stage schedule for the day and planned it out in our phones.
12:05 Forever the Sickest Kids at the Smartpunk stage
1:00 Mayday Parade acoustic set at the Myspace tent
1:50 Relient K at the Highway 1 stage
2:20 The Academy Is… at the Route 66 stage
2:50 Cobra Starship at the Highway 1 stage
3:20 Gym Class Heroes at the Route 66 stage
3:45 Set Your Goals at the Smartpunk stage
4:20 Anberlin at the Route 66 stage
4:45 Charlotte Sometimes at the Ernie Ball stage
5:35 The Maine at the Smartpunk stage
6:40 Mayday Parade at the Hurley stage
As you can tell, we spent all day running back and forth between stages and we sacrificed seeing some great bands in the hopes of seeing them when they come back around in August.
For the first set of the day—and probably the band I was most excited to see—we headed over to the Smartpunk stage to see Forever the Sickest Kids. This really fun dance-powerpop band was as awesome live as I’d hoped. They were awesome performers and filled the set with fun scream-along songs. We even found ourselves jumping in the already sky-high temperatures. Their set included (but probably not in order) “Believe Me, I’m Lying,” “Phone Call,” “Hey Brittany,” one of my favorites off their EP Television Off, Party On “I Don’t Know About You, But I Came to Dance” and ended with “She’s a Lady” from both the EP and their 2008 album Underdog Alma Mater. They were one the highlights of this year’s tour – don’t skip them.
Ducking into the Myspace tent, we were able to walk right in and take seats right at the front of the stage. Apparently Mayday Parade is still a too-well kept secret. By the time two members of the band sauntered on stage nonchalantly, the tent was comfortably full. Derek Sanders—front man—took a seat behind the keyboard and Jake Bundrick—normally on drums and vocals—took a mic and a stool. They opened with a passionate rendition my favorite featured on Punk Goes Acoustic II “Three Cheers for Five Years.” Trying to ignore some sound issues, they started in on “You Be the Anchor That Keeps My Feet on the Ground, I’ll Be the Wings That Keep Your Heart in the Clouds” and then closed with the heart-wrenching “Miserable at Best.” Sanders and Bundrick’s vocals complement each other in this perfect sincere and emotion-filled counterbalance so though they pull off their sound so effortlessly (smiling at other things going on in the tent and ignoring the “jump, jump, jump” going on from the tent next door”) it sounds desperate and sincere. This set was fantastic and an awesome surprise.
After a quick bite to eat in the shade, we scooted over to watch Relient K’s set on the Highway 1 stage. They played a lot of songs off their most recent release Five Score and Seven Years Ago. They added a Kanye intro onto one of their songs that got the crowd pumped and they included one of my personal favorites – “Who I am Hates Who I’ve Been.” They had a ton of energy and a huge crowd and really rocked out.
The Academy Is… had a huge crowd since it was midday and we had seen them so many times, we enjoyed it from the back. They played two new songs—the first sounded like it had a lot of Nirvana influence with a chorus that sounded like Rod Stewart’s “Forever Young.” It sounds like a weird combo but The Academy Is… has always been a really inventive band and this experiment worked. The other new track sounded like dance rock with 80’s influence with a hint at the melody of the hit “Take On Me” and the chorus repeated “I’m not in love” (I think). Again, worked awesomely and I’m super excited for a new release from them. They mixed in their Santi single “Big Mess” and Almost Here classics “Slow Down” and “Checkmarks.” The set was a good mix and new and spurred excited for things to come.
We jetted over to Cobra Starship across the Fairplex. Gabe Saporta’s vocals got off to a rough start but he warmed up quickly and so did the crowd. Cobra Starship’s Alternative Press cover says “Who needs cred when you’re having fun?” and these guys definitely have fun on stage (and probably off to). Every song is danceable and the band doesn’t hold out – plenty of grooving and hip shaking happening on the stage. They opened with the anthemic “The City Is at War” from their recent LP !Viva la Cobra! They also played “Kiss My Sass,” “Smile for the Paparazzi,” “Send My Love To The Dancefloor, I’ll See You In Hell (Hey Mister DJ),” and their famous “Snakes on a Plane.”
The entire Cobra Starship crowd rushed back over to the main stage to see Gym Class Heroes. They started with an interesting new song about peace and peace signs and segued into “Cupid’s Chokehold” without Patrick Stump. They played a couple of other new songs whose lightness with heavy fast bass reminded me of The Hush Sound, a fellow Fueled by Ramen band. Next came “Viva la White Girl” followed by an announcement for my favorite “Taxi Driver.” They started it the way I’ve always loved… but somehow turned it into a heavy metal axe battle with screaming? I don’t know what happened, but I didn’t enjoy it. They ended with the crowd and radio favorite “Clothes Off!”
At first we were a little apprehensive of joining the Set Your Goals crowd—all rowdy guys—but we got over that quick and joined in on the pushing. The sentiment came through loud and clear—rebellious fight songs with heavy bass, wild electric melodies, and gang shouting. They played “We Do It for the Money Obviously,” “Mutiny,” “Dead Men Tell No Tales,” “Don’t Let This Win Over You,” and their single and my favorite “Echos.” Their set was awesome and exciting. DON’T MISS THEM. That’s an order.
We wandered over to hear the opening song from Anberlin but I’ve never really been much of a fan. Even my friend who has been a fan for years said their rendition of “The Feel Good Drag” was more of a downer. We decided to saunter over to the Ernie Ball stage to get up front and personal for Charlotte Sometimes.
And by up front, I mean UP FRONT since somehow they didn’t drag much of a crowd. As the set progressed, the band caught the interest of passersby’s and by the time they finished there was a little mob of wide-eyed gazers. Front woman Charlotte dominated the stage and everyone’s attention with her expressiveness and powerful, controlled, and sassy vocals. She flirted with her guitarist and practically frontally assaulted her keyboardist with her face… but I don’t think they minded too much. Her set included sassy single “How I Could Just Kill a Man,” with “Army Men,” “This Is Only for Now,” “Toy Soldier,” “AEIOU,” “Ex Girlfriend Syndrome,” and “Sweet Valium High.” It’s a rarity that such a vocally-based band sounds as good or better live as it does on the album, but Charlotte Sometimes is one of these gems.
While we were waiting for The Maine to take the stage, we caught of bit of wacky Katy Perry. Did you know she kissed a girl and she liked it? How many times can you say that in one song? ANYway, the Maine came on stage full of eff-bombs. Yeah, I mean fuck. But he was cute and entertaining which masked their slightly generic sound. Their style was like Forever the Sickest Kids meets Cute is What We Aim For without the comb-over. They opened with “Girls Do What They Want” which front man John O’Callaghan introduced saying “because they are.” They also played the song they included on the Warped Tour compilation “The Way We Talk” and Akon’s “I Wanna Love You” off of Punk Goes Crunk. Also, “If I Only Had the Heart.” One of the songs he explained, “This song is about peace. Actually, it’s about pussies. And cute girls. And guys like me. And masculine boys. And…moustaches.” The vibe and energy of the band was what made watching them so fun.
Last band of our day was Mayday Parade (again) who was a little late getting on stage. They finally met the crowd to a ton of excitement (maybe they aren’t really a secret?). Their sweet vocals mixed with the heavy drums and excited power-chord guitar makes for the perfect combination. Sanders seemed like an unlikely front man as the guitarists were better at attacking the stage and standing front and center but his sweet raspy commanding singing made him worthy of the role. Their set included a handful from their LP A Lesson in Romantics such as “When I Get Home, You’re So Dead,” “Black Cat,” and “Jersey” and they were joined on their final song by Travis Clark of We The Kings. Unfortunately Sander’s call for everyone to crowd surf especially anyone who hadn’t before detracted attention from the band’s awesome performance as people were falling through the crowd right and left (not really the experienced-crowd-surfer-type crowd) the set was pretty excellent.
We managed to escape this year exhausted and without too much of a sunburn only looking forward to doing it all again in Los Angeles at the end of August. Hope to see you guys there.
Lots more photos up in our Mypace album. Check them out.
Stay Saavy,
Steph@A2S
Relient K, Owl City & Runner Runner
The middle band of the night, Owl City, impressed me far beyond my expectations. The Relient K crew we chatted with in the book store described them as “like the Postal Service, but better.” I don’t know if I’d go that far, but they were almost that good, and that says a lot. The set opened with music playing to a dark, cartoon cityscape that exactly predicted the mood of the music. Their music was catchy electro pop with synth break downs and sweet falsetto/tenor vocals. The songs were intermingled with pre-recorded auto-tune and carnival-like synth. The stage was crowded with a lot of equipment for only three musicians (Adam Young backed by Matt and Austin)—among the wires were two Macbooks, two synthesizers, a drum machine, a guitar, and a drum set. They played a new song “Stronger” along with “Dear Vienna,” crowd sing-along “Rainbow Veins,” and closed with them playing their intro cityscape song “Hello Seattle.” Definitely loved by the crowd, Owl City was an all-around success.
Relient K’s energy was turned all the way up from the moment they hit the stage and never let up. This band is old school power pop full of
