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Posts Tagged ‘Warped Tour’

  1. Warped Tour Interview with All Time Low’s Alex and Jack

    September 14, 2009 by Steph

    Alex and Jack, All Time Low, photo by CatharineOur first (and last posted ha!) Warped ’09 interview, we went with almost entirely questions submitted from YOU GUYS! We asked Alex Gaskarth and Jack Barakat, both guitarists and vocalists for All Time Low, some random fan questions about their fears and fantasies.

    We unfortunately weren’t able to get audio that was worth sharing, so this one you guys are going to have to read. Enjoy!

    Alex: You ready?
    Me: Yeah!
    MSO PR organizer: This is Alex and Jack from All Time Low.
    Me: How was it having some of your favorite musicians in your music video?
    Alex: Uh… phenomenal. It is really really cool that, you know, first of all, our favorite musicians have become somewhat of our friends and it’s also really really cool that they uhh, they’re down…
    Jack: Yeah it’s really cool that they agreed to do it.
    Alex: It was cool and it us helped us a lot, bigger bands to [help us out]. It’s really cool that they were willing to do it

    Steph: If you could have anyone dead or alive be on your next album, who would you pick?
    Alex: Um…
    Jack: Ooh I think it would be cool to have Mark Hoppus on the record
    Steph: That’s a possibility.
    Alex: Unfortunately he’s dead, so…

    Steph: What bands this year really impressed you on Warped Tour?
    Alex: I love Less Than Jake. I love them I think they’re great live. There For Tomorrow is awesome.
    Jack: Underoath is one of the best live bands I’ve ever seen.
    Alex: I agree. Underoath is one of the most entertaining bands to watch.

    Steph: When was the last time you did something for the first time?
    Alex: Oo. That’s a tough one. I went tubing for the first time a couple of days ago.
    Steph: How’d that go?
    Alex: It was awesome.
    Jack: I had my first orgy.
    Steph: Wow. Five people with their shoes off?
    Jack: Yeah, it was all the band on that.

    Steph: If you were Kevin Lyman and you got to pick five headlining spots for next year’s Warped Tour, who would you pick?
    Jack: Blink 182, Jimmy Eat World, Third Eye Blind…
    Steph: Two more.
    Alex: Jack’s Mannequin?
    Jack: Jack’s Mannequin.Alex and Jack, All Time Low, photo by Catharine Acurso
    Alex: And uh…
    Jack: How about Underoath?
    Alex: Underoath, yeah.

    Steph: Has anyone ever pulled a really cool prank on you guys during tour?
    Alex: Oh yeah, all the time.
    Steph: What was your favorite?
    Alex: Uh… I remember one, every single band in the tour wore tighty whities on stage and they danced around.
    Steph: I like it.
    Alex: It was kinda silly.

    Steph: How do you feel when fans ask you to marry them? Have you ever considered?
    Alex: Uh, yeah I marry all of them. I marry each and every one of them.
    Jack: We’re Morman.

    Steph: If you guys were to cast a movie about yourselves, who would you have play you?
    Jack: Tom Cruise for me.
    Alex: Uh… Wanda Sykes for me.
    Alex: Jack! Jack! [trying to sound like Sykes]
    Jack: Yes, Alex.
    Alex: Jack!
    Jack: Stop saying my name!

    Steph: Do you have any phobias?
    Alex: I’m afraid of needles
    Steph: No tattoos for you?
    Alex: No I don’t mind tattoos guns but just like…
    Jack: Injections.
    Alex: Injections.
    Jack: Yeah, I don’t like injections
    Alex: Yeah like if I have to get blood drawn
    Jack: Yeah.
    Alex: I faint every time I get blood drawn.
    Steph: Really?
    Jack: I have to get blood drawn next week so…
    Alex: I’m always fine while they do it and then they pull it out and I’m like “Awh f*ck.” It’s not blood so much it’s just the fact that this thing stabs me. Yeah it’s weird I dunno.

    Category Interviews | Tags: , | Comments Off on Warped Tour Interview with All Time Low’s Alex and Jack

  2. Warped Tour Interviews, Round 1!

    September 10, 2009 by Steph

    Austin Bello, Forever the Sickest Kids, by Catharine AcursoKent Garrison, Forever the Sickest Kids, by Catharine AcursoToday I give you interviews with two awesome dudes from an amazing band. Keyboard player Kent Garrison and bassist and vocalist Austin Bello from Forever the Sickest Kids (interestingly enough in separate interviews) were happy to chat with us about Warped Tour, their upcoming album release, and a few of their deepest, darkest secrets. …sort of!

    Click here (for Kent) and here (for Austin) to listen to it in your browser

    or here to take you to our iTunes podcast

    Category Interviews | Tags: , | 1 Comment

  3. Warped Tour Los Angeles 2009

    September 6, 2009 by Steph

    The MaineAll of Catharine Acurso’s photos can be found here

    Interviews, Round 1! can he found here. More coming soon…

    The day started off with some downtime so photographer Catharine and I headed out to a few bands that we might have otherwise skipped over. The Maine’s audience was filled with screaming girls jumping and singing to songs like “Everything I Ask For” and “I Must Be Dreaming.” It was already scorching hot, yet it didn’t seem to effect anyone’s excitement for the band. The Maine’s music was perfect for the weather—summer songs that only made me wish I had a popsicle. They closed out the set with a cover of Dead Leopard’s “Pour Some Sugar On Me” with a funky bass line and heavy drums.We the Kings, photo by Catharine Acurso

    We stopped off for a brief glance at a couple of bands. The first: We the Kings. Catharine grabbed a couple of shots of the band while I hung in the back to tell people about the site. The band sang their hearts out to their songs “Whoa” and “Secret Valentine” (a song frontman Travis claims is “entirely about sexual intercourse” so he shouts for the crowd to have intercourse.)

    On the way back, we caught a bit of Saosin. The fans were crazy and the bass was pumping so loud I could feel it across the blacktop. Tons of crowd surfers were up for “Voices” and it seemed pretty intense.

    Forever the Sickest Kids, photo by Catharine AcursoInstead of joining the crowd, we decided to head over to see You Me At Six sing for their hot, sweaty pop punk set. With heavy bass, rock distortion, and hangovers from the night before, You Me at Six played “Finders Keepers” to a huge crowd—much bigger than I saw the rest of the day at the Kevin Says stage.

    Forever the Sickest Kids was, as always, a huge, fun, sweaty dance party.  Jumping right in with “Hey Brittany,” the guys told the crowd that Los Angeles is their favorite city outside of Dallas (their hometown) and encouraged the kids to make the crowd look as if its on a trampoline (essentially jump as high as they possibly can). After playing the crowd against each other as “side good-looking versus side better-looking” and “boys versus girls” they jammed out upbeat renditions of “Believe Me I’m Lying” and “She’s a Lady.”

    The next band was one I hadn’t heard before, but caught my ear. Single File from Denver, Colorado had vocals similar to Max Beemis of say anything, but their pop punk style was all their own.  They played their songs “September Skyline” and “Velcro” while one of the guys encouraged fans to come meet them at their tent after and the other to “pat him on the butt. He likes butt stuff.”

    This Providence, photo by Catharine AcursoThis Providence from Seattle (with accents that might suggest otherwise?) were the next band we checked out on the Kevin Says stage. If it’s possible to shred with a tambourine, This Providence did just that. In “Playing the Villian,” the lyrics are viscous: “I hate who you’ve become, I don’t know you anymore.” You’d never know so much rock came from men with such baby faces. Everyone clapped along to “That Girl’s a Trick” and everyone shouted the lyrics to “Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing” with their hands in the air.

    All Time Low, photo by Catharine AcursoAs the sun started to set, the bands only kept getting better. All Time Low hit the stage to “I’m getting fucked up…lets get drunk.” The ATL crew kicked off their set with their newest single “Weightless”  jetting quickly into their foul mouth antics: “This is not a g-d damn concert, it’s a revolution… filled with dicks and titties, blood and sweat and tears… and cats that I hit in my car on the way to work… which is not true because I’ve never had a job in my life.” They played all their favorites—“Jasey Rae,” “Poppin’ Champagne” (with a rock thrash interlude), “Lost in Stereo” (off their newest release Nothing Personal), and “Six Feet Under the Stars.” Someone threw a pair of boxers on stage dripping with sweat and later Alex yelled that we all needed to get “a little more naked.” All ages of women (and men in women’s pants) were singing along to the poppy pop punk hooligans.

    And now for my favorite part of the day: A Day to Remember. A band I’ve recently fallen in love A Day to Remember, photo by Catharinewith, ADTR’s set quickly stole my heart. Super high energy and a sea of moshing and fist throwing. The air seemed to cool down just in time for the set so that we could mosh especially hard. The guys on stage seemed so genuine and earnest. The band shouted from the stage that “LA has been here from the start.” They sang an equal number of songs from their newest release Homesick and older songs like “I’m Made of Wax, Larry, What Are You Made Of?” and “Show ‘em the Ropes” with intense lyrics and even more intense guitar shredding. I felt the music through the crowd and it was a great feeling.

    Watching Bayside is always like being in on one dark joke about yourself. It takes a true Bayside fan to shout at full volume back at Anthony, “I swear I can’t stand this place and what’s becoming of me the longer I have to stay.” Bayside’s lyrics are self-deprecating, but far from defeatist. The rebellious attitude comes out through shredding guitar solos and bass that make fists fly. This is what made Bayside’s set so exciting to watch. Most fans in the crowd knew every word and were yelling them with their rock faces on. The band played a good mix of their two Bayside, photo by Catharine Acursomost recent releases Shudder and The Walking Wounded and a few of some oldies. “Devotion and Desire” set the mood for the set as Anthony’s smooth vocals wailed “I know the spark inside your eyes was just the match I use to set myself on fire.” Playing other favorites like “The Walking Wounded,” “Carry On,” and “Head On a Plate” caused the few who weren’t singing along to mosh in a circle pit.

    Hit the Light’s style always surprises me a little. The guys look pretty tough—the lead singer is a white dude with a shaved head and looks like he could lift me over his head—but their style is more pop than punk and some of their songs even have a dance beat. They hit the stage to Christina Millian’s “A.M. to P.M.” (“Somebody hit the lights so we can rock it day and night”) and then some pretty hardcore screams came out of frontman Nick. I was surprised at the amount of moshing to songs like “Breathe In” and “Back Breaker” (although to be fair, “Back Breaker” has some heavy breakdowns and screaming). They remind me a bit of New Found Glory if not for the style and high energy, then for the way they command the crowd. Hit the Lights played “309” per request of a couple of screaming fans and closed their set with their popular “Drop the Girl” and a hardcore cover.

    We briefly checked out Meg & Dia before heading over to 3Oh!3. They sound exactly how you would expect two 5 foot 120 lb girls to sound—high pitched and sweet. We didn’t stay for my favorite song of their’s, “Monster,” but their funky groove on “Going Away” was pretty cool.

    3Oh!3, photo by Catharine AcursoIt’s rare that I stay till the end of the day at Warped Tour but this year it seemed as though over half the attendees had the same reason to stay–3Oh!3. 3Oh!3 has managed to confuse people into liking them. Not that their music isn’t awesome, but they defy categorization and therefore manage to cross over some thought-to-be impenetrable divides.

    – Are they serious or are they making one big joke?

    – Are they rock or hip hop? Or something else entirely?

    The last performance at the last warped tour date of its 15th year, a couple thousand people stuck around not to discuss what 3Oh!3 means, but to raise their “3O3” hands and shake their booties, mosh, and crowd surf. From “Punkbitch” to “Rich Man”  to “Colorado Sunrise” to some new material, there were hardcore 15-year-old boys moshing alongside preppy 18-year-old sorority girls dancing next to some metal dudes. The two white guys on stage doing choreographed “crump” dancing singing “Choke Chain” to heavy guitar and three drum sets (they invited a couple of guest musicians) seemed odd, but fun. It didn’t make sense, but maybe that’s why everyone loves it so much. Myself included.

    At the end of the day, Warped Tour’s 15th anniversary was pretty successful.  Lots of great bands, some I heard for the first time, some I saw live for the first time. I came home with a bunch of posters, a backpack full of flyers, and a tape recorder full of interviews…

    Category Interviews, Live | Tags: ,,,,,,,,,,,,, | Comments Off on Warped Tour Los Angeles 2009

  4. 2008 Warped Tour, Los Angeles. Photo + Interviews + Reviews!

    August 22, 2008 by Steph

    11:15 The Academy Is…

    12:05 We the Kings

    –Interviews with All Time Low, Forever the Sickest Kids, and The Academy Is… available on our iTunes Podcast—

    3:15 ORESKABAND

    3:55 Forever the Sickest Kids

    4:20 All Time Low

    5:45 Relient K

    6:45 Say Anything

    7:00 Four Year Strong

    7:15 Katy Perry

    7:45 Angeles and Airwaves

    8:15 Gym Class Heroes

    We managed to arrive just in time to check in at the press tent, sign up for interviews, and make it back over to main stages to catch The Academy Is… go on first thing in the morning.  They opened with “Neighbors” to an unusually mellow and stagnant crowd.  The played some classics—”Slow Down” and “Classifieds”—mixed in with their new singles released this past Tuesday on Fast Times at Barrington High—”Summer Hair” and “About a Girl.”  These new summer anthems were perfect for getting started a long hot day at Warped Tour.

    We the Kings were the next act of (moderate) interest and we sauntered over there to catch a few pictures and a few songs.  They sounded like Boys Like Girls with more elementary lyrics and less catchy hooks.  “Cause if you jump I will jump too.  We will fall together from the building’s ledge never looking back at what we’ve done.  we’ll say it was love cause I would die for you” is cliché emo through and through.  As we walked away, we heard Travis Clark, lead vocals, tell the crowd to “spread the love” about their new album.  So if you consider the album “love” you have Travis’ permission to share it.

    Back over in the press tent, we waited around for our interviews.  They all went amazing and we ended up getting even more than we hoped for – All Time Low followed by Forever the Sickest Kids and The Academy Is… with Charlotte Sometimes later on in the day.  You can listen to all of these interviews on iTunes  – Addicted to Shows Podcast .

    After a couple of hours in the press tent, skipping way too many good sets, we caught ORESKABAND’s set.  They’re an all-girl ska band from Japan and they RULE!  Aside from them being adorable and bursting with anime-like bubbly excitement, they kick ass as a very legit group of musicians.  They shouted for us to sing along (which was a little hard since I think most of us don’t know Japanese) but the oo’s and ahh’s were definite sing-along, skank-along material and they put on an altogether fun set.

    Forever the Sickest Kid’s set was almost as good as their set at Warped Tour in Pomona—full of dancing, moshing, and sweatiness.  Their music really has this great energy and fun about it that it’s impossible not to get excited about it.  Songs like single “Whoa Oh!” and “She’s a Lady” got the entire crowd moving and a constant launch of crowd surfers.  I can’t possibly give the Kids more praise than I already have in previous reviews so I’ll quit while I’m ahead.  LOVE.

    The closer we got to the Hurley stage, the more dense the crowd got until we finally reached the staging area overflowing with kids—the ones farther out were observant, the ones closer in ready to get their effin’ dance on!  Some of the younger more novice kiddos weren’t quite prepared for what was about to go down – lots of people falling, crowd surfers falling through, and people upset about losing sandals (please don’t wear sandals to a show).  All Time Low’s set was fun, energetic, and definitely dance-worthy.  There was a dancy, sweaty mix out there on that black top with even a little bit of circle-pit action which is great to see at Warped Tour.  They played Poppin’ Champagne (without the bleeping.  Take that, MTV!), Six Feet Under The Stars and the rest of their fun, sing-along teenage anthems.  Fun, sweaty times.

    Heading over to the main stages, we were up front and ready for Relient K.  Where were all the die-hards?  I only saw people mouthing (not even singing) along for a few of the more recent releases.  But the crowd was in no way a reflection of their performance.  Matt gracefully floated between the piano and his guitar amidst xylophone-littered pop rock melodies with fantastic harmonies.

    Totally contrary to their normal rock genre, they busted out Kanye’s “Good Life” followed by their “The Best Thing.”  Off their new The Bird and the B-Sides (with 13 new and 13 old songs) they played “The Scene and the Herd” which sounded more Mhmm than Five Score.  Matt sang, “I see you magically got this song for free… Doesn’t bother me.  I’m gonna sing what I want.  It might not be what you want to hear.” which seems appropriate because Relient K has always done exactly what they wanted to, from the contemplative Five Score to the playful “Sadie Hawkins” which they played next (although Matt admits to be sick of it, it’s still a crowd favorite).  They segued their silliness into a song about The Office and then got a little more serious with “Who I Am Hates Who I’ve Been” and promotion of the charity Blood, Water, Mission.  They ended with “I Need You” – heavy and buck! Haha.

    We stuck around to try to split the next half hour between Say Anything and Four Year Strong but Rise Against made Say Anything start late and I was only able to see one of Say Anything’s songs – “Alive With the Glory of Love.” They had good energy, great vocals and a crisp sound that drew a huge crowd.  Fans had sat there through the last 4 sets just to get a good spot for them.  Dedication, and for a good reason.

    Hustling over to Four Year Strong, I caught the set mid-first-song.  This set… FANTASTIC.  They have the fun and energy of Forever the Sickest Kids and the heaviness of Set Your Goals creating this fun, dancey, head-banging, moshing monster.  There isn’t enough praise I can give Four Year Strong.  And their straddling between hardcore and powerpop-rock allows them to appeal to just about anyone – you WILL like them.

    They played my favorites off their album Rise or Dye Trying – “Prepare To Be Digitally Manipulated,” “Catastrophe,” “Abandon Ship Or Abandon All Hope,” and “Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Hell.”  Listen.  Now.

    Katy Perry was on the stage just to the left and we caught a few of her songs.  While I have to admit a guilty pleasure for the beat of “I Kissed a Girl” and her music is pretty great to play at a party, having to stand and watch Katy shake her booty around the stage was only mildly entertaining and probably more suitable for a male audience.  I caught “One of the Boys,” “If You Can Afford Me,” and “Hot n’ Cold.”  Impatient for cherry chap stick and “Ur So Gay” I decided to find our M.I.A. photographer.

    Unable to find Catharine, I ended up shooting Angels and Airwaves with my camera.  Being up front and center for Tom Delong & band was really incredible.  Him and former band Blink-182 probably influenced over half the bands on Warped Tour 2008.  Their sound is so epic and inspiring.  The fans were so into it they were practically climbing over the barricade in hypnotized enthusiasm.  While this (not really that) new direction for Tom is exciting, it can be a little strange for all us Blink fans to see Tom so serious.  Just for us, Tom threw in a “fuck, shit, poo poo, pee pee” for us before submerging into a personal favorite “It Hurts” and closing the set with the single off their first release “The Adventure.”

    Gym Class Heroes closed out the night, walking on stage to “End of the Road” which is pretty appropriate – the last act on the last date of Warped Tour.  A little sad… but they picked up the mood immediately with the obvious crowd-pleaser “Clothes Off” which brought on dancing and singing along.  Travis announced that their the successor to As Cruel As School Children is called The Quill and will be released September 9th.

    Off their new album they played a song with a chorus “Put up your peace sign, put your index down” and then their School Children slow jam “Viva la White Girl.”  To introduce their new fans to their excellent first release The Papercut Chronicles, they played a medley of “Simple Livin'” and “Taxi Cab” (my favorite).  Stealing a note out of Relient K’s book (or maybe the other way around) they busted out an amazingly clean rendition of metal band Lamb of God’s “Laid to Rest.”  They closed out the night, and the Warped Tour, with “Cupid’s Chokehold” with Katy Perry, Forever the Sickest Kids, and a female bunny costume on stage with them.

    2008 Warped Tour finished in Los Angeles after another long summer out on the road.  Some bands we got to see for a second time and some picked up somewhere in the middle and helped close it off.  Some bands we missed completely (sorry about that).  But this year was great and it was awesome to be able to see some new favorites on the stage for the first time.  If you guys don’t take anything else from this, I hope that you listen to our interviews and listen to FOUR YEAR STRONG.

    There are a ton more photos on myspace.com/addictedtoshows including other bands not included:  Cobra Starship and Ludo.  Check them out!

    Stay Saavy,
    Steph@A2S

    Photos by Catharine Acurso

    Category Interviews, Live | Tags: ,,,,,,,,,,, | Comments Off on 2008 Warped Tour, Los Angeles. Photo + Interviews + Reviews!

  5. Warped Tour, Pomona – June 20, 2008

    June 24, 2008 by Steph

    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

    Category Live | Tags: ,,,,,,,,,, | Comments Off on Warped Tour, Pomona – June 20, 2008