Saturday I spent the day over at the Vans Warped Tour at the First National Bank Amphitheatre in Tinley Park, IL. I had two tasks: cover the show for this site and play chaperone to a car full of 14 year old girls. Either one of them means a day of non stop walking around in the sun, put them both together and it is a bit of an endurance test. The mission I set for myself was to try and see more bands than I did last year which I easily accomplished.
Unlike last year, this time around there were no old punk bands playing that I grew up listening to. In fact, this year’s lineup was very heavily weighted with newer bands, much more so than previous Warped Tours. Picking bands to me consisted of a mix of the few bands I was somewhat familiar with mixed in with stopping at stages along the way to see what was going on. It ended up being pretty good exercise whiile sampling a lot of bands and different styles of music all in one confined area.
Alesana
Alesana
Alesana
First off over on the Smart Punk stage I caught Alesana. They had a pretty sizable and enthusiastic crowd of kids watching them. They played mostly accessible emo rock with your occasional screaming. It was a big hit with the kids in the crowd but I prefer my music to be a lot angrier and aggressive for the most part. They seemed to have the formula down for this style of music which meant they didn’t really sound any different from the countless other bands in their scene.
Fear Nuttin Band
Fear Nuttin Band
Fear Nuttin Band
After watching them for awhile I went for a walk to check out the rest of the venue and get a feel for the layout. It was very similar to the one last year but the stages were in different spots or named differently than they were last year in some cases. Over near the halfpipe was a small stage and I stopped by for a few mins and checked out Fear Nuttin Band. They were a reggae band with a bit of rock thrown in for good measure. I’m not much of a reggae fan but mixing it with some traditional rock sensibilities made it a lot more palatable.
Oreskaband
Oreskaband
Oreskaband
Over at the Hurly.com stage I caught the tail end of Oreskaband. They were an all-female Japanese Ska Band. That was quite the gimmick and they all dressed sort of like mod schoolgirls. I can safely say it was the only ska band I have seen that I didn’t want to smack the band in the head with their own horns in an effort to stop them from playing. It was fairly entertaining the the small dose I got of them.
I wandered back out of the pavilion and over to the halfpipe where they had some skaters showing off their stuff and competing in some kind of contest. These guys were pretty impressive with their tricks and lack of pads or helmets. I could have easily watched the skating for the rest of the day and skipped a ton of bands and felt like it was a fun afternoon.
Casket Architects
Casket Architects
Casket Architects
Casket Architects
After I pried myself away from the skateboarding I went over to the Kevin Says Stage (who is this Keven anyway?) to see the Casket Architects. I was intrigued by their name and the fact that one of their member was wearing a Skinny Puppy t-shirt. I figure if someone in the band has such good taste, then his band was worth checking out. That theory proved to be correct as I found their Locust inspired brand of noisy punk rock to be most entertaining. In fact they stood out as one of the bands I enjoyed most at the show.
Mayday Parade
Mayday Parade
Mayday Parade
Mayday Parade
Over at the Hurley stage (not to be confused with the Hurley.com stage) there was a pretty big crowd going crazy for Mayday Parade. I stopped to snap some photos and see what all the excitement was about. Wouldn’t you know it, they were an emo pop band. The very young members of their audience were going crazy and crowd surfing and eating it up. I’d bet that these guys end up having their music featured in some CW Network show if they haven’t already. It is during these times that I really start to feel my age!
Check back tomorrow for part two!
