Our Annual Trip to the Punk Rock Mecca
Warped Never Fails to Please

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>> Sum41's Deryck Whibley rocked the LBC. >>

At Cal State Long Beach, the normal roar of the arriving and departing jets was overtaken by another sound: the roar of the crowd.  The army of bands that have invaded this year’s Vans Warped Tour, such as Rancid, Rufio, Sum41, Dropkick Murphys and Glassjaw are a perfect choice to please the annual capacity crowds at this beach-close campus.

This year, the Warped organizers once again provided an A-list of bands and performances. The same can’t be said in their organization of the event grounds and concessions.  Food and water were scare, and sold out before half way through the show.  Most of the stars interviewed said that they had trouble getting food as well.

>> The Dropkick Murphys' Al Barr soaks up the sun. >>

Also, programs or schedules were not available to the general public, making the sequence of bands a mystery.  According to some of the staff we talked to, the concert started earlier than advertised and some of the more popular bands were playing at this new early time, which caused a lot of frustrated fans to miss their favorites.

We were looking forward to catching Vendetta Red and S.T.U.N., two bands that have generated plenty of buzz, but they were on before their advertised start times and over before we had a chance to locate an entrance point and make our way in.   Quite the buzz kill.

Despite a few setbacks, the Vans Warped Tour was worth every penny.   As usual, the bands more than made up for any deficiencies in the way the event itself was put together.  When you consider that most of the package tours making their way around the country are charging $75 a ticket, the Warped Tour continues to be an amazing value.

>> Glassjaw's Daryl Palumbo. >>

Of the bands we were able to catch, Glassjaw had what was undoubtedly the most intense performance of the day.  No surprise there – if you’ve caught them live, every performance is a masterpiece of emotion and sound.  Also of note, Sum41 put on a show that definitely showed they aren’t the poster boys MTV has made them out to be.  Their performance was throwback punk that would have made the Rancid guys proud.

The mere size of the Warped mob created chaos one could only imagine in a first-rate concert.  As usual, the good ol’ mosh pit was a sight for sore eyes, with people and items thrown toward the stage.  It can be utterly amazing what great stuff people throw: good pairs of shoes, cell phones, CDs (in playable condition) and even flares! One man’s trash is truly another man’s treasure.

Maybe the promo-size bottles of shampoo that were being given away were not such a good idea.  Most ended up as projectiles launched at the stage – at least it didn’t smell so bad when the stuff ended up splattered all over the place, with one even hitting Sum41’s guitarist, Dave “Brown Sound” Baksh.