Totally Jerkin'
Lucky, Part I
Ocotber 9, 2004

This summer was the Van's Warped Tour ten year anniversary.  The Van's Warped Tour has come a long way in the past decade, from showering in water fountains to the real thing, and starting out as one of the most underground tours to becoming the most successful tour in the summer of 2004.  The man behind all the magic would be Kevin Lyman, the man who started Warped Tour a decade ago and has stuck with it until now.  Kevin Lyman has toured with the Warped Tour since the beginning and reportedly has traces of every single stomach virus known to man.  I attended four days of the forty-eight day tour.  I was Warped in Milwaukee, Chicago, Boston, and Boston again.  This is my summary of what was going on at the four dates I went to and the bands that were there.

Okay, so I get off work and we take off for Wisconsin.  My crew consisted of Adam, Jayne, and B-rad.  The drive wasn’t too bad; we decided to stop at a Culver’s for some greasy food.  We walked in and instantly we didn’t fit in.  Everyone had a Hummer or a Corvette with a support Bush sticker on their window.  It looked like each car came with a suit and a tie as well.  We looked like we all called each other and tried to wear the same matching black outfits, it was grand.  So we got to Milwaukee and ended up getting lost.  We parked in a parking lot and next thing you know a tour van is about ten feet away.  We debate if we should just hop on in the van and see how that goes or just go talk to them.  We chose number two and it ended up being two guys from the underground sensation known as Bleed the Dream.  They were doing their laundry and trying their best not to fall asleep standing up.  We talked music, girls, and cigarettes with Scott and Keith for a while and then went to a friend's house to crash for the night.

So I wake the next morning, take a shower in the sink, and get ready to go.  We get to the venue, get our press stuff, and get going.  Jayne and I have to find the press tent, and this was by far the most ridiculous journey to find something I have ever been on.  The directions went something along these lines:  "Turn right, look for some obscure booth, there is a midget named Carl, he will take you to the Warped Tour layer, if you're not there in ten minutes we take your passes."  We couldn’t find it until we stopped some random girl and asked.  We got back and met "Vizion" the press coordinator, and he gave us the ground rules and I was off to take photos.  I did an interview with Matt from Motion City Soundtrack somewhere in this day, but I couldn’t honestly remember when.  Anyway, it was my first interview and I made myself look like a huge dork.

Here is the low down on all the bands I saw.  The beginning of the day wasn’t too good as there wasn’t anyone worth while until about three or so.  I took pictures of Yellowcard, Sugarcult, Taking Back Sunday, Bleed the Dream and NOFX.  Yellowcard surprised me with a moderate show.  I thought these VMA nominees would have put on a much better show.  The whole band looked quite weathered from the twenty or so days on Warped Tour.  Their stage presence still did not stop the crowd from singing every word, and bouncing up and down like the cement was a trampoline.  Sugarcult was no let down though, they played the standard Warped Tour thirty minute set, and tore it up.  I don’t think Tim has not ever changed his black shirt that he wears.  I think it's one of those "this is my favorite shirt"
situations.  Taking Back Sunday upright blew me away.  The last time I saw them vocalist Adam Lazzara and the rest of the band they were a complete let down.  I was glad to see that they got their act together.  Bleed the Dream was everything they have been cracked up to be. These guys are arguably the hardest working band out there right now and are out there with a noise that is next to unstoppable.  Bleed the Dream is the first unsigned band to play the Volcom Stage and deserved every minute they played.   I watched NOFX for a bit and I learned that even though their awesome live, their stage antics is what they're really all about.  Fat Mike explained his story on how last year he wasn’t drunk and he refused to have a repeat.  The show ended, everyone went home happy and with one less shoe.

Then there was Chicago Warped Tour.  Chicago and Milwaukee’s crowd are like night and day.  The Milwaukee kids don’t rock half as hard as Chicago kids.  Here’s all the weird random stuff that went down in Chicago.  I totally blew off Jordan from New Found Glory, and felt terrible.  I went in the back parking lot, and there were some kids that were totally not supposed to be there.  Jordan came to greet them and did the whole "You’re my Bro" handshake, and he tried to shake my hand and I told him, "I gotta go."  I felt really bad at first, then I remembered I have job that pays me poverty wages, and he’s a rock star.

I was the official photo pit whore of Chicago.  I sat down and watched the up and coming pop band known as Split Habit (who does a mean cover of Man Eater), while Jayne made a schedule for me to take pictures of bands.   Alright, so here’s the run down on who I saw: My Chemical Romance, Taking Back Sunday, Simple Plan,  From Autumn to Ashes Army of Freshman, Motion City Soundtrack, Coheed and Cambria, New Found Glory, Story of the Year, Hidden in Plain View, and Alkaline Trio.

Up first, Army of Freshman.  This quintet had a huge crowd going for them at the Ernie Ball Stage.  With the pop-punk sounds of two keyboards and vocalist Chris Jay jumping up and down, it didn’t take long for the crowd of young girls to go insane.  Next was Simple Plan, who were way more fun then I thought they would be.  You would have thought they were N*sync with all the screaming.  They played a really good set along with their new single “Welcome to My Life.”  I caught a few songs from Story of The Year and New Found Glory.  However, I left after Story of the Year played their single “Until the Day I Die,” and I watched NFG for a bit (I must admit I really love their live show).  I went to go see My Chemical Romance at the Volcom Stage; I saw them a few months before this and was really let down.  However, they were by far one of the best bands I watched that day.  Each moment of their show was crammed with energy.   My Chemical Romance has reportedly already been signed for next year’s Warped Tour.  After them was a
personal favorite of mine, Motion City Soundtrack.  MCS had the whole pavilion rocking out to their hit “The Future Freaks Me Out.”  They had a much bigger crowd then when I saw Poison last year.  I rushed over to see the local favorite Alkaline Trio on one of the main stages and rocked out with my bad self for a little bit.  The crowd was so rowdy that some girl was pulled out with a bloody face.  I ran to take pictures of From Autumn to Ashes only to find that I was way late.  I only caught their last song, but it happened to be my favorite song by them.  They had the whole place in frenzy with their song "After Dinner Payback."  I went into the crowd for Taking Back Sunday because my friend Steve-O did the Simple Plan interview.  I got to feel first-hand the excitement of the crowd.  TBS’s album had only been in stores for about four days and the kids knew every word.  They did the “Brave Heart” (where both sides run at each other when the music starts), and my friend Matt got caught in underneath the crowd, and almost passed out.  Taking Back Sunday instantly stopped the show and got Matt out of the sea of legs.  Then I caught a bit of Coheed and Cambria on the Brain Stage.  Front man Claudio Sanchez looks completely different (except for the hair).  Coheed was awesome as usual, and their followers are more cult like then fan like.  There weren’t any flags but, there might be next time.  I barley dragged my ass to Hidden in Plain View, who were way too big for the Smart Punk Stage.  They played an amazing show and I was surprised how many kids were kicking ass during their song “20 Below."

Austin James
austin.james@XROXX.com