Audiences make, break two dates on Warped Tour
By Pat Miner
Music Critic
To enjoy terrific bands, it is best to
go where fans aren’t warped in the
head.
The Vans Warped Tour, an event
running throughout the month of July,
is an exhibition featuring several top
notch bands from coast-to-coast as
well as some of the better skateboard
ers, in-line skaters and mountain bik
ers around performing on a half-pipe.
The first Warped Tour show I went
to was July 3 in Los Angeles at the
Olympic Velodrome. The stadium has
stages on opposite sides, and between
main stage acts, the crowd would run
back and forth to gain their spots.
The side stages were on the outside
of the Velodrome, and the performing
athletes were in the middle of the field.
This setup was ideal for the bands,
because people could stand wherever
they wished and get a good, unob
structed view.
The act that definitely stole the
show in Los Angeles was Pennywise.
Hailing from Hermosa Beach,Calif.,
just a few miles from the Velodrome,
Pennywise fans came out in full sup
port of their hometown band. With gui
tarist Fletcher Dragg egging on the
crowd to songs such as “Stand By Me,”
“Perfect People,” “Pennywise” and
“Final Day,” the audience formed what
had to have been the biggest mosh pit I
have ever seen. The brother of the late
bassist Jason Thirsk came on at the end
of the set for an extremely inspired ver
sion of “Bro Hymn,” and the crowd
exited the day with well more than
their money’s worth.
The Mighty Mighty Bosstones,
Descendants, Social Distortion and
Reel Big Fish also put on incredible
shows. The Bosstones played not only
new songs but also several tracks from
“Devil’s Night Out” and “Don’t Know
How to Party.” The Descendants, also
from Hermosa Beach, got the crowd
roaring with “Loser” and also played
such songs as “Hope,” “I’m the One”
and “Everything Sucks.”
Social Distortion took the stage
after the Bosstones and showed every
one what old school punk is all about,
as they played one of the longest sets of
the day, lasting around 45 minutes.
Reel Big Fish’s set was somewhat dis
appointing for those who are used to
longer sets, but they still played “S.R.,”
“Snoop Dogg, Baby” and “241” in
front of an overly enthused audience.
The Vandals were a slight disap
pointment, as most of their play list
consisted of new songs and little of the
old. But they were joined on stage by
the vocalist from the Dance Hall
Crashers for a tremendous version of
“Summer Lovin’.”
Hepcat and Royal Crown Revue
added a completely different sound,
incorporating a lot of jazz and swing
into a show that was mostly punk.
Sugar Ray added some flavor on the
second stage, but a lot of fans were sur
prised to hear that no other songs
sounded like their buzz hit “Fly.”
Limp Bizkit played an even differ
ent sound. They came on stage with a
really bad version of Korn, if anyone
can even imagine such a travesty.
However, Limp Bizkit was the only
truly bad band, with several smaller
bands stealing the show. A lot of peo
ple woke up to bands like 22 Jacks,
Millencolin and Blink 182, and these
bands could be headlining die Warped
tour in future years.
The Los Angeles show was a
tremendous success. It’s a little
depressing that the same thing can’t be
said for the July 15 stop in Lawrence,
Kan. Many of the same bands played
the Lawrence show, although Social
Distortion had the day off and Buck
O-Nine was now a new headliner.
First of all, Burcham Park may
have been the worst possible place to
have the show, with trees all around to
annoy the crowd. The stages looked
like they were put up at random, and
concession stands took up most of the
space. »
However, by far the worst part of
the Lawrence show was the crowd. The
crowd at the Los Angeles show was
completely excitable, dancing or
moshing to every band and having a
great time.
The Lawrence crowd only moved
during the Bosstones songs “The
Impression That I Get” and “Someday
I Suppose.” Basically, if there hadn’t
been MTV or the movie “Clueless,”
there wouldn’t have been any move
ment at the entire show.
Pennywise, who decided to play
even on its day off, had to bring out its
version of “Fight For Your Right” to
get things going, but even that couldn’t
work. Halfway through the set, a guy
faceplanted from a speaker and onto
the stage, but that did nothing either.
They finished their set with a weak
response to “Bro Hymn,” and left the
stage.
22 Jacks closed out the Lawrence
show’s main stage acts, and Buck-O
Nine blended their version of punk and
ska to send the people home. The
bands were again tremendous at
Burcham Park; they just drew a really
weak response from the crowd.
The Warped Tour was definitely
one of the best shows you could catch
for $19, however a lot of people are
going to have to do some serious dri
ving next year, as I wouldn’t expect it
to go back to Lawrence any time soon.
It’s a very good thing Social
Distortion had the day off, because
lead man Mike Ness would have real
ly gone crazy. Hopefully, Westfair can
make an effort to bring the show to
Council Bluffs, so the tour doesn’t
bypass this part of the country alto
gether.
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