Live Review: Warped Tour 2009
Posted 09/01/2009 09:44AM by thetsaiguy as Show Review
Warped Tour: Mountain View, CA August 20th, 2009
This year’s Warped Tour was my first. For inexplicable reasons, I never tried to make the journey and take part in the past when the music mega-festival was widely regarded as “fun” and other fluffy, positive terms. Ironically things fell into place this year... when Warped is touring with its worst lineup in history. Still, I didn’t want to pass on an opportunity to see the few good bands for free, so on August 20th, I headed to Mountain View, California’s Shoreline Amphitheatre with a friend – a normally easy 15-minute drive pleasantly ransacked by Thrice’s Vheissu beating and noodling at an unsafe volume (in preparation for their set) – and, despite traffic, arrived at a time we thought relatively early.
The ticket lines thought otherwise, though, and we ended up having to wait through four different lines, each clogged with scene kids like Chinese warriors lining up the Great Wall. By the time we finally got our tickets, we’d already heard main attraction (for us) Thrice work their way through “Of Dust And Nations” and “The Weight.” After wandering around disoriented for ten minutes (site maps were 2 bucks, believe it or not), we finally found Thrice’s stage (Main Stage). The band deviated from the set-list they had played for most of the summer and had already launched into “At The Last” from their upcoming album when we arrived. This was among classics like “Artist In The Ambulance,” a rollicking rendition of the Beatles’ “Helter Skelter” and the closer/show-stopper “The Earth Will Shake.” Unfortunately, the crowd of people who showed up for Thrice was pretty dead and only stirred for “Artist In The Ambulance,” but the band themselves were as cohesive and energetic as they’ve always been.
After Thrice finished, we headed off to collect a whole bunch of free stickers, promotional cards and other junk that have a practical usage level of a dictionary index. Then it was time for Less Than Jake. The veteran ska-punkers entered the stage to the Star Wars theme song and played through a set of mostly older songs that felt much longer than it actually was. It wasn’t because of a lack of energy or anything; the band was probably the most animated to play all day, but the jokes they cracked in between songs were horrid. From fornicating dogs to Paris Hilton, no attempt at humor from the band was remotely successful. At one point, they even speculated on an older couple (they were probably in their 50’s) in the crowd and their sex lives, which was downright disrespectful. Want vulgar jokes? Stay away from Less Than Jake and see Blink-182.
From there, we went to check out Alexisonfire. We got to take pictures with Dallas Green beforehand without having to wait in any sort of line – something I think is a pretty good indication of the condition of the scene today. A few years back, Green probably wouldn’t have been able to go anywhere without being flocked by fans. This year at Warped, he was hardly noticed. Either way, Alexisonfire was the unquestioned highlight of the day. There were no more than 100 people in the crowd, so they ended up playing a pretty intimate show consisting of a good deal of Crisis favorites, including “This Could Be Anywhere,” “Boiled Frogs,” “Drunks, Lovers, Sinners And Saints” and “We Are The Sound.” Green’s clean vocals were startlingly beautiful and on-pitch (I won’t hesitate to say that he’s the best clean vocalist in post-hardcore/metal right now) and his performance was simply charismatic. Lead screamer George Pettit was active as well, spitting, dancing and giving endless praise to anything Canadian, but Green definitely stole the show. We actually left Alexisonfire in the middle of their set to go check out Underoath, whose sound was absolutely huge, but we returned to Alexisonfire after seeing one Underoath song – they were simply too good to be passed on.
Saosin and Chiodos were up next. We wanted to see Saosin first, but couldn’t find their stage and ended up watching LoveHateHero for a little bit. LHH was playing the Smartpunk stage, which was no doubt the worst stage. For some reason the amplifiers over-emphasized the bass, so whatever they played just sounded like a clump of noise (Senses Fail had the same problem later). Coupled with LHH’s uninspiring hybrid of blessthefall + pop-punk, the set was simply terrible.
We gave Saosin the same rating when we found their set minutes later. Cove Reber is truly a mediocre vocalist live. The guitarists easily outshined him with their respective vocal contributions, and Chiodos ended up winning our attention during the timeslot with a brilliant and energetic set. There was an awkward moment when we first saw Craig Owens wearing basketball shorts, the loosest item of clothing he’s worn his whole career, but the crowd was alive and the band put on a great show.
Then we caught bits and pieces of less significant bands, some of which were fairly unknown. The best of these was Westbound Train who played a solid combination of reggae, blues, soul, R&B and jazz. Their sound was tight, their musicians were enthusiastic and their set was all around amazing. It was like hearing your parent’s favorite band (only more accessible) over a crowd of screamo and hardcore bands, which was a neat experience. Westbound Train drew a surprisingly large crowd of kids who danced out to their music and Senses Fail, who played after them, couldn’t even come close in terms of a putting on a spectacular live show.
We also caught a song or two from YB’s set. YB is a South Korean faux-queer punk band. They looked out of place in their ultra-hipster outfits but played typical, rousing punk anthems that were unexpectedly competent. Be sure to check them out on MySpace.
Our final activity of the day was to get Thrice’s autographs. We got in line half an hour early and saw both You Me At Six and We The King’s sets during the time. You Me At Six sounded like another Valencia, and despite writing pretty uninspired pop-punk, brought entertaining energy to their show. The same could not be said for We The Kings. Having never heard their music, I left Warped with the conclusion that they were basically an All Time Low-wannabe (not a good thing). Not only was their pop-punk extremely bland, but the singer also tried to make as many jokes about sex as possible while trying to keep it at a PG level for their pre-pubescent audience. The result was something like an awkward encouragement for “a really hot girl to come on the stage and make out with me in case I faint.” Terrible.
We left Warped at about 4:30 because my friend was busy afterwards, so unfortunately we missed a few remaining good acts like P.O.S. Still, the whole experience was a surprise. I went in expecting literally three good bands to play and left having enjoyed far more than three sets. I don’t even like Chiodos or Underoath, but found their live shows great, so bottom line: Go to Warped. The band list may be trash, but you’ll still have enough sets to catch to keep you busy for the day. As long as the festival continues bringing back a few decent bands, I think I’ll be returning in future years.
Comments
Atascadero, CA
I'm pretty sure the old couple during Less Than Jake was the trumpet players parents. They got them on-stage and gave them beer to drink. They trumpet dude also shot free t-shirts into the crowd out of this air cannon thing which was pretty rad in itself. They didn't care and that's what make them so punk rock.
But yea you missed P.O.S. which was really good that day as he stands in the middle of the crowd and raps while his DJ stays on stage. All Time Low was also super entertaining.. NOFX played after ATL and were drunk and had their entire families on stage so they didn't tell many jokes which was kind of a let down. Fat Mike's wife and daughter were standing right in front of me the entire time.. his daughter even went out and tried to sing what Mike called "her favorite song" but really couldnt.. their whole entourage kept spilling drinks everywhere while I was standing there but whatever, what did I expect ya know. During NOFX, P.O.S. came up and stood right next to me on stage so between songs I gave him a handshake and some knuckles and told him how dope his sets were in Fresno and Mountain View.. he seemed stoked, watched a couple songs then skated off on his skateboard. The Devil Wears Prada played after NOFX and the crowd went nuts.. there were like 15 fights during Chiodos's set and I saw a solid handful of kids get kicked out. Sucks you pay $33 to bring your "crew" and fight people in the pit then get kicked out.. good riddance to those queers anyways, I watched them wail on some helpless kids since there "crew" was like 8-10 people. And someone still needs to explain to me how the hell We The Kings is playing mainstage everyday, I'd never really even heard of them and upon hearing them I never want to hear them ever again. They did some like Jimmy Eat World cover or something which was the only song it appeared anyone had ever heard by them but I bet those kids just couldn't figure out it was a cover.. totally lame and unwarranted of anything on main stage, should have def thrown A Day To Remember up to the big leagues.
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San Jose, CA
Haha I had no idea they were the trumpet guy's parents. I don't mind sick jokes, but these to me weren't the least bit funny. But yeah, I wish I'd been able to stay for longer. And I'm sure WTK is only on the Main Stage for young kids appeal; no way their music gets them there.
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Dubuque
Next time you have to see NOFX live. I'm not a big fan of them, but they are one of my favorite bands to see live. Fat Mike kills it every time. If I could watch Thrice perform everything before Vheissu, I'd be happy. Lastly, Underoath are so good live.
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