The Music Obsession: August 2009

>>After waiting 4 years, I finally got to go to Warped Tour <3 July 18th is a day I won't soon forget, for many reasons. Let's just say Uniondale, NY knows what's up.

>>I actually got 2 votes on my poll for the "what is Warped..?" option.. WELL, The Vans Warped Tour is basically a playground you go to once every summer, except instead of swings you have stages. There are a bunch of stages actually, all spread out, usually in a large parking lot. Various bands perform on each stage throughout the day, and fans get the opportunity to not only see some of their favorite bands live, but the chance to meet them too. There are tents set up all over, selling merchandise among other things. A bunch of bands have their own tents, as do some record labels & clothing lines. Just walking around the tents once, you're bound to find some free stuff. Warped is an all day concert that helps bring bands & fans together. It's truly a beautiful thing.

>>...when it says doors open at 11, you shouldn't leave the house at 10:45. Traffic was ridiculous, hardly moving once we got close to the Coliseum. I can't really complain though, because "who can blast the radio louder" contests between cars, people hanging out of their windows, people actually getting out of their cars & running around shouting "WARPED FOR THE WIN BITCHES, WARPED FOR THE WIN" only added to the excitement. Trust me, that was the best way we could've started the day.

>>As soon as I walked through the entrance, I got a schedule & ran into some friends. Then it was off to figure out where Jac Vanek's tent & the Glamour Kills tents were (for street team purposes), which wasn't exactly an easy task. The tents for bands, record labels, clothing companies, etc were scattered all over with no real pattern, so basically you just had to walk around & hope you found some interesting stuff along the way. And at Warped, it's almost impossible not to. For example, there were a bunch of bands just chilling at their tents, whether they were playing that day or if they were just there promoting. To be honest, I think I met/hung out with more bands than I saw perform.. and I loved it :D

>The first band I met was Colors in The Air from Buffalo, NY. They weren't playing live, but they were playing tracks from their CD "Vessels In The Air" via iPod+Headphones. Good stuff, definitely worth looking into. They were one of 2 er 3 bands I went back to talk to various times throughout the day :] The other 2 I spoke to a few times were Kelsey and The Chaos & Mandy K. I've mentioned Kelsey and The Chaos before, and they remembered talking to me. They're super fun & way nice to talk to. I picked up their "Shut Up and Deal" EP, and it's soo good. PS, it's now available on iTunes. So I'd heard of Mandy K, just nothing by them.. So when they let me listen to some of their CD via iPod+headphones, I was pretty psyched. Turns out, they're fairly amazing :] Their song "Are You From Tennessee? Cause You're The Only Ten I See" makes me smile super big. You can also find their self-titled EP on iTunes. I got the chance to talk to Anarbor, Mercy Mercedes (well, Mickey & Austin anyway.. plus I've met the band like 3 times before this<3),There For Tomorrow . I also got to meet Pat from Sing It Loud, VersaEmerge, & Buddy from Senses Fail, but I didn't really get to talk to them for as long. I probably met more throughout the day, & I'll add to this list if I remember any more. Regardless of how many times, or how long I talked to these people, everyone was really friendly and they seemed genuinely stoked on the Warped atmosphere.

>>Of all the bands I saw play, I think The Maine & 3OH!3 were my favorite to watch.
>When listening to The Maine, you can't help but smile; they're seriously so adorable & genuine in every song. Now imagine experiencing that live. 'Nuff said. But also you could tell the crowd was really into their set, and some of the things they said between songs just made us laugh. My 2 favorite parts of their set?

John Oh referring to Long Island as "Strong Island".
John Oh IN the crowd:

Yeah, it was pretty epic. I love this picture, soso much.
>By simply listening to their songs, you can immediately tell that the guys in 3OH!3 just want to have fun with what they're doing. This definitely stands true for their live performances as well. You can just see how hyped they are to be on a stage doing what they love. The crowd was insaaaane, possibly one of the biggest that day. Everyone was really pumped to be seeing 3OH!3 to begin with.. but I'd noticed a guy dressed in green who looked like Lil' Jon on stage with them, just in the background. I figured, "nahh that can't really be him,"- One song later, during "Chokechain" he runs out to join his friends in 3OH!3. Everyone freaked, it was such a sick experience. Nobody expected that. And yes, he did give us his signature "YEEeEeEAAAAaAaAAAhhHhHH" before leaving the stage. No worries.

>>Throughout the day, I also saw Sing It Loud, Lights, A Day To Remember, Bayside, Escape The Fate, and possibly more that I can't think of at the moment.. I got there during Lights' set, and I have to say she's probably the cutest person ever, both personality and music wise. Seriously, check this picture I took (insert).

Sing It Loud was so good, they played some of my favorites like "Best Beating Heart", "Bite Your Lip", and of course their two biggest "Come Around" and "No One Can Touch Us." Yet another band that, when you hear their songs, you can't help but smile. Unfortunately, I didn't realize people would've swarmed the stage a solid half hour before A Day To Remember played, so I was all the way in the back of the crowd.. BUT I could still hear them fairly well. The crowd surfing I saw from my spot was ridiculous, looked like so much fun. Everyone got super hyped when they played "The Downfall Of Us All", even from as far away as I was, they sounded flawless. Just like how I'd been waiting for ages to go to Warped, I'd been dying to see Bayside live. So worth the wait. One of the best parts about seeing them was the 2 guys behind me. They were hardcore fans who proceeded to shout the words of every song. Normally, that's me too.. but these guys could hardly speak by the end of the set. They, like myself, went all out when they played "The Walking Wounded." So great. It was pretty sweet seeing a band from Long Island at home :] The day ended with Escape The Fate. This performance was incredible. The moshing insane, there were 2 pits on my side of the crowd that eventually combined into one mega-pit, and remember, that was only on my half of the crowd. Imagine the other side. It was so great that towards the end of the set, a security guard comes running out of nowhere right in front of me (near the barricades<3) some girl got an elbow to the face that broke her nose. Now that's my kind of crowd ;].

>>Overall, I'd say that Warped this year was amazing, as did a bunch of the people I'd asked. A good amount did point out that this year's line-up wasn't necessarily as strong as it usually is, but it was a great day nonetheless. I asked for your opinions on this year's Warped Tour, and I spoke to a lot of people about it, but I only got 2 legit responses (Thanks Amy & Eric :D). I've already posted them on my fb fan page, but I'll put em up in the comments on this post as well.

In case you were wondering, I'll definitely be at Warped 2010. See yah there ;]

*Added Sept 1st, 2009:
Results for the "Your Thoughts on Warped 09" poll (32 votes)