So I was lucky enough to get a chance to go to Warped Tour this year, and I almost didn’t take it. Lucky for me though, I did, and had a great fucking time. If you get a chance to go, and you like a few rock (punk rock mostly) bands, I highly recommend you go, the experience just might make you change the way you think of concerts.
The first thing about this concert is the amount of bands that attend. I don’t know exactly how many were there, but I think it was somewhere close to 50, which, means the tickets come out to be less than $1 per band … not bad. Of course, due to the way the concert is setup, it is impossible to see all the bands, which kind of sucks. They have something like 5 different stages, which are split in half, and there is a concert going at all of them at the same time. It might sound confusing or complicated, but it works wonderfully. They have the stages split in half so that while one band is playing, the other band can be setting up its set. This way, the second band can start at the exact (and I do mean exact) moment that the other band ends. No need to wait for 30+ minutes for them to setup the stage, do sound checks, etc, etc. It’s great.
Also, due to so many concerts going on at one time, you usually can get right up next to the stage and see the bands. It’s nice, since being in the back row trying to see over everyone’s head is a horrible way to experience a concert.
The other great part about this concert is how close you can get to the stages. Security doesn’t make you stand 20ft. away from the stage, so you can get right up close and personal. Some bands didn’t even have a stage, they just setup and performed on the grass, no stage, no security, no nothing…how great is that? It makes the concert going experience that much better.
Another nice thing is that you can meet just about any band you want. I think every band that I watched had a booth setup somewhere where they would go and hang out, sign autographs, take pictures, and just chat it up with folks. For some folks (like myself), who have no interest in meeting band members, it doesn’t really matter, but to other folks meeting their favorite artist is huge ass deal.
Also, the concert isn’t only a concert. They had a half-pipe (what rock event would be complete without it), a graffiti wall were anyone could tag (or burn), and a Hip-Hop show. The Hip-Hop show was in the corner of the concert, so it wasn’t obvious it was going on, but I thought it was interesting that it was there regardless. There wasn’t any of your big names that you see on MTV there of course, just a lot of underground artists, which is cool, since I tend to like the content of their music better most of the time.
The best part of the concert though, was when the lead singer of some band (I don’t know the name, I was just walking around at the time), jumped off stage, dived into a trash can, and then carried the garbage bag around with him for a minute while walking through the crowd. It was the strangest and funniest thing I have ever seen at a concert. Truly amazing and unfortunately, I didn’t get a picture of it. I also witnessed my first rock fight. I have been too 5 or so rock concerts, and this was the first time I have ever seen people start fighting. Not sure what it was over, but there was a few punches thrown, and that’s it. Security never showed up, nobody was ejected from the concert (from what I could see), and nobody was seriously hurt. Nice.
Once again, if you get the chance to go and like rock music, I highly recommend you go check out the concert. It is definitely worth the money.
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