Warping the Minds of Punks everywhere

Ahhhh….Warped Tour 2004. A full day of punk music, hot sun, McTarnahan’s beer and overpriced food and water. Kickass. Speedy and I went this year to check out some of our favorite bands, which definitely did not suck. One of my absolute favorites are The Vandals, and they completely kick ass. I always forget how hot the lead singer of the band is, and every time I see them live I start drooling. So, note to self: the lead singer of the Vandals, Dave, is hot.

We also got to see a bunch of bands I’ve also seen and thoroughly enjoyed. I never turn down a chance to see Flogging Molly and they definitely did not disappoint this year. They were far and away the best set particularly for getting people dancing and singing. Usually the band all shows up in black and just rocks out with the whole Irish theme and everything else. The chick with the tin whistle is awesome and the lead singer just knows how to get everyone amped up. Another band I never get sick of seeing is the Bouncing Souls. The lead singer kept jumping into the crowd to get them to sing along. The lead singer of New Found Glory did that too, and they had a bit of a boring set until they started playing their old stuff. Once they started that, I started really enjoying it.

After Bad Religion played an amazing set that we watched from the beer garden, we swung over to the Volcom Stage to catch a few minutes of Guttermouth before running back to catch NOFX.

NOFX played a very political set, which kicked some ass. Fat Mike was the driving force behind Fat Wreck Chords’ comp “Rock Against Bush, Vol. I,” which I have purchased and heartily recommend for anyone interested in punk or politics. Either way, they talked loads of shit about Republicans and played hard, so that was awesome.

Right after that we went for our last beer and when we got back, we caught the end of The Sounds’ set and I am so going to see them next time they come to town. They rocked and the two guys in the band were incredibly hot. Clearly, I have a thing for skinny punks.

After that, we bounced over to the other side of the stage in order to catch Taking Back Sunday. I’m not really familiar with their stuff, but I’ve liked what I heard, so that was a good set. The lead singer scares me a little bit, but he’s talented and has a lot of energy. They have one song I really enjoy that Speedy likes too, so we sang along very loudly. The next set was Coheed and Cambria, which I thought sucked, actually. I didn’t know any of their songs, was stuck in a mass of people and was starting to feel the effects of dehydration, exhaustion, hunger and was generally becoming fairly crabby.

After that, we shifted over to watch Alkaline Trio. I knew two of their songs and stood near my sister. However, at some point shortly into their set, some kid came flying overhead and kicked me in the head. He managed to hit the one spot on my head that already hurt from having whacked heads with a girl in an earlier pit. I was so tired and grumpy by the point that I nearly burst into tears, so I moved over about six feet and stood there for the rest of the set. They were OK, but again, I only knew a few songs and was fairly tired still.
Yellowcard was the last band we saw and they were awesome. They came out and played with such energy and ferocity that it picked me up immediately. I was dancing and singing along to all their songs, which was great. They only played songs off their most recent album, which made my life easier since it was the only album I knew. Speedy wasn’t having fun anymore, but we still stayed for the whole set. You really have to love a punk band with an electric violin.

We headed back to town and stopped for food, but I was so tired and worn out by that point that I wasn’t hungry anymore. Oh well.

The apartment is a disaster and that’s OK. I can finish cleaning this week. Hopefully!

Quote of the Day: “Catalyst, you insist to pull me down/You contradict the fact that you still want me around/and it’s all downhill from here” All Downhill From Here, New Found Glory