Detroit Chronicles Part 3: Warped Tour 09 from the pit

Disclaimer: This here is my half ass attempt to describe the Warped Tour experience. It was not my goal to be objective. I’m a biased reviewer right now, I only featured the bands I saw and liked. With some commentary

Guitarist Chris #2 flipping off the auto industry and the crowd

Amidst the remnants of what was once the gold mine of the World War II era steel and weapons mill, four punks dressed in black and wielding guitars shouted obscenities at the three guilty parties responsible for the ongoing disorder of the town. Their names were Ford, General Motors and Chrysler. They flipped them off. The crowd cheered on, fists pumped up in the air. The band was called Anti-Flag, and the mohawks and sweaty concert goers were part of the fifteenth edition of Warped Tour.

This is how Warped Tour started for me. Obviously, the bailout was the protest du jour. As I have said before, everything in this city is a cry for protest, the rest of us outsiders are only there to support it. So went Anti-Flag’s set. Singing their usual hits from Underground Network, A New Kind of Army, Terror State and For Blood or Empire, the band riled up the crowd into a massive circle pit that swallowed a big chunk of the parking lot in which the show took place. Sweaty punks (using the term freely) surfed the crowd and sang about what makes the United States of America suck and what the people need to do to fix it. It’s 1 in the afternoon, the sun beating down our necks, the mosh pit bleeding to the sides and angry cheer pumping through our veins: we sang “Death of a Nation”. Our corporate sponsors, including Kia, AT&T and venue owner Comerica Bank puked all over their shoes.

After that fire bomb, it was Less than Jake’s turn to rock the crowd. It didn’t take much to keep what Anti-Flag got going. Roger Manganelli (bass) and Chris Demakes (guitar) led the band into “Johnny Quest thinks we’re sellouts” and “Sugar in your Gas Tank” and we all went crazy moshing and skanking as if our lives depended on it. Actually, they did, because if you didn’t dance somebody was gonna knock you senseless with their flying fists and elbows. Every set on Warped Tour lasts about half an hour, and this one was well spent. Crowd surfers put their butts on our faces or just plain simple fell on top of us, but that’s part of the deal right? It’s where it’s at. They finished their set with their usual announcement type goodbye. We looked for water.

Chris Demakes and bassist for Less than Jake

Bouncing Souls’ turn was up. They always bring their A-game so it’s a no-brainer to write that their set was the shit. Twenty years and still up and running. A nothing beats like singing “True Believers” live: it makes you live one more time. It makes you feel like you’re part of this big family and everybody in the crowd is your brother and sister. It sounds extremely corny, but guess what…it’s the truth. It makes me sad that they all looked a little bit older than last year…but so is life. (More on that later).

Bouncing Souls' lead singer rocking the crowd

Returning to some fucked up ska punk, Big D and the Kids Table skanked away thirty minutes of pure ska punk, singing about the end of the world, drunk girls and dudes and what not. It was fucking great. Streetlight Manifesto proved how ska can make a wicked comeback (although I’m not even sure it ever went away, never mind the detractors). I didn’t know much about them, but “What a wicked gang we are below” was the shit. As my cousin would say: “Horn’s rock!”. They do indeed.

Big D and the Kids Table at the Hurley.com stage

Now, for the grand finale: Bad Religion. What can I say…nothing. Because if I did, I would ruin that experience for everyone else. They said they were getting too old for touring, I say bullshit. Stick it out for one more year. And after thirty, their songs are as relevant as ever. “21^st century digital boy”, “Atheist Peace”, “Broken”, “The Hand Shake”…need I say more? Greg Graffin is getting old, but it doesn’t matter. To them I say: The world still needs Bad Religion. And so does Warped Tour.

Bad Religion at the Vans Main Stage

Last year I kind of suggested to myself that I was too old for this shit. We’re not. It’s just that the bands are getting younger and not better. Now, I’m not that old (I’m almost 22), but having 14 year old girls complaining about Bad Religion because they want to see 3OH3! is fucking terrible. I’m not one to judge, but this is when Warped stops being a punk tour and surrenders their ass to MTV style politics and their favorite corporate sponsors. There were two groups of die hards: the punk kids and the hardcore kids. The rest were too many teeny boppers. I know, I’m getting old. But so is Warped Tour and it’s time they grew their balls back. Even if it means losing some sales (although, I don’t think they can afford to lose much). I refuse to get too old and I’m sick of hearing it was better in the old days…let’s make it better now so we can tell that to our kids in twenty years.

Me with Justin Sane and Pat Thetic from Anti-Flag

~ by amaya14 on August 9, 2009.