So More Scene
So more scene than you'll ever be.

Warped Tour 2006: Strong Island, Reprezent!

[Check out all my Warped Tour 2006 photos on Flickr!]

Yesterday, August 5th, I nurtured my roots and got all suburban by heading out to Long Island to go to Warped Tour at Nassau Coliseum.

The day started off a little sad because we got there an hour after it started (a little after 1pm) and I ended up missing all of The Academy Is… by about 15 minutes because when I got to the board I saw they went on at 12:25!!! I was SO BUMMED because they were the one band I was DYING to see. I wanted to cry little emo tears when I realized what had happened. So heartbreaking. As poor Jocelyn can attest, I complained about missing them the entire day.

So yes, not only did I miss TAI… I only got to see like 2 songs by The Sounds, who went on at 12:55. I heard the Sounds’ songs when we arrived, and I kept asking Jocelyn, “um, are the Sounds on right now…because I hear their song…” It was crazy! This is the one thing I hate about Warped Tour–you never know when any of the bands are going to go on until you get there. Who would have known that two of the biggest (in my mind) bands to play at the festival would be one of the first ones to go on! Tragic.

The Vans Warped Tour board of disappointing news

Anyway, as I recovered from the devastation of missing TAI… I took some notes of what the set times were and discovered that Cartel wasn’t even playing. WTF?! I’d wanted to see Cartel also, and I could’ve sworn they were on the list of bands playing that day…things were looking bleak already.

So I figured out we had some time to kill before the next band I really wanted to see, Motion City Soundtrack, so we walked around and got the lay of the land–figured out what stages were where and where important things like water, shade, and air conditioning were. Jocelyn and I ended up getting to sample a lunch courtesy of the Warped Tour catering crew and as I mindlessly scarfed down a mini pizza and mozzarella sticks, my stomach started doing flip flops. I don’t know how those kids eat that kind of stuff like every day on the tour, just two bites of the mozzarella stick alone made me slightly nauseous. And to think, I passed on the fried calamari and fried zucchini.

Here’s a tip: If you kids want to get in with the bands on Warped Tour, don’t waste your time slutting youself out–just bring a good hot meal and you will probably be greeted with open arms by the band member of your choice.

So by this time it was almost 2:15 and I was NOT going to miss yet another band, so we ran over to Main Stage Left where MCS had just started their set. Ok, it’s confession time–I’ve had a tiny crush on bassist Matthew Taylor (below) since like 4 months ago when I sat across from him for like an hour and didn’t say anything to him because I didn’t know him and I had no idea who Motion City Soundtrack were. (Read my “about” section–I didn’t know who ANY of the people that are going to be mentioned in this post until like 3 months ago–I’m serious. It’s not easy trying to get up to speed with “the scene”. I still don’t know who half these bands are anyway. I’m sure you know more about this stuff than I do.)

But then I saw him start singing along to the Beyonce song that was playing (was it “Crazy In Love”?) and that totally sealed the deal–an official sweet spot was created for him then and there. I said to myself, “I have no idea who the hell that guy is, but I cannot believe he’s singing Beyonce to himself when he thinks no one is looking. He is a genius.”

MCS had tons of energy and the crowd was so great. Kids bopping around screaming along to infectious pop punk songs like “Everything Is Alright”.

So. Much. Fun. Luckily for me and Joc, the next band we wanted to see was Thursday, which was going to be at the same stage. While we were hanging back waiting for Thursday to go on at 3:10, we ran into our friend Mandy from Stellastarr*, who was there to support Andrew. I managed to snap this ADORABLE photo of them right before Andrew had to go on stage. Can you say “ubercute”?

Before we knew it, Thursday was onstage playing to a sea of sweaty, dirty Long Island teenagers with a gignormous Marriott looming in the background. It looked like this:

I couldn’t believe that the sweet, mild-mannered guy I’d just met moments ago was now YELLING HIS BRAINS OUT into his microphone and thrashing at his keyboard right before my very eyes. Hahah! I never would have guessed that Andrew was “The Screamy Guy”–which is an absolutely necessary member of every self-respecting post-hardcore band. Amazing!

Somewhere during the course of the show, I looked up at lead singer Geoff and noticed he was bleeding. Not just bleeding, he was GUSHING BLOOD. Red liquid was streaming all down the front of his face and in the process of wiping some it off, he stained the whole of his forearms. Joc described the situation by saying it looked as though Geoff had “eaten a baby”. It was really disgusting, but totally rock as he blazed through the rest of the set, not even blinking an eye as his DNA dripped all over the place.

WATCH: “Understanding In a Car Crash” by Thursday (live at Warped Tour, Uniondale, NY)

Now I know why Geoff kicks butt in the Warped Tour Massacre–it’s totally based on real life. He takes a licking and keeps on ticking.

He did eventually stop to take a moment inbetween songs to wipe off some of the excess blood, and even having crew members suggest pouring water down the front of his face to get rid of some of the crimson trail.

I don’t know what the official or commonly-used name is for this manuver that I call “The Tornado”–It’s basically when someone takes a microphone chord and whips it around like it’s a lasso and then catches the microphone again. I’m always completely amazed when people do it. And there’s always a LOT of this being done on Warped Tour. Some are better at it than others. If I had to rate Geoff’s Tornado, I would give it a 8.5.

There was also the hilarious Hulk outfit that started off onstage (the big “mash ‘em” hands and head piece), got thrown into the crowd, and then eventually ended up back on stage. One kid actually got all three pieces together and put them on, so you can imagine how amused I was to see the Incredible Hulk crowd surfing during Thursday’s set.

After Thursday was done we ran over to the Volcom Stage where Red Jumpsuit Apparatus was playing. RJA seems to be everywhere these days–in ads in my Teen Vogue, the number one band on Purevolume.com, staring back at me on a Wheaties box–Ok, the last one isn’t true, but I really can’t turn around w/out seeing their band name everywhere.

WATCH: “Face Down” by Red Jumpsuit Apparatus (live at Warped Tour, Uniondale, NY)

By this point I was sweaty and could feel the flesh burning off of my skin, so we took a break and got some cold drinks and then headed out again to catch Saves the Day on Main Stage Left at 5:10.

I’d never seen Saves the Day before, and for some reason I wasn’t expecting much. My only real knowledge of STD was the song “At Your Funeral“, which was a video that seemed to be on constant rotation on MTV2 when I was in college–that song and their clever/stupid tshirts that say stuff like “I <3 My STD: Saves the Day".

Well color me surprised--I actually liked STD quite a bit. They were a bit more rock than I expected they were going to be, but they were still really very poppy.

WATCH: “Anywhere with You” by Saves the Day (live at Warped Tour, Uniondale, NY)

For some reason during their set I couldn’t help but notice lead singer Chris Conley’s access pass since he was wearing it on stage. I found great amusement in the fact that his hair color was almost the same shade as the bright red background he stood in front of to take his photo…because we all know how much I *love* his pink hair:

I do have to say, I found his matching pink plug chord kinda adorable–in the gayest way possible.

I left around 5:30 and headed over to the Hurley Stage to watch a bit of Everytime I Die. Holy mother of God! EID was so freaking loud, and the crowd was totally crazy. I would have one eye on the kids behind me, not to get hit in the head by a flying foot or bottle, and one eye on the band, as to not get knocked over by a flying band member or Tornado.

I ran back over to the Volcom Stage to catch a little bit of Gym Class Heroes…

But only had time to throw my hands up into the air before running back to Hurley Stage to see Aiden. I really wanted to see what Aiden was all about because Gurj is always talking about them.

OH. MY. GOD.

AIDEN IS MY NEW FAVORITE BAND!

Wow! Lead singer Wil Francis is like one part Gerard Way one part Brian Molko one part Tim Burton’s ultimate fantasy! Musically they are My Chemical Romance meets AFI. Their live show was INCREDIBLE. There was so much raw energy flying around, I swear it was like being in the middle of a hunt. Especially when Wil would jump into the crowd. If you watch the video below, you can actually see him GROWL at the audience:

WATCH: Wil Francis jumping into the crowd at Warped Tour, Uniondale, NY

So remember how I said some people’s Tornado’s were better than others? Wil Francis’s Tornado is OFF THE CHARTS. He was whipping that microphone around like a cowboy and catching it perfectly in his hand.

Almost at the same exact moment I was thinking “Woah! Aiden is the best band I’ve seen today!” Jocelyn texted me and said “This is the worst band I’ve seen”. I was flabbergasted! I couldn’t believe how different our opinion of the band was.

Just when I thought it couldn’t get any better, Wil called for something named The Wall of Death. Basically he made the crowd seperate in the middle and then RUN AT EACH OTHER “like you’ve seen in Braveheart“. Then he made everyone throw metal signs up in the air as they ran.

HOLY CRAP! Words can’t even describe, so just watch:

WATCH: Aiden and the Wall of Death at Warped Tour, Uniondale, NY

The kids LOVE Aiden!

Aiden was the best thing I saw at Warped Tour. After seeing them I just had to leave–what could be better than that!? Ok, I’m sure some of the other bands who played last were great, but by that point I’d be in the blistering sun for about 6 hours and I had to head home so I could head out to MisShapes later for the Warped Tour after party. More on THAT later…