bleh
I WILL finishe my little (quite large, actually) treatise on my comic book reading habits, but yesterday was my first (and last, as I'll explain) experience with the Vans Warped Tour.
Overall, Adreanna and I enjoyed the day, but I will never, no matter how many good bands are playing, go back. It was crowded as hell, there were an ungodly amount of annoying kids there (if I ever meet the man who invented crowd surfing I will personally kick him in the nuts until he coughs up a testicle), and there were a lot of shitty bands. Here's the rundown:
10:30 - Get to Silverdome exit on M-59 (doors are at 11am, no one knows who plays first, I wanted to be in line by 10 ... oops), find a mile long line to exit onto Opdyke. I decide to continue on M-59 into Pontiac, turn around and get on Opdyke coming from the opposite direction. I am rewarded for my resourcefulness.
10:40 - Get in line.
11:10 - Find out we (and a ton of other people) are in the line for people trying to buy tickets.
11:15 - Get in the right line.
11:30 - Finally get into the show, start making the rounds to make sure we aren't missing a good band. Time begins to get sketchy here.
We find the main schedule, and I'm relieved to see that Thrice doesn't play until this evening. There were other good bands there, but I really wanted to see Thrice.
We watch a band called The Starting Line play on the main stage... pop punk...meh.
We head over to wait for the Dillenger Escape Plan (Adreanna has no idea what she's getting into, but as I like DEP in small doses, I promise we'll only watch a few songs.
Before DEP though, we watch VALIENT THORR!! These guys are from Venus and they are on a mission to rock your socks off. I'm gonna go download some of their stuff as soon as I'm done typing this. JUst straight up hard, fast and loud Rock and Roll music from Venus.
Then Dillenger Escape Plan kicked my ass. It was way too hot out yesterday for me to want to get anywhere near a moshpit, but their set was still intense! If you aren't familiar, most people would classify DEP as noise. What it really is, if you'll allow the expression, is avant-garde hardcore. They deal in very strange and frequently shifting time signatures, and use some very abrasive harmonies almost to excess. The band members are musicians bordering on atheletes because this music is so hard to play (not to mention the lead singer (who can indeed sing as well as yell) has biceps bigger than my head...which is big). I only saw three songs, but there was much thrashing, climbing of speakers, and fire breathing (yes fire breathing)
Next we caught the beginning of Avenged Sevenfold's set. I used to like this band because of their zany 80s metal tendencies (harmonized guitar lines, overtly gratuitous guitar solos, silly metal stage names like Zacky Vengeance, Sinyster Gates and Jonny Christ), but its gotten kind of old. We watched a couple songs, then got some lunch ($3 piece of pizza!! ouch!)
Then we caught the end of Hopesfall's set. I like this band a lot, but they were disappointing live. Their records are very textured, with lots of layers of vocals and guitars -- almost none of which were reproduced live. Oh well.
The Dropkick Murphy's were up next. These guys are incredible. If you've been in a college town bar on St.Patrick's Day, you have heard The Dropkick Murphy's even if you didn't know it. They have a piper in the band, and then a guy that plays the accordian, mandolin, and wood flute on some tunes. Just really good, really gritty, working class punk rock mixed with traditional Celtic music. Its astonishing how naturally the two genres fit together.
Somewhere amongst this, I get a text message telling me to go to Thrice's merch booth to find our about the fan club meet and greet that day. I get my pass, but since Adreanna's not in the club we aren't sure if they'll let her go too. It was until 7:30 so there was plenty of time to see how it played out.
We caught the end of Fall Out Boys set. This band is apparently the new big thing because they crowd was gigundous for them. Personally, they sound kind of...meh. Nothing particularly terrible about them, but nothing to get excited about either.
Matchbook Romance was another meh for the same reason.
Adreanna wanted to see Reliant K, so we got closer to the stage for their set. Which was a mistake. I know these guys are a christian band, so I'm guess a lot of the crowd were christians too, but you sure wouldn't have known it from their behavior. Nothing bad per se...just stupid (some may argue that precisely how Christians behave, but that's neither here nor there). So many fucking crowd surfers!! Most of it was toothpick teenage girls, so there's nothing I can do about that accept keep moving them forward and out of my way, but when dudes go up there, I start to get pissed. Honestly, if you are at a concert and weigh more than 100 pounds (male or female), your feet should never, under any circumstances be more than a foot off the floor (hopping is permitted). First of all, it was way to hot out to have to be holding some dipshit 15 year old at his first concert, and second of all crowd surfing has to be one of the most egocentric forms of expression I've ever seen in my life. Moshing is one thing, those guys start a little circle and tend to stay there. I don't mind being on the edge of a pit - they don't last long, and I'm big enough to help keep the people in who want to stay in and let people out who want out. But crowd surfing makes the show harder on EVERYONE, because now I have to turn around every ten seconds to make sure I don't get kicked in the fucking head. Honestly folks, I was getting to the point where if I had one more dude come over me, he was getting a hard fist in the kidney. Thankfully, the very egalitarian Warped Tour organizers give every band a half hour set, so Reliant K was done before I lost it. The band was kind of boring too.
It was probably about 4:30 by now, and we could already tell I was pretty sunburned. In a shocking bout of idiocy, I had neglected to put on any sunscreen that day. Adreanna had some lotion with SPF 15 that I put on my head, but it wasn't cutting it. I was starting to get a head ache from a combination of sun, mild dehydration, and hunger. We went and watched Mae, another band Adreanna wanted to see. I'm not sure if they were any good or not, because I was having a hard time paying attention. Thrice was up next, and I was getting excited.
I've ranted about them before, so its enough to say they were as great as they always are. We went and sat in some shade with some drinks for while to recuperate. I had a water (in retrospect, I should have had Gatorade, as my sodium levels are probably the cause of my headache, among other symptoms that hadn't shown up yet)
FInally it was time for the Thrice meet and greet. After seeing a few fan club members get turned away for not being on the list, I was pretty sure they weren't going to let Adreanna go back stage. I've met Thrice before, and I knew I'd get to talk to them again, and I didn't want to leave her to hang out by herself, so I was ready to give my pass to someone else. But the tour manager showed up to take us, and I casually asked if he had any more passes, and right away, without any hesitation he said, "Here you go" and gave me another pass. I was pleased!
I got a chance to chat with the guys for a while. I talked to the drummer about what a strange experience Warped Tour was (he had some similar experiences in years past) and then we talked about why people develop very strong opinions about what a band should be, totally disregarding the intentions of the artists. It was a good chat. I talked to the bass player about how they move all the busses and trailers out every night. Backstage was literally like a little village of busses and vans and trailers. He said they have a guy in a golf cart called the Bus Master who organizes it all. I wonder how he got that job. I talked to the singer about their new songs, and some of the books I brought them last time I met them (he remembered the books). All in all it was a nice little visit, and I hope to talk to them again when they come in October,
We caught the last song of Boys Night Out's set. They're from Canada, but I first saw them at the Lake Orion Knights of Columbus hall a few summers ago. The former guitar player of detroit hardcore band Fordirelifesake is now their drummer, so I was hoping to see how he looks with a different band (and behind a drum kit), but they were just finishing up.
We got back to the car and cranked the Air conditioning. It was having little to no effect on my sunburn. Adreanna wanted to grab something to eat in Rochester so we headed to Taco Bell (everything else was closed). I was starting to feel dizzy and a little nauseous, so even though I'm sure I needed to eat, I really didn't like it. I ate most of my food, and drank some more water (probably another mistake, I should have had something with sugar). I took Adreanna home. I probably shouldn't have been driving. I made it home okay, but couldn't help thinking that even though I wasn't drunk or high, I could definitely have gotten ticketed for impaired driving. I was thinking that if I cop pulled me over, I probably wouldn't have been able to walk a straight line. At home, I staggered into the house, talked (probably pretty incoherantly) to my parents for a couple minutes, staggered upstairs, took a cool shower, and crashed in bed, my head pounding and totally feeling like I was gonna throw up (I can't even remember the last time I threw up, at least 5 years, maybe more like 10 though). I fell asleep and felt a lot better when I woke up.
So all in all, it was an interesting day. I'm pretty red today, but not burned too badly (I was already pretty tan). My appetite isn't back to 100% but I generally feel a lot better.
I'm done working at the theatre for the summer (and for good!!) so I'm gonna try like hell to finish my comic book posts this week.
Oh and be on the look out for a new FilmFight entry from me later this week!
Overall, Adreanna and I enjoyed the day, but I will never, no matter how many good bands are playing, go back. It was crowded as hell, there were an ungodly amount of annoying kids there (if I ever meet the man who invented crowd surfing I will personally kick him in the nuts until he coughs up a testicle), and there were a lot of shitty bands. Here's the rundown:
10:30 - Get to Silverdome exit on M-59 (doors are at 11am, no one knows who plays first, I wanted to be in line by 10 ... oops), find a mile long line to exit onto Opdyke. I decide to continue on M-59 into Pontiac, turn around and get on Opdyke coming from the opposite direction. I am rewarded for my resourcefulness.
10:40 - Get in line.
11:10 - Find out we (and a ton of other people) are in the line for people trying to buy tickets.
11:15 - Get in the right line.
11:30 - Finally get into the show, start making the rounds to make sure we aren't missing a good band. Time begins to get sketchy here.
We find the main schedule, and I'm relieved to see that Thrice doesn't play until this evening. There were other good bands there, but I really wanted to see Thrice.
We watch a band called The Starting Line play on the main stage... pop punk...meh.
We head over to wait for the Dillenger Escape Plan (Adreanna has no idea what she's getting into, but as I like DEP in small doses, I promise we'll only watch a few songs.
Before DEP though, we watch VALIENT THORR!! These guys are from Venus and they are on a mission to rock your socks off. I'm gonna go download some of their stuff as soon as I'm done typing this. JUst straight up hard, fast and loud Rock and Roll music from Venus.
Then Dillenger Escape Plan kicked my ass. It was way too hot out yesterday for me to want to get anywhere near a moshpit, but their set was still intense! If you aren't familiar, most people would classify DEP as noise. What it really is, if you'll allow the expression, is avant-garde hardcore. They deal in very strange and frequently shifting time signatures, and use some very abrasive harmonies almost to excess. The band members are musicians bordering on atheletes because this music is so hard to play (not to mention the lead singer (who can indeed sing as well as yell) has biceps bigger than my head...which is big). I only saw three songs, but there was much thrashing, climbing of speakers, and fire breathing (yes fire breathing)
Next we caught the beginning of Avenged Sevenfold's set. I used to like this band because of their zany 80s metal tendencies (harmonized guitar lines, overtly gratuitous guitar solos, silly metal stage names like Zacky Vengeance, Sinyster Gates and Jonny Christ), but its gotten kind of old. We watched a couple songs, then got some lunch ($3 piece of pizza!! ouch!)
Then we caught the end of Hopesfall's set. I like this band a lot, but they were disappointing live. Their records are very textured, with lots of layers of vocals and guitars -- almost none of which were reproduced live. Oh well.
The Dropkick Murphy's were up next. These guys are incredible. If you've been in a college town bar on St.Patrick's Day, you have heard The Dropkick Murphy's even if you didn't know it. They have a piper in the band, and then a guy that plays the accordian, mandolin, and wood flute on some tunes. Just really good, really gritty, working class punk rock mixed with traditional Celtic music. Its astonishing how naturally the two genres fit together.
Somewhere amongst this, I get a text message telling me to go to Thrice's merch booth to find our about the fan club meet and greet that day. I get my pass, but since Adreanna's not in the club we aren't sure if they'll let her go too. It was until 7:30 so there was plenty of time to see how it played out.
We caught the end of Fall Out Boys set. This band is apparently the new big thing because they crowd was gigundous for them. Personally, they sound kind of...meh. Nothing particularly terrible about them, but nothing to get excited about either.
Matchbook Romance was another meh for the same reason.
Adreanna wanted to see Reliant K, so we got closer to the stage for their set. Which was a mistake. I know these guys are a christian band, so I'm guess a lot of the crowd were christians too, but you sure wouldn't have known it from their behavior. Nothing bad per se...just stupid (some may argue that precisely how Christians behave, but that's neither here nor there). So many fucking crowd surfers!! Most of it was toothpick teenage girls, so there's nothing I can do about that accept keep moving them forward and out of my way, but when dudes go up there, I start to get pissed. Honestly, if you are at a concert and weigh more than 100 pounds (male or female), your feet should never, under any circumstances be more than a foot off the floor (hopping is permitted). First of all, it was way to hot out to have to be holding some dipshit 15 year old at his first concert, and second of all crowd surfing has to be one of the most egocentric forms of expression I've ever seen in my life. Moshing is one thing, those guys start a little circle and tend to stay there. I don't mind being on the edge of a pit - they don't last long, and I'm big enough to help keep the people in who want to stay in and let people out who want out. But crowd surfing makes the show harder on EVERYONE, because now I have to turn around every ten seconds to make sure I don't get kicked in the fucking head. Honestly folks, I was getting to the point where if I had one more dude come over me, he was getting a hard fist in the kidney. Thankfully, the very egalitarian Warped Tour organizers give every band a half hour set, so Reliant K was done before I lost it. The band was kind of boring too.
It was probably about 4:30 by now, and we could already tell I was pretty sunburned. In a shocking bout of idiocy, I had neglected to put on any sunscreen that day. Adreanna had some lotion with SPF 15 that I put on my head, but it wasn't cutting it. I was starting to get a head ache from a combination of sun, mild dehydration, and hunger. We went and watched Mae, another band Adreanna wanted to see. I'm not sure if they were any good or not, because I was having a hard time paying attention. Thrice was up next, and I was getting excited.
I've ranted about them before, so its enough to say they were as great as they always are. We went and sat in some shade with some drinks for while to recuperate. I had a water (in retrospect, I should have had Gatorade, as my sodium levels are probably the cause of my headache, among other symptoms that hadn't shown up yet)
FInally it was time for the Thrice meet and greet. After seeing a few fan club members get turned away for not being on the list, I was pretty sure they weren't going to let Adreanna go back stage. I've met Thrice before, and I knew I'd get to talk to them again, and I didn't want to leave her to hang out by herself, so I was ready to give my pass to someone else. But the tour manager showed up to take us, and I casually asked if he had any more passes, and right away, without any hesitation he said, "Here you go" and gave me another pass. I was pleased!
I got a chance to chat with the guys for a while. I talked to the drummer about what a strange experience Warped Tour was (he had some similar experiences in years past) and then we talked about why people develop very strong opinions about what a band should be, totally disregarding the intentions of the artists. It was a good chat. I talked to the bass player about how they move all the busses and trailers out every night. Backstage was literally like a little village of busses and vans and trailers. He said they have a guy in a golf cart called the Bus Master who organizes it all. I wonder how he got that job. I talked to the singer about their new songs, and some of the books I brought them last time I met them (he remembered the books). All in all it was a nice little visit, and I hope to talk to them again when they come in October,
We caught the last song of Boys Night Out's set. They're from Canada, but I first saw them at the Lake Orion Knights of Columbus hall a few summers ago. The former guitar player of detroit hardcore band Fordirelifesake is now their drummer, so I was hoping to see how he looks with a different band (and behind a drum kit), but they were just finishing up.
We got back to the car and cranked the Air conditioning. It was having little to no effect on my sunburn. Adreanna wanted to grab something to eat in Rochester so we headed to Taco Bell (everything else was closed). I was starting to feel dizzy and a little nauseous, so even though I'm sure I needed to eat, I really didn't like it. I ate most of my food, and drank some more water (probably another mistake, I should have had something with sugar). I took Adreanna home. I probably shouldn't have been driving. I made it home okay, but couldn't help thinking that even though I wasn't drunk or high, I could definitely have gotten ticketed for impaired driving. I was thinking that if I cop pulled me over, I probably wouldn't have been able to walk a straight line. At home, I staggered into the house, talked (probably pretty incoherantly) to my parents for a couple minutes, staggered upstairs, took a cool shower, and crashed in bed, my head pounding and totally feeling like I was gonna throw up (I can't even remember the last time I threw up, at least 5 years, maybe more like 10 though). I fell asleep and felt a lot better when I woke up.
So all in all, it was an interesting day. I'm pretty red today, but not burned too badly (I was already pretty tan). My appetite isn't back to 100% but I generally feel a lot better.
I'm done working at the theatre for the summer (and for good!!) so I'm gonna try like hell to finish my comic book posts this week.
Oh and be on the look out for a new FilmFight entry from me later this week!