Moshing, crowd surfing, hardcore dancing, and pogo jumping all took place August 1st at The 2010 Vans Warped Tour at Cataberry Park in Shokopee, MN.
A huge line was assembled outside of the gate hours before the gates opened and as the opening loomed closer, it continued to grow. Most in line sported trendy tight pants and the so popular “emo” hair style. The line was alive with anticipation and conversation as they waited in the hot sun to see their favorite band or to check out a new one.
Alkaline Trio, Andrew W.K., Face to Face, The Casualties, Pennywise, Attack Attack, Four Year Strong, Mayday Parade, We The Kings, NeverShoutNever, Reel Big Fish, Alesana, and Left Alone are among the bands that played at this years Warped Tour. To the disappointment of the crowd, Sum 41 did not play. The lead singer, Deryck Whibley, was reportedly sick. However a few members of the band were later spotted by fans enjoying the performance of Alkaline Trio, the last band to play.
The bands that stood out for me were, The Casualties, Left Alone, The Riverboat Gamblers, and Alkaline Trio. At 12:15 the punk band, The Casualties, played on the AP Stage. The band opened with “Carry on the Flag” and moved into “We Are All We Have” from their latest album release. Later in their set they had members of the audience do “the wall of death” Which is when half of the crowd runs straight in to the other half. Then The Casualties told the crowd to play chicken. A person gets on another’s shoulders and attempts to pushes another person on someone else’s shoulders to the ground. Luckily, I didn’t witness any injuries. Following on the glamour stage was Alesana, a hardcore screamo band. They were very energetic and used the small stage to its fullest.
Two bands I wanted to see “Four Year Strong” and “Hey Monday” played at really close times to each other on different stages. This made it difficult to watch each band for any length of time. This is very common for Warped Tour attendees, as there are seven different stages and bands are often scheduled on different stages at the same time. It does however give the attendees the opportunities to see many bands in one day.
The band “Left Alone” (similar style to the band Rancid) played at 1:15 and gave an excellent performance. The band sounded really tight and the band did a great job of interacting with the crowd. The crowd that attended was not disappointed with the show that they were given. Unfortunately, the crowd for this band wasn’t as large as it should have been. At the start of the set, the bassist rocked the electric bass and then later changed it up to a stand up bass. I was impressed that following the set, the lead singer didn’t go and hide backstage or in his tour bus, instead he came off stage and into their merchandise tent.
The Riverboat Gamblers performed at 3:20. Unfortunately, they also didn’t draw a huge crowd, but with the level of energy they executed on the stage, I am surprised that the crowd wasn’t one of the bigger ones of the day. The front man, Mike Wiebec, was so into the music, it was almost like he was the music. He climbed on to the barrier and started singing into the crowd and then stood on top on the barrier and was being held up by my right shoulder. He also climbed up on to the top of the tall monitors and continued singing. While on top of the monitors he laid on his back and started swinging the microphone around by the cord. The singer had a crazy amount of energy and did a great job of putting on a show for the crowd. This is a band I would definitely recommend to see live.
The last band of the night, Alkaline Trio, started their set at 7:55. They started off with the song “Armageddon” from their Album “From Here to the Infirmary”. Steve and Tom of Sum 41 and Fletcher from Pennywise were in attendance, along with musicians from other bands. Alkaline Trio was another tight band and their performance didn’t sound to far off from their studio albums. Time did not allow them to play their newest single “This Addiction”. However, they put on a great show.
Once Alkaline Trio completed their set, the exhausted crowd headed towards the gates, in hopes that the next years Vans Warped Tour is as entertaining as this one.
