From The Pit...
The Van's Warped Tour brought 15 ska and punk bands to the Sports Arena to rip it up on two stages. There were also booths, exhibitions, a skate contest and some sort of dunk booth with scantily clad women. Very popular with the punk rock frat boys. They're SO bitter and angry.
Perhaps the best thing for San Diego is the abundance of San Diego bands on the Warped Tour. Jalopy, fluf, Blink 182, Unwritten Law and Rocket From The Crypt all beef up the bill.
The event had two stages, and inside stage in the Sports Arena, and an outside stage in the parking lot. The outside stage was too small, but the bands made the best of it.
The biggest problem with shows like this is that you get a bunch of similar sounding bands together and it all starts to blend together after awhile. Many of the bands sound the same, and use the same little hooks and chords. Despite relatively short sets and the occasional lack of originality the mostly teenage crowd seemed entertained.
One of the early bands that stood out was Red Five form L.A.. This outfit features two rocking' young ladies on dueling vocals and guitars. The couple of tunes I caught form these guys got my day started off well.
fluf played outside and didn't sound as good as they usually do. It's hard to tell whether the Sports Arena has better acoustics inside or in the parking lot. fluf played their staple songs and some new stuff too. The crowd was relatively mild, with no mosh pit. What!? No pit in San Diego? Oh my!
Following fluf were Bad Religion Jr., also known as Unwritten Law. These guys are a good band to see live, but obviously benefit a great deal from the Green Day crowd.
Some day they might find their niche outside of Bad Religion and Green Day sounding song structures. They do rock though.
I was anxious to see Dick Dale, "King of the Surf Guitar". This guy and his band rocked, and believe it or not, were probably the loudest act of the day. Dale played stuff off his new album, a Link Wray song "Rumble" and of course "Miserlou" from "Pulp Fiction", and originally form back in the sixties.
Dance Hall Crashers are always energetic and fun to see. They helped to break down the testosterone level a bit. These guys are much better live than on album, and deserve some of the spotlight that highlights No Doubt. They are very similar sounding bands.
NOFX and Pennywise were bound to be the big crowd pleasers. I'm not a big fan of either band, but like NOFX a lot more after seeing them live. Their stage banter was witty, comfortable and pertinent. (A lot about "Independence Day"). The newer stuff they played really stood out.
Rocket From the Crypt headlined the second stage outside. Rocket was definitely a highlight of the show. These guys work and rock hard. They also added much needed style and originality to the show. Their shiny lemay outfits, infectious charm and incredibly tight set stole the show. The majority of the set came from "Scream, Dracula Scream". It would have been sweet to hear some earlier stuff. Rocket is a very hard act to follow and we left after their amazing set stole the show.
Warped was not without it's setbacks. The mosh pit was more of a slug fest than a pit. Many underage San Diegans mosh for an excuse to elbow, punch, spit on and kick others with impunity.
Security was also an occasional annoyance. My friends and I were hassled several times when going down to the floor area of the arena. Our wrist bands never seemed to be on right, making us cohorts in some bizarre plot to sneak onto the floor.
More security hassle came when we tried to sit down after standing and walking around for nearly seven hours. We sat down and were told to move. We stood too close to the railing and were told to move. We stood back and were again told to move. So, we moved outside to my car and left.
Overall, it was a good lineup but slightly disorganized show. After walking around and standing all day, getting sunburned, drinking, getting harassed by security, and getting knocked around I realized I might be getting too old for this shit.
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