The annual Warped Tour came to Phoenix Tuesday, a day of record high temperatures in parts of the Valley.
This, however, was not enough to stop thousands of punk and alternative rock fans from swarming the Peoria Sports Complex to enjoy bands ranging from the ska-flavored Mad Caddies to new radio favorites The Ataris, and everything in between.
The Warped Tour is the longest running summer festival, making more money and loyal fans than Lollapolooza and Ozzfest . This year's 45 date tour is also one of the longest summer tours to date. Good music combined with almost scary precision has fueled Warped into an event instead of an outside concert. No more than 10 seconds pass between bands playing their energetic 30 minute sets on the double main stage, which allows for such lightning fast "blink and you'll miss them" speed from the set up and tear down crew.
Warped's father figure, Kevin Lyman, began the tour unassumingly in 1995 after a charity event gave him the idea to combine punk rock and extreme sports (skateboarding, Moto-X) in a user friendly fashion that would appeal to all kinds of music fans, from the "TRL"-hungry Good Charlotte followers to the traditional punk enthusiasts The Casualties and The Unseen.
After so many years, the tour has developed a system that seems to be working, as bands from every genre and age group scramble to get on it. Besides the double main stage, there are at least five side stages at each show, sometimes more depending on the size of the venue, adding up to over 40 bands on a ticket price of about $30. This of course is not counting the masses of sponsor and band tents selling merchandise and giving away cool stuff.
The highlights of the show on Tuesday were multiple despite the scorching temperatures and lack of shade. Old school favorites such as Rancid and Dropkick Murphys played with a vengeance, as did hardcore newcomers The Used and Thrice. Not a single lead singer the entire day seemed able to refrain from commenting on the heat or from insisting on middle fingers raised during shout along choruses.
Most of the bands on Warped are from southern California and are usually unable to take the heat of a Phoenix summer afternoon for very long, to the amusement and entertainment of the crowd seeing their favorite musicians melt under the unmerciful sun. Only Authority Zero, who is doing side-stage duty on most of the Warped dates, but got promoted to the main stage for their homecoming show in Phoenix, seemed to enjoy the sun and a rabid crowd excited to see one of their own make it in the big bad music business.
Other highlights include Less Than Jake's hit-filled set, complete with rocket projected t-shirts and confetti at the conclusion of their half-hour.
Part of the Warped Tour's appeal is the constantly rotating line-up of bands; even the show order is changed daily just prior to the first band playing. This means that bands on some dates are no-shows on others. AFI and The Starting Line are just two of several who were not present at Phoenix's show. Others, like Sum 41, left Warped after Tuesday and will be replaced by other bands to complete the tour.
Last but not least, The Ataris presented a stellar closing act after the sun had gone down and the heat had subsided...a little bit.
Most bands facing such a short set time stuck with just their radio hits and mosh pit favorites, making for a brief but exhausting best-of song list for every group. By the end of the day the feeling of fatigue and the need for a shower overpowers everything else except for one thought: "I can't wait for next year!"
Other bands that made the 115 degree heat bearable included Less Than Jake, Simple Plan, Andrew W.K., Pennywise, Slick Shoes, Mest, Glassjaw, Poison the Well, The Suicide Machines and Tsunami Bomb.
Click here to find more information about the Warped Tour.
Annemarie Moody is an entertainment writer for the Web Devil. Reach her at annemarie.moody@asu.edu.
