Warped Tour; Marysville, CA; 8.23.07

Warped Tour's date in Mountain View back in early July was the first show I officially covered for Billboard, so my review for this one in Sacramento that I attended on my own accord won't be too long lest it gets repetitive. What I dread about Warped hitting my neck of the woods, especially if it's in late August, is that it is painfully hot. Though I've gotten through it okay in years past, this time it didn't go so well: upon getting home I spent twelve straight hours vomiting, had a fever, was sunburnt, and lost 7lbs in less than half a day because of dehydration. Fun!

In any case, while that dampered the experience a bit in retrospect, the line-up that Warped brings usually has at least a couple bands I really love that make up for things like this.

The first band my friends and I watched was Bayside. I never tire of seeing them live. They opened their set with "Duality," which coincidentally had been on repeat for me often the past few weeks. The lyrics especially I just really love; Anthony Raneri has a unique and relatable way of stringing words together. The next two songs were "They're Not Horses, They're Unicorns" and "Carry On" -- and at this point I have to mention that I can't stress enough how much of a success Bayside's most recent album (which the three aforementioned tracks appear on), The Walking Wounded, is.

Next was "Masterpiece," which Anthony dedicated to the longtime fans of the band. It's always great to hear anything from Sirens and Condolences, because it was one of the albums I listened to most about three or four years ago. Following was "The Walking Wounded," and finally the closer in "Devotion and Desire," a big crowd favorite and what I consider a big turning point in these guys gaining a lot of popularity.

The Starting Line was the next band we made a real effort to see. I have always liked them but I don't know that they've ever actually been a real favorite of mine. I've still yet to give much listen to their new album, Direction, but all the songs played from it sounded really good live and the great thing about them is that they sound like trademark TSL, yet still evolved and showing signs of growth from all areas. The highlight of their set for me was probably "A Goodnight's Sleep," though, as it's always been a favorite of mine - possibly just because of this lyric: "Once again in self-defense, I won't sleep a wink to prevent dreaming of you."

My friends had stumbled upon this pop-punk band from Mexico City a while back named Allison, whom they were excited to see were playing this date on Warped. I decided to head over and check them out, too. They really are adorable. I couldn't tell you a thing about their songs or lyrics because it's all in Spanish, but all of the boys were very charming with the little English they spoke, and had cute synchronized dance moves (not to say they're like a boyband or anything - they do play instruments, so the term dancing is used loosely when describing guitar moves.) Their music is catchy and fun, even if you don't understand what they're singing about!

I left watching Allison a song or two before the end of their set because my favorite local (okay, almost local) boys in The Matches were coming on soon. Unfortunately I got which of the Hurley stages they were on mixed up and ended up missing their first song.

I came in right before "Sunburn vs. the Rhinovirus," one of my favorite tracks from their album Decomposer. All the guys were in a great mood, and lead singer Shawn Harris was especially very talkative. He engaged the crowd in conversation inbetween several songs, and even got the crowd waiting at the adjacent Smartpunk stage for All Time Low to participate in their set as well.

I am sure I went off on a tangent about these guys in my last review as well, but The Matches are a band I've never failed to have fun seeing and this time was no exception. The rest of their set was a nice balance of new and old, and included the likes of, "What Katie Said," "Chain Me Free," "Salty Eyes," and "Sick Little Suicide."

The rest of the day was spent hanging around backstage or watching bands from the ampthitheatre's main stage, where I saw Meg and Dia, The Vincent Black Shadow and Boys Like Girls, amongst others. That was mostly later in the day when I began feeling nauseous from whatever degree of heatstroke I seemed to have, though, so I apologize that I didn't retain many details from those sets.

All in all, the day turned out pretty well for me musically, and I got to hang out with good friends and talk to some of my favorite musicians. My only complaint was this date had a lot of time conflictions for me and I missed a lot of bands I would have liked to see (e.g. Circa Survive and, yes, Sum 41 -- the me from six years ago desired it, although I have seen them live a few times before.)

I can only say, if you're a fan of any variety of rock/punk and have yet to check out Warped Tour, you're missing out. There is always a great line-up of bands and lots of other fun activities to keep you busy and entertained for a full and long day of music.

Comments

[sara]

I love Warped Tour! Good job on the write-up. :)

[Jacyln]

Sounds like it was a great time!

[Christa!]

I didn't get to go this year and I'm so sad!! I loved reading about your experience even if it didn't end too well. Thanks! I'll check out some of those bands.

[ty]

oh hey i love the starting line. im jealous! great job on the review =)

[Amanda]

Sounds like a lot of fun! I love The Matches. :)

[brad]

Great Review... U need to represent more often.

[Steph.]

Fantastic job! I like your style.

[drew]

once agian, jealous you saw warped...and twice! you suck. just kidding. i agree about the starting line and bayside, they are both favorites of mine. great review.

[Tiffany]

a wonderful review. i love your writing.

[Matt]

I just wanted to say that your concert reviews here are my favorite. You have a way with words.

[Julia]

I haven't been to Warped in years...this made me remember why I love it. :) Great review!!

[amy]

love it, you are a great great writer!

[jp]

Cool cool... great job representing norcal.

[Justin]

Ow your after effects sound terrible. Sounds like you still had a good time though, another great blog.

[Brittany]

Warped was so much fun this year. We saw almost all the same bands! Great job.

[erica]

hey! i love the matches. how many times have you seen them now? i remember back when they were the locals and we used to talk about them. how funny. i'm happy you still go see them a lot!

[melody]

Was this at the valley amp.? That SPanish band sounds cute. A great review!

[Lauren]

I'd love to hear more about Boys Like Girls. Otherwise you did a great writeup and it looks like you had fun!

[andy]

nice job, we like a lot of the same bands. maybe i'll see you around at a show sometime.

[art]

*thumbs up*

[wholesale new era fitted caps]

http://www.newerafittedhat.org/ Do not have too much desire, contentment were happy; do not have too strong of paranoia, tolerant person pleasure. Remove red tape memory, abandon the troubles around them, life is short already, fame and fortune are added, only a simple can only more happy.