Oh, Vans Warped Tour, thanks for your hospitality. If you’re reading even half an ounce of sarcasm in that sentence, then you’re reading correctly.
Located at Pomona Fairgounds, this Warped Tour experience (my first and I guarantee my last) was hot, dirty, sonically uncomfortable, and did nothing but reinforce why a Warped Tour is not my musical scene. Aesthetically it’s extremely rough around the edges, but that fits in with the punk premise. The problem was there didn’t seem to be a whole lot of “punk” per se rocking the multiple stages. Metal of all shapes and sizes (deathcore, crabcore, corecore?) seemed the overwhelming, semi-cohesive theme; As did the abundance of message booths vying to your attention. Everything from breast cancer awareness to condoms to PETA to clothing lines had a place among the Warped Tour tent city. For a festival, I thought it was a strangely low brow affair. So why was I there? To see Foxy Shazam of course! Because it had been way too long.
Foxy came and Foxy rocked with a set that truly was a feat of musicality and showmanship and made the 5 hours spent aimlessly wandering around the fairgrounds worth it. It’s bands like this that make people like my music partners-in-crime and me suffer for the songs. We love, hard.
And then there was the Boston band, Bad Rabbits, who took the stage immediately after Foxy Shazam and made the day even more worthwhile with their neo rock funk-a-deliciousness. Dancing was not optional and when the singer and guitarist lapsed into that old school Kid n Play kick dance I was done, but in a good way.
So that’s my story and I’m sticking to it. Warped Tour 2011…out!
– Trina