Warped Tour 2005
My first year was pretty crazy. I had no idea who most of the bands were. The headliners I did recognize had huge crowds around their stages and booths. It was hot and crowded. I didn't know what I was doing or what to expect. But I had a ton of fun just getting free stuff from everyone. By the end of the day I had a bag full of fliers, stickers, posters, CDs and even some flip-flops.
The one band I had come to see that wasn't a headliner was Bullets and Octane. The first local band I called my own. They played the Hot Topic stage that was smaller than any stage I had ever been on and was covered by an easy-up tent. The crowd was less than 20, but it was still pretty crazy. I hid next to a tree for safety and a better view. Gene Louis, the lead singer, pointed and waved at me. He had seen me many times before, standing up against the stage at Chain Reaction, screaming along to every song. It felt pretty amazing to have him point me out of the crowd.
I can't remember too much from that day. It went by pretty fast. What I do remember is my friends collecting bottles for a recycling place that gave you stuff in exchange for plastic bottles. We picked up about 50 or so bottles. But right in the middle of our collecting, we decided to see a band that was just getting big, My Chemical Romance. The crowd surged at their hit song and we got caught in the middle of it. I tried to hold onto my bag of plastic bottles as I got smashed up against sweaty teenagers. Below is a picture of the circle pit that formed in front of me.
After we collected the bottles and survived the pit, we went back to the recycling tent and picked our prize. A Ramones shirt! It was an Adult Small and only one of the three of us could fit it. But we still decided to put it into rotation. After a few wears we stretched it out and I've been seen in it several times over the years. It's still a favorite shirt of mine.
A headliner that I wanted to see was Offspring. They've been together as long as I've been alive. They are from Orange County and can even be seen around the Cypress/Los Alamitos area. Dexter, the lead singer, was valedictorian of his class at Pacifica High School, which is where he got his name. We ended up against a a fence relaxing when I heard a song I recognized. I looked over the fence and Offpsring was playing. The crowd was pretty big and it was late in the day, so I just hung out by the fence and listened. Later they came back stage and were hanging out. We yelled and they waved. This is a picture of them, sort of. You can see Noodle and Dexter.
After several hours in the hot parking lot at Cal State Long Beach, me and the gang went to In N Out and saw our awesome sun burns. We then promised that we'd go to Warped Tour together the next year.
Warped Tour 2006- Pomona
The tour changes locations every couple of years and so in 2006, we ended up going to the date at the Pomona Fairplex. It was a long drive out there, dusty and very hot. We waited in the long line for a while and then headed towards the two large pilars that tell when the bands play and at what stage. We didn't know about this until later in the day the year previous. It's now the first place we go. After deciding on a schedule for the day, we wandered and looked at booths. My two friends, Amanda and Frenchy had donated blood and received backstage passes. They could go backstage, stand on the stage during sets and even get into VIP places. I was a little jealous that I didn't have one, but it ended up being the best thing that happened to me. During one of the times they were on stage I saw my friend Tree, who I had not seen in three years. A few feet away from where I was sitting was a tent for a band called Goodbye Valentine. Danny, lead guitarist/singer was sitting in a wheel chair with a mega phone, yelling at passers-bye to stop and listen to their music. He started yelling at me. "Hey, you in the green converse!" He probably yelled at me three times before I finally realized it was me and turned around. We started talking, I listened to their music, loved it, but couldn't buy it. I had no money. He then got up from his wheelchair to get something from a box behind him. "It's a miracle!", I exclaimed. "Yeah, he tends to do that." replied their drummer Jeff. I took a picture to help me remember to find them on-line later. And this is it. The beginning of a very amazing life as a Valenta-ta and band-aid.
It was a fun day for all of us. We got more free stuff and found new bands to listen to. I was still new to the whole Warped Tour experience, but I felt that my next year would be even better.
Me and Frenchy under a tent trying to cool down.
Warped Tour 2007
The next year was very different from my previous years. I had spent the last year attending Goodbye Valentine shows, hanging out with a group of girls and meeting a ton of new people and bands. I had started college and working almost full time. I attended several shows a month, went on road trips and even started doing promotion for bands. This was the year that changed my life and it all started with a guy in a wheel chair yelling at me through a mega-phone.
The dates changed yet again and Warped Tour started in CA and ended in CA. We planned on going to three dates, but only went to two. The first date was Pomona.
Pomona
I drove up there in the van with my best friend Melissa, who had never been to Warped Tour before. We met up with my show friends and saw a lot of bands. We did our best to try and stay together, but when you have several people with varied musical tastes, you're bound to separate. It was fun to see bands I loved back when I was in middle school and bands that I had found the previous year at Warped. The experience you have is based on you. If you want to just wander and do whatever, you'll probably miss a lot of bands/signings and might even miss the one band you did come to see. If you make a schedule that is pretty strict and packed, you'll miss out on the fun. So you need to find a balance between no schedule and a strict schedule. I think after several years, we've finally got it down. We pick what bands we want to see and what bands we want to meet/get pictures with. And during the down time you wander thee booths and see what's new. But sometimes we don't want to wander or we want to just see whoever is playing at a particular stage. And that's when we tend to separate. But it works out in the end. We see the bands we want to see and walk away feeling happy that we've gotten everything done we wanted to get done.
During the day we saw our friends from No One Goes Home wandering around, trying to make fans. And our friends from In Theory were part of the Freak Show they had that year. It felt normal at the time to have friends in bands be part of something like Warped Tour. But thinking about it now, that was very different from years previous. I barely knew any bands playing the tour, now I'm friends with them? Awesome.
These are the girls I hung with all day, standing in line for No One Goes Home.
Below is a picture of my friend Erynn and Shawn Harris of The Matches. We've probably seen them play about 15 times. They are fun and have a great live show. They are one of the Warped Tour staples, having been on it 4 times, usually for the majority of the tour. One of the best parts about Warped Tour is the opportunities to mingle with musicians that you'd normally never see off stage. They walk around, wander through the booths, watch other bands and even hang out at their own tent for pictures, autographs and conversations about anything. At shows you can't do that. You might catch one or two members of a band after a show, but not for long and not without a crowd. At Warped Tour, you might bump into your favorite musician who is totally willing to stop and take a picture with ya.
Carson
The Warped Tour ended in CA at the Home Depot Center in Carson. We were actually in the parking lot, but it's all the same. We got there later than usual, but saw all the bands we wanted to see.
The best thing about this date had to be the start of something amazing. It was the first time I met the Eudora guys. I had been away of them for a year, but had never met them or been to one of their shows. Their bassist, Kevin, had been bugging me on myspace to come to a show, but I was always busy with something else. When I first walked up to the tent and introduced myself to Brandon, the singer, I told him that I was friends with Tree, their guitarist's gf. He said "I love Tree!" and hugged me. Moments later he and Kevin start to leave, I wave to Kevin and he realizes who I am. He comes back and hugs me and is super excited I was there. Me and Kevin.
I spent most of the day with them at their tent. Just hanging out and talking. Oh and promoting Goodbye Valentine! See the picture? But that was only the start of another great relationship with some amazing guys. Since that day I have seen them perform almost 20 times, hang out with them at other shows and even outside of shows, help them with some promotion stuff and even plan birthdays for them. It's been a year and 1/2 since we met and yet I feel like it's been forever. They are some of my favorite people to be around and I can't wait until the next warped tour and the celebration of our 2 year anniversary!
Another highlight of the day was my first time seeing Flogging Molly perform live. They are an Irish-Punk band that has some really amazing songs to dance and drink to. Being Irish myself, I fell in love with them many moons ago. Seeing them live was amazing! Erynn and I danced and sang and jigged and had a great time as the sunset behind the stage.
Crowd at Sunset-
The weather was great, everyone seemed to be happy and I got to see a couple of really great bands. It was a good day!
Warped Tour 2008 - Ventura
We got off to a rocky start driving up to Ventura early in the morning. We got there an hour later than we wanted to and missed a few bands we really wanted to see.
We walked in on Say Anything and that kinda made up for it. Such a great live band and tons of fun to sing-a-long to.
We started wandering and found my now amazing friends, Eudora, setting up their tent. We made this our base for the day, so if we got separated or wanted to sit in the shade, that's where we met up. It was fun just hanging out with them while the others went wandering around. Kevin and I in the shade.It wasn't quite as hot as usual since we were right by the ocean and had a nice breeze for most of the day. So we saw a few bands we'd plan on seeing. Like Family Force 5, Against Me!, Pennywise, Reel Big Fish and Mayday Parade. And then spent the rest hanging out with Eudora or Letters Burning and even spotted Matt Whalen of The Matches.
We bought Seth and Dougie Fresh from The Higher sno-cones. We had missed their set, but got the chance to hang out with them for a bit and it's always fun with those guys. And sno-cones are delicious!
The drive home was pretty much silent. The girls and I were exhausted and had been kinda bitchy towards the end of the day. But then we got hungry and stopped for food and were besties again.
Carson
It has become a new thing to go to more than one Warped Tour date, especially since it starts in Cali and ends in Cali, so we get to spread the Warped love. This time though was different. I drove there alone, met up with people and spent most of the day at the Eudora tent instead of watching bands.
Bands I did see were Family Force 5, Against Me!, Say Anything, Katy Perry, Motion City Soundtrack, Mayday Parade and All Time Low.
We ate sno-cones, helped Eudora pass out fliers and kept bumping into my friends Uh-Oh! Explosion. I've known these guys for years and they are pretty awesome to see live. I never did get my fan-girl pic with them.
Erynn and I portraying lyrics to the Say Anything cover of "Baby I Got Your Money"
The girls had to leave early to go on their trip to San Diego, so I ended up in the Eudora tent helping with merch. Eudora actually played that day and were giving away free VAN's stuff. That was fun watching them play. Ice Nine Kills even stepped up for a colabo!
It was getting cold and cloudy and Brandon thought it might rain. So we were saying our good-byes and taking pictures when I told him it was our 1 year anniversary. He smiled and hugged me and was pretty excited about it. He and Kevin wanted to walk me back to my car, since I was by myself. So instead of walking all the way around the stadium and up a hill, they walked me to the back stage area where the vans were and got me 1/2 way there. I had never been backstage before and it was pretty cool just to walk past all the buses. And I loved being escorted by my guys. Me and Brandon.
Warped Tour 2009!
In a few months it will be that time of year when the weather warms up, bands live in buses and tickets get costly. But I am ready to experience Warped Tour like I have never experienced it before. From the inside!
I have applied to be a Warped Tour Pit Reporter. The duties include:
-Being on the entire tour. (all 2 1/2 months.)
-Report on the tour, bands, fans, etc. from the "mosh pit."
-Take pictures, document the tour and keep fans up to date on what's happening.
-Also report at the tour kick off party/show.
Knowing me, you'd know that this job is pretty much my dream job! Yes, it's paid!
I'd be touring with some of my idols, writing about music and the tour and being able to interview and meet with some amazing bands and performers. It would be a dream come true. But out of 250 applicants, there can only be one? (I'm not sure if they will have more than one this year.)
If I do not get accepted, all is well! I will still be standing out in the sun having a great time with my friends.
I want to go to at least 3 this year. And have one of them be out of state! Road trip!
But most importantly, I want it to be more about the music and less about the socializing. I want to find new bands and music and see more performances. I miss out on a lot of the un-known bands because I'm more focused on the bands I know I like.
And I'm afraid that not trying out new stuff will lead me to skipping over the next Good-bye Valentine or Eudora.
What I do know is that I will be at Warped Tour for as long as it runs and I can stand.
And that should be a very long time.
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