Warped 2004 made it’s stop by MN last Sunday and I was there. This was only my 2nd Warped Tour. I made it in 2002, but I was unable to make it last year. This year, the venue was the Metrodome parking lot. I really had some worries about it being in a parking lot. I know how Woodstock 99 went. I was envisioning a barren concrete jungle without a sign of shade in sight. The forecast called for 85 to 90 and sunny all day long. I figured I’d come home just fried. Fortuately, things turned out ok.
My Warped Tour trip this year started out the day before. Myself and 4 friends took off in the afternoon on Saturday for Minneapolis where we’d stay the night with friends. Justin, Louie, and I got dropped off at Burns’ apartment by Lauren and Kristen. While they went out on the town, the 3 of us, Burns, and Amanda headed to Valleyfair. After 5PM, the gate fee is 1/2 price. Since we were only going to be there for a little bit, we decied to start hitting roller coasters right away. I love roller coasters. We warmed up with a quick ride on the Corkscrew. It’s only about 30 seconds long, but there’s 3 loops and many twists and turns. It’s a good starter. We graduated up to Exalibur. At one time, this was Valleyfair’s premier coaster, but these days its not quite as good. After another short ride, we made our way over to Wild Thing. This is the park’s biggest coaster. It’s got a fairly good first drop and lots of other smaller drops including one that goes into a tunnel. That was the end of the true coasters. A couple a new additons to the park since I’d been there last were Power Tower and Steel Venom. The Power Tower is a 275 tall. You are strapped into a coaster like seat with your legs dangling. Then they slowly bring you all the way to the top. A long 20 seconds later, they shoot you back to Earth. Sound crazy? You’re right: it is! That was probably my favorite ride of the night. Steel Venom is basically a big U. One one end, the track twists. Riders are strapped in and shot forward where they head up one side of the twisted U. Then after reaching the top, they ride backwards to the other end. This all takes place at about 70mph. You get the idea. Now to mix things up a little, the second time you go backwards, they lock in the cars at the top. So there are you dangling only by your harness facing the ground. It’s a good time. I only have one gripe about the ride. The harnesses they use are a little tight on the manhood. Especially when they stop you at the top and a good portion of your body is supported by a piece of plastic between your legs.
We followed up the theme park with a little drinking Mario Kart on Gamecube. Can’t say I’m the best, but I can hold down 3rd pretty good.
It was up bright and early around 8:30AM the next morning so we could make it to Warped on time. Things got a little slower start than I would’ve liked, but we made it downtown around 10 or so. I didn’t want to miss any second of music, so I got right in line without going to get anything to eat like we planned. Now that’s dedication.
Upon arriving, we found the line outside the Metrodome and found a place to stand under a tree. At around 11:30 the gates opened and we were let in. Getting in went very fast. They weren’t really frisking people, so I suppose that was part of the reason. Louie and I ended getting in before the rest of the group, so it was just us walking around. With a little time to kill, I figured I’d familiarize myself with the area and get some food. Of course, food was expensive as all hell, and you couldn’t just walk up and pay cash for any of it. They all reqiured the little Warped Tour tickets which cost 5o cents each. And you could only buy them in increments of 10 ($5). I found some mozzerella sticks for $5. Yea, I got ripped off, but there’s nothing you can do.
Next, Louie and I walked around a bit and made our way over to where the setlists were posted. Just about everyone else had the same idea, so there was quite the crowd packed around the large blow up billboard thingy they use for set times. I found From Autumn to Ashes were playing right away. Louie wasn’t so interested so, I headed over myself. Right away I made my way to the front. Things got off to a bit of a late start because of sound problems. The main speakers weren’t working. No problem, they flipped the monitors around and played anyway. I didn’t really care since I was right up front. I was expecting them to rip into “Payback, ” their lead off track from their current CD, but instead they played something else. I don’t really remember much of what they played, but it was a decent mix from their latest CD and their previous release. Their drummer really impressed me with not only his drumming skills but his singing. He even came out from behind the kit for a couple songs.
A Faith Called Chaos kicked off their set on an adjacent stage immediately after FATA got done. I would’ve stuck around for more than 1 song, but I was deathly thirsty from all the jockeying and moshing I had done. Again, I got ripped off on a big glass of lemonade (another $5).
Some more searching around the venue, brought me to a whole nother section. There was 3 stages and a whole lot more tents over there. I managed to find Underminded’s tent, but I wasn’t sure what Aaron looked like. He’s the guy who owns DecoyMusic.com, so I was looking forward to meeting him after having talked to him online some. I figured, I’d find Rick later and we could go find out who Aaron was. While I was over there, I stopped by the Break the Silence tent. They were the band I was looking forward to seeing the most. One of their guitarists happened to be there, so I talked to him for a minute and told them I wouldn’t miss their set for anything.
Aaron from Decoy has been talking up Underminded a lot on Decoy, so I caught their set next. When I got there, they were already on stage, but I had only missed the first part of the song. Sadly, it was the only song of theirs I really recognized. This was also where I caught up with Rick and Kristin. We watched Underminded’s set and Rick and I were both pleasantly surprised by them. There was some dude (I think he was their roadie) running around with shaved legs, a pink shirt which he took off after a song or two, and tight biker shorts hardcore dancing to their set. I thought about joining in, but I didn’t really want to be associated with the guy. At one point I turned around, and he was hanging his balls out of the skimpy little shorts. Not what I wanted to see!
Anyways, after Underminded’s set, Rick and I headed over to the tent to meet Aaron. We only got to chat for a few minutes because a lot of people came over to check out their merchandise after the set. He seemed pretty cool, its too bad we couldn’t have hung out any more.
Things get a little blurry in the middle here. I know I watched a little Simple Plan and Coheed & Cambria with Rick and Kristin. I hate both bands. It was more just to talk to those to. At some point in the afternoon I caught, Rufio, Letter Kills, Avenged Sevenfold, From First to Last, and Anti-Flag. I only saw a couple Rufio songs because I had apparenly written down their settime wrong and happened to walk into the end of their show. What I saw was pretty good. I could’ve done without the Madonna cover, but the females ate it up. Letter Kills wasn’t very good. A7X’s set was too short, but kick ass as always. They should’ve been playing one of the main stages. From First to Last has possibly the ugliest lead singer I’ve ever seen, but they put on a good show. Anti-Flag was the highlight of the day thus far for me. Their politically charge punk really strikes a chord with me. They’re really good guys too. A couple songs into their set, a small part of the crowd fell down (constant pushing, you can only know if you’ve been in a crowd) and they stopped to make sure everyone was ok. During their set, they were constantly talking about unity, friendship, tolerence, and politics. At one point, they told everyone to look to their left or right and shake hands with someone. Some guy came up to me and gave me a big bear hug. Their whole set just made me feel good. At one point, I got knocked on my ass in the mosh pit and right away a bunch of people checked to see if I was ok. It’s stuff like that that needs to happen more. Like I said, best set of the afternoon by far.
The early evening saw a little slowdown in bands I wanted to see. I managed to see a few friends that were there and just chill on the grass. Sadly, I didn’t get to see much of Taking Back Sunday because Break the Silence started halfway through their set. I watched a couple songs and headed over to the little side stage BTS was playing at. They were just starting when I got there and a small crowd of 20 or so gathered around the tent. I walked right up front and started screaming lyrics at the top of my lungs. It was so awesome to finally see the band perform live. Since they weren’t alotted much time, they pretty much ripped through 4 songs quickly. At the end, the crowd had grown to almost 50 cheering for an encore. The sound guy OK’ed them and they ripped into Iris. It’s short, hard, and fast. Before they started, they said we better get a pit going for it. I went absolutely crazy for it. I couldn’t even see I was flailing around so much. Afterward, the lead singer thanked me for showing so much support. I can’t wait for the next time I get to see them.
On into the night, the two main stages were the only ones worth watching. Story of the Year, Bad Religion, New Found Glory, and Flogging Molly wrapped things up. I got right up front for SOTY. I had some mixed feelings about them before, but they put in a very engergetic live show. I wouldn’t mind seeing them again. Andy was pumped as all hell to see Bad Religion. I wanted to see them pretty bad too. We watched a couple songs from the back before pushing our way to about 3rd row. I don’t know if it’s because I don’t listen to them much, or what, but I just wasn’t getting into things. It was more of a respect thing. Today’s punk bands owe them so much. There was The Ramones and the Sex Pistols that started it all. Bad Religion were the young kids back then. Now they’re fathers of the genre. I guess what it is is they’ve never changed. They’re still about the music even after like 20 years. They haven’t sold out. For a 40 year old man to get up on stage and perform songs that kids as young as 12 or 14 can get into is amazing.
Some unfortunate circumstances happened during their set though. A crowd surfer came flying over Burns’ and my head and on his way over, he kicked burns in the face cutting his eyelid open. The cut was fairly small, but all the adrenaline and movement made the blood run like crazy. Burns just took off his shirt and held it up to stop the blood. After their set, he went over to the first aid tent and got patched up. It was funny because I couldn’t find him after things were all over. I was fearing the worst. I ended up finding the rest of the crew though who had heard from him. He was watching New Found Glory still using his shirt as a blood clot. Burns’ you’re such a trooper! I was all tuckered out for the day, so Lauren and I just watched Flogging Molly perform an extended set from afar. They said that over the last few years, their sets had sucked in Minneapolis Warped Tour dates, so they played about 20 minutes longer than they were supposed to. Bonus for Justin, the biggest Flogging Molly fan I know.
The group met up after everything was over and we made our way home. It took forever because we stopped a bunch of times to get food, coffee, go to the bathroom, etc. I slept most of the way back. I think we made it home at 2:30. The show was well worth my $37. Warped Tour isn’t really where you go to see any one band. It’s more like a sampler plate. Short sets, lots of bands, and a sunny day all make it what it is. I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face all day!
Lately, I’ve been somewhat tight on cash because I’m very close to buying a car. Today I checked out two more cars. The first was a black 2001 Grand AM SE1 which I liked very much. It’s not decked out, but it is nicely equiped with a 3.4L V6, Alloy Wheels, Rear Spoiler, and a CD Player. I also got a call from the local dealer I had visited a couple weeks ago. 
They just got in a 2000 Olds Intrigue. It’s also got a V6, Alloy Wheels, Rear Spoiler, and a CD Player. But it has almost twice the mileage. 
