The 2006 edition of the Vans Warped Tour rolled through Minneapolis last Sunday (yes, that was Father’s Day and yes, I called my father). Ten solid hours of music and fun in the sun! Well, except that all your favorite bands only play for 20 min, food costs a fortune, and you’re tired and sunburnt by lunchtime.
No really, I enjoy going every year that I can and this year was no different. Rick was supposed to drop by my place about 10, but he was delayed by too many drinks from the night before. After planning to meet up later, I decided to take off for downtown. A little disclaimer: Warped Tour is a long day. I’m sure there’s stuff I’m forgetting. If you were there, feel free to rip me a new one in the comments.
Once I got parked, I made my way to the line only to find Will Call was around the other side of the building. Now being that I was at gate D, I decided to head towards gates A, B, and C thinking that it’d be a shorter walk then if I walked all the way around the other way. Wrong! Turns out the way they had things set up, you couldn’t get around that way without walking around the entire Warped Tour area. I made it about 1/3 the way before I realized this.
Just after I walked up to the line, Birhanzel just about jumped me. I was jealous because he was set up with a photo pass and I wasn’t (I also later found out he interviewed The Bled and Thursday which made me more jealous). I also connected up with Andy before going inside, but there was no sign of Rick and no answer on his cell phone.
The first thing you do when you get inside Warped is check out the big blow up set list thing. To my surprise Every Time I Die was playing first thing, but I guess they rotate slots on the stages so everyone gets their turn. I didn’t really watch their set though. With some time to kill before the next band I wanted to see, I got a feeling for where each of the stages were and sometime during that, I found Rick.
The first band we went to see was Greeley Estates. I had missed them at Taste of Chaos, so I was excited to see their live show. To make it even better, we were able to be right on the rail. I couldn’t have asked for a better spot to take photos from. Greeley played mostly newer material which I wasn’t quite as familiar with, so that was kind of a bummer, but they were still pretty good.
Next in the day’s sets was The Casualties. I’m not really a fan at all, but I dig any band who’s as hardcore punk as these guys. They’re straight out of 1983. At some point between their set and whoever was playing afterwards on the other main stage, I went and grabbed a $6 gyro from Dino’s. Damn, was that worth $6 in tickets! Though it had a little too much sauce on it and as I was ridding the excess from my food, some girl walked right in front of me and I squeezed some on her. The funny thing was she didn’t notice, and didn’t even turn around. She just kept walking and every step she took I started laughing harder and harder.
The next 2 hours were the best of the day. Anti-Flag, Rise Against, Underoath and Protest the Hero all right in a row. Somewhere in there I walked by the Volcom stage and Amber Pacific was playing. I was only there long enough to snap a few shots and run back to the other stages.
I don’t know what it was about Anti-flag, but they just weren’t as good this year as in years past that I’ve seen them. Consequently, I think they’ve been at all 3 times I went to the Warped Tour. They’re always a good show regardless though.
Rise Against was the next band I saw. Out of every band on that bill, I was most excited to see them and they didn’t disappoint one bit. My only qualm with their set was they played 1 new song. I wanted to hear Chamber the Cartridge, but they only played their latest single, “Ready to Fall.” It’d be really great to see them headlining some time.
Underoath was just as impressive as Rise Against and they played a couple of new songs. To tell the truth, I was fighting the crowd most of their set trying to get some good shots, but they didn’t really work out. I couldn’t make it very close to the front and there was too much movement to get a clear shot of the stage. Finally, I just gave up on the camera and enjoyed their set, which was absoultely stunning.
As I said, things just kept going and Protest the Hero was no let down. I thouroughly enjoy this band and they are a treat to see live. Protest wins the prize for highest rolled up pants. Their bassist Arif was sporting these white pants that were rolled all the way up. They looked kind of like a cross between boxers and a big diaper. To top it all off the dude is rockin a Dragonforce shirt. How can you not like these guys? Oh, did I mention they shred? My best shots of the day came from Protest. I guess I hit my stride early in the day.
Again there was a short break in the day, so Rick and I decided to go find some shade to chill in. As we were sitting there, a dude came up to us with an iPod and a box of CDs. As it turns, out he was from the band Nural. A band which Rick had reviewed on Decoy and liked. Surprised, the guy stopped trying to sell us CD’s and instead we had a short chat about Decoy and his band. I can’t blame him for doing what he could to get his band out there, but at the same time I hate pushy people like that.
After that I started browsing through the set lists again. I swore my eyes were decieving me because as I was browsing, I see No Trigger, this awesome band from MA. They sort of sound like A Wilhelm Scream and are on the same label. Well it turns out they were on one of the small side stages and we had time to see them. That made my day right there. 20 people rocking out to a really good band that really deserves more attention. Without the crowd to get in the way, I could really take my time with photos and I grabbed a bunch of great ones from No Trigger.
Things were pretty much winding down around this time and I had seen pretty much all the bands I wanted to see. Rick and I caught sets by Over It, From Autumn to Ashes, and part of Thursday’s, none of which were all that memorable.
Things finished up with The Bled and NOFX. The Bled was stellar as usual. This was the third time I’d seen them, but they were entertaining nonetheless. As much as I grew up on punk, I was never a NOFX fan. I’m getting to like them more now, but there’s a dozen other punk bands I’d rather listen to. That aside, these guys are hilarious, especially Fat Mike. Every time they’d be about to start a song, the drummer would count them off and then Fat Mike would say something or just mess up and not start the song. They started one song a total of 4 times. The entire set, he was ripping into Underoath for having a bible study after the tour. As a non-Christian I found the ribbing pretty funny, but I could see a lot of people getting pissed off. For anyone else playing, this would’ve been a terrible set, but because this is the almighty NOFX, they can get away with making it great.
And now is where I would normally post all my pictures from the show. Instead, I’m going to be lazy and just link to my Decoy album for Warped Tour instead..
