Vans Warped Tour ~ July 24,2008 ~ Darien Lake ~ Darien, NY

Since it's inception in 1993, Kevin Lyman has been the brain child behind this monstrous tour that erupts every summer, featuring over 100 bands that range from pop-punk rock to metalcore and post hardcore. Some of this year's headliners are Gym Class Heroes, Reel Big Fish, Katy Perry, Angels and Airwaves and Pennywise. Of course, some of the more hardcore underground fans would contest this and say the headliners were the bands that they came to see on the smaller Stages — All Time Low, The Color Fred, Four Year Strong and The Devil Wears Prada.
No matter who you came for, taking in as much as possible throughout the day meant planning a full-scale ground attack, mapping out the exact times that your favorite band was scheduled to play. It was impressive how well this festival was handled; there was almost zero down time between bands.
I arrived around 3 p.m. To my surprise, I had already missed a number of acts I planned on seeing for the first time — Beat Union, We the Kings, Gym Class Heroes and A Cursive Memory. I immediately walked up to the Hurley.com stage and found Oreskaband set to begin. What a unexpected surprise they were.
The sextet from Osaka, Japan was a great way to start the day, as they attacked the stage with the sounds of their ska-filled horns. I was feeling like a pinball at first because I was not the most organized at figuring out the schedule for the day.
Juggling my list of must-sees, I also walked up on many unknown artists and briefly checked them out. It was a sampler platter; some good, some not so good.
As the crowd shifted from one stage to the next, I found myself amass young girls wearing their "I Kissed A Girl" T-shirts, which obviously were inspired by the new radio smash hit from Katy Perry. I was there to see if she was the real deal. She's definitely not the most talented, but she knows exactly what she's doing when it comes to marketing herself to the right target audience (note all the T-shirts). As I went to figure out who was playing the main stage, I made my way through the sea of laid-out underage drinkers and teenage adrenaline-rushed, energy-drink overdosers.
I never thought that I would live to see the day that the 80’s glam-neon wear would make a comeback. But many of the youngsters wondering through the festival were displaying the bright colors as if paying homage to bands like Poison, Warrant and Cinderella. Heading for the main stage was a wise decision as it started to rain for the first time since I'd been there. I took cover and saw what was going on under the big tent. As I approached the stage I found Mike McColgan, lead singer from the Boston-based punk band, Street Dogs, lunging into the crowd-surfing teens. I was drawn to his repeated attempts to be a part of the crowd.
Or was he attempting to make the crowd a part of his band? Either way, it was very impressive and you can now find their disc in my collection.

Also on the main stage I eagerly waited for Reel Big Fish. They hit the stage with their '90s smash, "Sell Out." Which sent the crowd into a singing frenzy. This was evident by the fist pumping and the Chuck Taylors soaring over head. After taking in the sounds of other main stagers — Angels and Airwaves, Penny Wise and Anberlin — I made an extra effort to get to the SmartPunk stage and give Automatic Love Letter a listen.
Juliet Simms' soaring vocals were not a disappointment, as she and her bandmates easily executed and delivered samples form their Recover EP. All in all it was a very successful day for discovering new music and seeing some old bands for the first time.

For more info go to: www.warpedtour.com