The beginning of the end of the beginning...
Alright ... so I've thought about this for quite sometime now (like two
years) about posting whatever really popped in my head. Not that most of
you are really going to care or read this. Shows I saw, music that rawks,
whatever happened or happens. Brace yourself...
06.20.06
All pictures courtesy of T.o.F.t.
8:00am Sunday Morning -- I woke up with excitement ... and a headache. I really shouldn't have drank two bottles of wine the night before. But it was a celebration. I had to. Plus there was fireworks from which T.o.F.t. and I both have blisters from. Anyways, back to 8am .. EXCITEMENT! My very first Warped Tour. The same with T.o.F.t.
8:30 - T.o.F.t.'s wake up call.
9:15 - We're ready .. let's go.
9:50 - This van pulls along side us and there's a couple and the girl holds up a piece of paper with the words "Warped?" on it. T.o.F.t. and I give her the thumbs up .. Why? She was hot.
10:30 - We pull into Burnsville Taco Bell and the van follows us. The guy tells T.o.F.t and I, "I was following you." We're like "Yeah, we're hungry." So I give him fool proof directions to the Metrodome. Did they ever make it? Not a clue. A quick break to grab some delicious tacos and off we roll again this time straight to the Metrodome.
11:10 - We arrive. We found a sweet parking ramp with a $5 charge. Sweet. We walk around the ENTIRE Metrodome to find where we need to go only to stand in a huge ass line and T.o.F.t suggests that we walk around the line. Good idea. After talking to a security guy, we figure out where to get out tickets and passes.
11:30 - We finally get through the lines and into Warped Tour we go.
11:32 - What the fuck? I hear the opening lines of "Kill the Music" and T.o.F.t and I scatter to the main stage right for EVERY TIME I DIE's performance.
Of course, ETID threw down. Of course, they were phenominal.
Luckly, T.o.F.t. has a pretty sweet zoom on his camera, so we were lucky enough to get some good pics because the security guy would NOT let him in the barricade to take pictures. (The story gets more interesting on that a little later.)
12:00 - We decide that we should probably go check in at the Press Tent with Amanda. So after a little problem with the map, we figure out where we go. Check in goes very well. Amanda was a very sweet lady who helped us out with everything. She helped out with the mess as this was my first experience like this. She made sure if there was any other interviews I wanted to do I got them. Amanda was awesome. So we got the updated schedule of bands, schedule of interviews and she sent us off to take in the experience.
12:20 - SHAMO, Where are you? It was the Shamatster's birthday the day before so we needed to give her a little razzin.
12:30 - We meet up with Shamo and Anthony from Burning Both Ends by the Ernie Ball Stage. Shoot the shit, make a little fun. Then I met Andy from EVERY TIME I DIE who I got to interview. That was cool. Justin from Smilin Liar was out working at his "job." He has it made, I swear. He was there promoting CARTEL who played a little later in the day.
12:40 - ASKING ABBY hit the stage for an energetic performance. They just signed up with the Blue Worm Records roster not too long ago. So it was definately cool to see them play.
SHAMO, the wonderful person she is, BRINGS BINOCULARS! Haha. She's awesome.
1:20 - PARAMORE hits the Volcom Stage. They were amazing. I absolutely love their CD "All We Know is Falling." So this was definately a treat.
PARAMORE kicked off their set with their first single "Pressure" and from there on they were on fire. That crowd was theirs. "All We Know" followed and then one of my favorites "Here We Go Again."
PARAMORE was abosutely awesome. To end it, they played my absolute favorite "My Heart." Beautiful.
1:50 - CARTEL took the Ernie Ball Stage. They're good. They're going to be big. It was very well evident. I didn't stick around for too long ...
1:55 - I wanted to know what the deal was with the photo pass because honestly we should've gotten better pictures of PARAMORE. T.o.F.t and I headed back down to the press tent to talk to Amanda. I told her what the deal was and she said "Hey, you got the first three songs of every band on any stage. That's what that wristband is there for." So then she decides that we need to go find that guy who didn't let T.o.F.t in for Every Time I Die. Hell was rose. Amanda stormed through that main stage barricade and yelled at three different people to make sure they knew that photo people were let in for the first three songs of everyone's set. Most of them didn't know what was going on. Now they did. So T.o.F.t. got some sweet pics of HELMET who by this time were on stage throwing down. This was the only time I got to see the main stage that close up. It was awesome.
2:30 - I had an interview with MATT from MOTION CITY SOUNDTRACK. Amanda told me that I wasn't signed up for them. BUT she had told me just to come down and she'd get me in. Then she remembered that and she hooked it up. Just showed her awesomeness even more. This girl from another show and I tag teamed the interview. I honestly wished I remembered her name, she was very cool. She was nice enough to let me go first. I really wanted her to go first but I accepted. I made sure to keep it short as he had to get through both of us. Tune into the Midwest Beatdown on July 7 to hear the interview. You'll laugh.
2:50 - I headed back through the crowd to the Ernie Ball stage to catch DROPPING DAYLIGHT. As always they rocked.
Their short 20 minute set was phenominal. Full of energy and good fun. My highlight :: "Til You Feel Something"
What can I say that I haven't said about DD before. Go get "Brace Yourself" in stores now. It well worth the price of admission.
3:25 - Time to run over to main stage right as ...
3:30 - UNDEROATH dominates. They had 30 minutes to whip that crowd into shape and that's exactly what they did. "It's Dangerous Business Walking Out Your Front Door" was amazing with the crowd singing along.
"Writing on the Walls" one of two new songs they played from DEFINE THE GREAT LINE (which came out today, go get it .. as soon as your done reading this blog) was on fire. This band came out to throw down and they didn't let up until the last song.
T.o.F.t. got a lot of good pictures during their set. More will be posted later.
4:00 - JOAN JETT hit the main stage left. She was good. I won't lie. Watched the first song then it was back to business.
4:05 - I walk over to PARAMORE's merch tent and I ask their road manager (forgot her name, I'm sorry .. she was very sweet) what time we're going to do the interview 4 or 5 and she replies with 10 minutes. I alert T.o.F.t who is at the main stage and he hurries over. My attention flows over to the pink and black stage and this is what I see.
Sorry, I'm a male, that grabs my attention. The Vincent Black Shadow was up there doing their thing. All I can say about them was they were interesting.
4:10 - Bored. Walk back over to PARAMORE's tent. I see Hailey signing autographs and I just wait patiently. Hailey signed a guy's chest. Check out her reaction on the interview.
4:15 - Interview time. Paramore's road manager, T.o.F.t. and I walk down to the press tent and Hailey and Josh catch up before we hit the bottom of the hill. We all go over to wear I did the interview with Matt from MCS and we start the interview.
About half way thru the rest of the band shows up. We finish the interview with all of the band. They are awesome. If you don't have their CD "All We Know is Falling" I highly reccomend it. They were a blast. PARAMORE's interview runs July 7.
4:45 - FROM FIRST TO LAST was on main stage right. They sounded awesome. We walked through the place and saw a band called FERUS playing in a tent with the booths. They were really good.
5:00 - T.o.F.t. and I head back down the hill to the press tent and it's time to interview Spencer from UNDEROATH. It was awesome to talk with him. Very cool person. DEFINE THE GREAT LINE is in stores today. I'll be picking it up, you should too.
5:20 - LESS THAN JAKE was on main stage left. They were funny. The Figure 8 pit was awesome.
5:40 - Head over to the DROPPING DAYLIGHT merch tent to see if Sebastian is around to do their interview. I figured since they were there, why pass up the opportunity. They're not around, so I chat it up with Casey, their merch girl extrodinare. She has like five million jobs with that band. I haven't really talked to her for a while, so it was great to shoot the breeze with her. She's super cool.
6:20 - Seth, Sebastian and Allen show up. Interview time.
We go to the Metrodome door way to get away from the loud noises and conduct and interview. It's always fun to listen to them. They are great people. Great band. "Brace Yourself" is in stores now. Go get it.
6:40 - Time to check out MOTION CITY SOUNDTRACK. This being my first time seeing them, I really enjoyed them.
They opened with "Attractive Today" which was cool. The crowd was there to see them and you could tell. They had a super tight 30 minute set which ended with "Everything is Alright" and "The Future Freaks Me Out."
"The Future" brought on one hell of a sing along. MCS put on one hell of a show. I'll definately be seeing them again.
7:10 - As much as I wanted to stick around and see THURSDAY and NOFX .. I just couldn't take it anymore. The sun killed me. As I am sunburnt to hell and paying for it. BUT I'd do it all over again. As it was the best experience I've had at a show.
A big thanks to Adrenaline PR, MSO PR, Amanda at the Press Tent, Every Time I Die, Underoath, Paramore, Motion City Soundtrack, Dropping Daylight, Casey Quick, T.o.F.t for a wonderful experience. This one will never be forgot.
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