Warped Tour Photos!!! Plus Highlights & Lowlights from Gym Class Heros, From First To Last, and (doh) Katy Perry

The Warped Tour 2008 @ Nassau Coliseum

The annual traveling music festival, The Warped Tour, is intended to be a place where "rebellious" teens can head-bang to punk rock, crowd-surf, mosh, watch extreme sports, and (fingers crossed) get laid. Started in 1994 as a skateboarding and punk rally, Warped continues to invade parks and stadiums throughout the wild United States. And as predicted, the audience is majority teenaged, with a predilection for Mohawks, make-outs, and music- the loud kind.

This Saturday, The Warped Tour took over Nassau Collisseum - presenting bands like Reel Big Fish, Angels & Airwaves, Charlotte Sometimes, From First To Last, Against Me, Beat Union, Cobra Starship, Shwayze and Gym Class Heros. Despite some highlights though, the 2008 Warped Tour seemed even more candy-coated and pop-centric (with bubble-gum princess Katy Perry headlining) than in years past. It's a heavily-endorsed commercial machine- complete with a gleaming old school Cadillac on display for the new film "Pineapple Express" and corporate logos at every turn. That said, this is America after all, so it didn't stop thousands of teenagers from getting riled up and rowdy.

Mean Girls.

Just asking to be beat up.

On Left, a creative T-shirt; on Rt, a desparate mating call.

Aww. Kids these days. Follow the Arrows.

The good old, subtle ass-grab.

From First to Last's Matt Manning on Bass

MOST RIOTOUS BAND: Though their myspace claims they sound like the "Inside of a Prosthetic Leg," (good to know they have a sense of humor), From First to Last (FFTL)'s sound is hard, fast, and furious punked rock. Keep in mind they named a prior single,"Ride the Wings of Pestilence;" - they are not afraid to ambush grotesque or controversial territory. Good thing too because at the Warp Tour, the more furious you can make a crowd the better. They had the teenagers crowd-surfing and the mosh-pits rioting.

From First to Lasts' Lead singer Matt Good. The ladies love him.

http://www.myspace.com/fftl

Mosh Out of My Way.

TREND OF THE YEAR: For this year's Warp Tour, a new, infectious trend sparked from a couple videos on Youtube. Everywhere kids are covered with permanent marker. Girls and boys alike on one arm write "Free Kisses" and on the other, "Free Hugs." (If they are really creative, they inscribe a sweet message on their back like this guy.) The day is thus spent accruing and tabulating such free gifts.

Funnily enough it works...At least the free hugs part.

BEST ORGANIZATION TACTIC: above.

The Warped Tour is infamously organizationally challenged. The schedule is not published beforehand so when the line-up is finally announced the day of the festival, it is posted only in one place. Unless you have photographic memory, you are relegated to just following the crowd and hoping to traipse to your favorite bands. Luckily the chick above was thrifty and used her body as a bulletin board.

BEST THROWING DEVICE: While plastic bottles came in close second, toliet paper still maintained as best object to throw in a concert. Not incredibly original, but it makes for a good kodak moment.

BEST GOOFY ENTERTAINMENT: Ludo gets the cake for an amusing, fun live performance. It's not so surprising since their name from a character in the film Labyrinth, they all wear capes, and they have one guy who plays "moog" (aka the name of a type of analog synth..rhymes with vogue). But on they came in with spunk and attitude- and with lighter rock/ska than a typical Warp bands. Their music has easy hooks, plentiful electric guitar riffs, with emphasis on the humrous lyrics and story telling- ala Weezer.

Caped capers in Ludo

http://www.myspace.com/ludorock

MOST MEDIOCRE PERFORMANCE: Gym Glass Heros had the chance to really throw the audience into a whirl. The ENTIRE population of the Warp Tour flooded to their stage as they performed midday- ready and willing to be hoisted off their feet by GCH's hip/hop/rock. But either they seemed tired or just too loose- GCH's retained little momentum throughout their set and few people rioted or appeared riveted. You'd expect more from a band with a hand-full of hits and industry accolades. Our only guesses are due to their rather spastic brand of hip-hop rock, perhaps the crowd was confused on how to mosh? Or maybe Travis McCoy is more shy onstage these days since being arrested for assaulting a fan (hitting him on head with a microphone).(see Rollingstone).

Gymclass Hero's Travis McCoy

PAIGE WOOD (above)

BEST NEWBIE BAND: Next up, I caught Paige Wood perform w. a full band. Granted, I've been listening to Paige since she was performing in dank Irish pubs in NYC. While the Warped Tour seemed like an odd pairing with her brand of indie rock, she brought a fiesty amount of stage theatrics, gymnastic tricks & talent to the stage. With an ethereal blonde mane & predilection for wearing 1960s/70s retro bodysuits - she stands out from the other boys-in-black on the Warped Tour. However, her velvety voice embodies something between a sexed-up Tinkerbell and that pipe-smoking little red deviless who perches on your shoulder luring you into something illicit. With a gutsty full band as well, she brings much more slick rock attitude than the fated female singer-songwriter stereotype. Having recently emerged with some more electronic-dancehall-esque beats, she had the young crowd easily heated. Check her out here and let me know what you think. She's got what it takes and then some more.

http://www.myspace.com/paigewoodmusic

Hair Do or Hair Don't?

Kayne really didn't think of the repercussions of wearing those slatted sunglasses around. They are omnipresent at ever festival these days. Everywhere.

All American Rejects (a lot of em).

BEST FORIEGN IMPORT: Beat Union from Manchester. Hard angry pulsing punk rock. If you had eardrums before, you won't after their set. If you weren't angry before their set, you will be afterwards. Inspired by The Clash and The Police, they've got an attitude that's infectious.

http://www.myspace.com/beatunion

MOST PROBABLE NEXT HIT BAND: SHWAYZE with his Sidekick the infamous Cisco ADLER

If you haven't heard of him yet, you will hear of Shwayze in the near future. Um and not because the LA rapper has got a new reality show with MTV called Buzzin'. It's more because his music is a hit to the commerical G-spot. Nothing incredibly dare-devil or defiant- but it contains sun-drenched beats with easy-slow rap drizzled over top. After all, it's rap from Malibu not from Compton. For a taste and feel, here's some lyrics: "I move on like the greyhound buss......Met her at a backyard block party by the bar. She was buzzin' all over me."

Did I mention that he travels with the infamous I-dated-Mischa-Barton-and-like-to-show-of-my-Cck musician/rapper/socialite Cisco Adler? They had the crowd dreamy, wild, and ballistic - appropriately as the sun set in the West.

Cisco Alder rapping.................

http://www.myspace.com/shwayze

LOUDEST CHRISTIAN ROCK: Anberlin

At an event like the Warp tour, you can tell the commercial success of a band usually by the number of moshers and crowd surfers. Well Anberlin live is a bloody breeding factory for accidents- people pummeling through the sky, heads crashing into one another, bottles thrown, energies up. Their breed of loud, tenuous alternative rock is not for the faint of heart- Weirdly enough, two of their members, lead singer Stephen Christian and bassist Deon Rexroat (real name) used to be in a Christian Punk band together called "SaGoh (Servants After God's Own Heart). Yikes! Isn't Christian Punk an oxymoron? Regardless, Anberlin is still characterized often as a Christian-based band and the lead singer (last name Christian; catching a trend?) says that religion affects every aspect of his daily life. Good news for him; based on their style of playing, God is hearing them loud and clear.

http://www.myspace.com/anberlin

BEST COMEBACK KING: REEL BIG FISH

They are back, they are touring, they are funny, they have some songs you know and love, and it's an easy sell. How we can convince the other ska bands to make a comeback is another story.

http://www.myspace.com/reelbigfish

For more WARPED TOUR survival tips, check out Buzznet's Warped Survival list:

BOTTOMLINE: Considering the state of the union, you would think teen rebels would have plenty of targets at which to scream obscenities names and sure-fire reasons to mosh about. Between housing foreclosures, sky-rocketing fuel costs, the never-ending war in Iraq, Bush & the upcoming election, bands also have their pick of offenses to hurl at the susceptible audience of adolescents....to spark a light and ignite the engines of change.

However, just because a kid sports a Mohawk or bands play loud, furious music does not mean the songs are political anthems, like the old days of anarchistic punk. Instead, the Mohawked tend to be suburban rebels without real causes- their Mohawks gelled back with generic-brand-extra-hold hairspray; their ripped jeans are bought at K-Mart.

In tandem, the Warp Tour has become safe playground that allows these feisty kids to get dirty and listen to some of commercial jizz under the guise of 'punk rock.' There are some golden exceptions (highlighted above), but generally, there's not much passion or (real) punk behind the noise. To maintain marketable at such a mammoth scale, the tour has been forced to let on some more questionable acts of talent (for more, see post: WHO THE FCK IS KATY PERRY) that guarantees ticket sales. It's money over mojo. But as long as the kids are getting free kisses and the chance to mosh around a bit, who really cares? Perhaps America is not ready for rebels with real causes. Or at least, a big coliseum ain't the place to look for em.