Wednesday, August 12th/09, Calgary Warped Tour

And before anyone asks, we did not get to play Warped Tour this year, although we worked hard and busted our ass, it just didn’t happen for us this year, it’s a bummer, but we came to hang out with our friends anyways, who were fortunate enough to snag a spot on the West 49 stage, and have a good ole’time watching some sweet bands and shamelessly self-promoting the shit out of Acres of Lions, the product of the weasel and the actions of a large predatory animal, or something, all in one. Lewis and I must have spent hours handing out fliers, an attempt to saturate the area with our name and have it stick in at least a few people’s heads. We even sold a bunch of albums and got a few people to come out to a show or two. It is a grindstone, but it will always be turning and is well worth the effort, and the sunburn.

Oh, how we were proud of our boys! They looked like champions, all tough and magical and far better than so many bands I’ve witnessed come to fruition at Warped Tour… and by champions, I mean carved out of wood, beat the fuck up by the hellish drives they endured to be there, it was great. “Theset” went on at 1:00pm, played a great set including a couple new songs in which I quite enjoyed, and “A Trophy Life,” our beloved, killed it shortly after with a great new song and a tall screaming Australian man intimidating the shit out of everyone, and the amount of kids watching these bands over other bands like The Maine and We The Kings and All Time Low, made me smile and gave me hope, the kids watching were intuitive enough to be drawn to a smaller stage and support the independant bands. Other great bands graced this stage as well, The Evidence, from Calgary, friends we unfortunately missed due to our tardiness, and also Broadway Calls, a great fucking band from Oregon who’s songs I have put on mixes for years now, and Passenger Action, a band from Edmonton who will always have a place in my heart. I ran into some old friends, Dana and Misti, with whom I shared some great times with a few years back and we hung out for most of the day, reminiscing fondly, watching some incredible and terrible bands, eating shitty over-priced food and popsicles, watching silly kids do silly things or scary kids scaring other kids, I’m not sure which, enduring the struggle for water before our senses failed, using outhouses that were more like small mountains of toilet paper and millionaires, it was truly a good time, and then we watched Saosin.

I would have to say that Warped Tour has changed drastically since I was a kid. The bands, the attitude, the quality of it all. It’s still a pretty good time, and I still enjoy a large amount of the bands who are part of it and the new ones that have been added to it. I had a conversation with a friend who was part of it this year and he had some things to say about it, some positive, some negative, but the points were all very relevant and made me think a bit more about it. One thing that really struck me this year was the apparent take-over of bands that would not have been generally considered for the warped line-up years ago, when it started, a sure sign of shift in interest. Sure, they were always in existence, bands like Refused, Lifetime, Agnostic Front, Henry Rollins, they reigned supreme, but now, the screamo, the electro-pop, the hardcore-influenced pop, they are more and more and it is really becoming more dominant at this point in time. Not that this a bad thing! I think it is a perfectly natural thing to happen to such a monumental and classic event like the Vans Warped Tour (or AT&T), the headlining bands slowly switching from Rancid, Less Than Jake, Bad Religion, Strung Out, Lagwagon, Bad Brains, 88 Fingers Louie to bands like Underoath, Alexisonfire, Motion City Soundtrack, Coheed and Cambria, Every Time I Die, New Found Glory, Taking Back Sunday and many more. The ongoing war between Underoath and NOFX, a disagreement of sorts, two headlining bands that draw thousands wherever they go, competing against eachother, it seems, has me baffled. I’ve heard and read Fat Mike’s harsh words and beliefs against Underoath, on stage and on NOFX’s message-board, 5 or 6 times now (they even have a new merch item that is an obvious shot towards the band) two different beliefs existing on the same stage, Christian and Anti-Christian or whatever, it is strange and unfortunate, but the fans are still there, to support. Maybe I am ranting, but it still seems to me that this is the music industry and it is ever-changing, just how it goes and I accept it.