Warped Tour

Time Warner Amphitheater (Tower City)

Cleveland, Oh

July 9th, 2009

              Sick, twisted and warped, no not really, but this years Warped Tour includes a lot of known bands, up and coming bands, and some local shit that will tingle your ear drums. Lets start with the set up of the event. It was harder than hell to find a parking spot, so if you are going next year to this venue GET THERE EARLY. Me, I parked over by Progressive Field and walked. It wasn’t too bad of a walk either. Next item on the list was getting into the place and scoping it out. I have to applaud them on getting everyone in. The set up was a bit weird having the main stage, and five others. Three of which were side by side by side, while one was by the skate ramp and the last on the other side of the parking lot. It was busier than hell, walking over the shoes of all the people that were there. The list of bands was awesome and the guest performer was a brilliant idea. They had most of them split up throughout the day which made seeing the bands you wanted very easy to do, unless you want to see everyone. The press area was harder than hell to find, but I will get onto the “show”. We first stopped to catch a local band called Big Rig Slow Down. They are a heavier type with low growling/screaming style of vocals. They also slam on the drums and groove those guitars. If you are into some of those items they are worth checking out. We caught an odd site of 3 young girls up on stage rapping more curse words than some grown men I know. The Millionaires will blow your mind and leave you standing with your mouth open. I couldn’t believe the shit that they were saying. We finally made it to our destination which was in front of the TAT show. We were a bit late so we didn’t get to take any pictures and I wish we would have. Front woman (Tatiana) will leave you breathless. Her voice along with her stunning beauty will leave you wanting more. I just wish I got a picture with her when I could. TAT is a three piece band from London, England. Their album is in stores right now and spreads 15 tracks long. As I said the vocals are truly breathtaking, the guitars are amazing and the drums pound hard and steady. If you’re going to a future Warp date, keep some time to go see them play and meet them. P.O.S. found their way into the show while we set up for the Senses Fail set. He really got the crowd going while he was right in the middle of it. We then caught a good portion of the Senses Fail set. For the most part it was so hard to here Buddy’s vocals, but we did manage to snag a few photos of the guys ripping the stage up. The crowd was going nuts as people were flooding over the barricade while crowd surfing. After that we headed over to another female lead band VersaEmerge. We were turned on to them during last years Warp Tour. We wanted to take a look at them to see how they have grown in the past year. They still were cruising right along doing what they love! As we were waiting for time for our lone interview of the day we waved our way over to the TAT tent to get introduced with the London band. Let me tell you, if you loved the accent while they are on stage they will make you melt in person. We then headed over to take in the Madina Lake set. The high energy show left you wanting more and that’s your cue to pop in their newly released album. They didn’t disappoint at all and I personally can’t wait to see these guys again. A full set should be tremendous to see. We also caught a few tracks from There for Tomorrow and The White Tie Affair as we headed over to interview Buddy of Senses Fail. Although he was late and most of the answers we received we short, one to two word answers, it still was pretty productive, but he was kind of an ass in spots. After our interview we headed over to meet the guys in Madina Lake before they needed to head over to get interviewed. We had a talk, grabbed a picture or two and let them be on there way. They were super easy to talk to and the energy on stage was still there when they were meeting their fans. The last set or piece of one that we caught was Aiden. It was insane and intense. I have to say that they are so much better sounding live then they were on their last album. The screaming and yelling is toned down just enough that you can hear and enjoy the track. The last stop we had was to head over to grab a quick word with This Century as well as a couple group pictures for the site. After a long and hot day we trekked it back to the car to proceed home. The whole Warped Tour experience was a great one at Tower City as it has its bright spots over Post-Gazette, but also downfalls. Anyone who gets a chance to go to a Warped Tour event needs to, because it is an experience that will stick with you. Not only do you get to see bands that paved the path for others, but you get to see those up and coming bands there at the same time. You have the interaction with other fans that you don’t usually get, interaction with bands themselves, and get to see bands that you probable wouldn’t look at other wise. It’s just a great concept!

Rating: 8/10

Best Part: Line Up and interaction

Worst: Bands are limited with time and set up of stages