8/3/09

Warped Tour 2009 Blog from the Pit


















I attended Warped Tour in Milwaukee on Thursday July 30th along with the date here in Minneapolis on Sunday August 2nd. Both days were equally great. The good thing about going to two different dates is that if some of your bands overlap at one date you can make them your priority the next time you go.

Comparing the two different dates, I enjoyed the venue in Milwaukee much more than the venue here in Minneapolis. I've attended the Minneapolis date for many years and always thought that it was a pretty good venue (Canterbury Park parking lot), but I guess I just did not know what it was like in places that had an actual fest grounds for tours like Warped. In Milwaukee it was held at the Summerfest Grounds. Two stages were located in the amphitheater that played back-to-back and all the other stages and tents were spread out throughout the grounds. The best thing about this was that there was no congestion when trying to walk from place to place, you couldn't hear the music at other stages when trying to catch another set, and there was a place to take cover from the little rain we did have inside the amphitheater. Minneapolis' date didn't have any of these amenities but I dealt with what was given because it was worth it.

In all, I caught about 15 bands including There For Tomorrow, The White Tie Affair, The Maine, All Time Low, Valencia, Hit The Lights, Forever The Sickest Kids, Every Avenue, NeverShoutNever, You Me And Everyone We Know, and 3OH!3. Many of these bands I got to see twice between the two days and it was really interesting seeing the difference in how crowds react in the two different towns. The biggest difference to me was the crowd for Valencia in Milwaukee and Minneapolis. The crowd in Minneapolis was way bigger and way more nuts for them. I thought about it a lot trying to figure out why it would be crazier here considering Valencia has hardly ever stopped here on any of their tours. It's still a mystery to me. Another general thing that I did notice is that people in Minneapolis crowd surf a lot more than Milwaukee.

While waiting for other bands to start I got to catch bits and pieces of other bands that were either interesting, a good discovery, or someone I have heard a lot about before but had never seen. I got to catch Gallows for about two songs. Most interesting thing I have ever seen. The entire band but the drummer was down in the pit with everyone crowded around them like one huge circle pit. It was nuts. I also got to catch The Devil Wears Prada and Escape The Fate, which are in a genre of music that I do not particularly enjoy but it is cool to see that side of the scene on Warped which is completely different from what I'm interested in. Streetlight Manifesto played on the stage next to one I was waiting for. They were really cool with lots of brass instruments incorporated. A completely different sound from anything I've heard and I am definitely going to check them out further when I get the chance.


The Maine













3Oh!3












-Hannah
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3 comments:

Marksist said...

Maybe I'm old school, but I miss the warped tours of the past. Where's MxPx and Fenix, TX. Are they considered "cool" anymore?

Tooth said...

Here's a list of all bands on Warped Tour 2009
http://www.warpedtour.com/warpedtour/bands.asp

Joy said...

I like how they feature Westbound Train on Tooth's link. Great band, but they're not even close to punk. I guess maybe it's a good thing warped tour is branching out? POS has been a cool addition over the past years, though I bet it get's annoying being called the punk rock rapper. Oh yeah, 3oh!3 smells.