Vans Warped Tour - review

Scotty and I attended Vans yesterday at the Central Florida Fair grounds. We sat in traffic on 50 for about 45 minutes trying to inch our way closer the the grounds and finally arrived about 11:45a for the show. I would venture to guess that yesterday might have been the hottest day of the year - at least it felt like it out in the fair grounds where shade was at a minimum.

We picked up our $28 tickets - which were inflated to $42 with ticketmaster convenience charges (can anyone explain why I have to pay a convenience charge for buying on a web site?)and headed through the gates - 1st stop - get a line up card for the day. One of the cool things about Vans is - you know the bands but not performance time until you get there. Instead of looking at the display board and trying to remember the bands and time - we bought a hand written copy of the line up for $2 from some enterprising soul. I am ok with this as it brought me back to my days following the Dead and selling shirts and other miscellaneous items.

Then to the beer tent - you can not plan your day without a beer. $4 for 16ozs of Bud Light - not bad but not great - it was cold and there are no lines for beer at Vans because the average age is about 16.

The show starts at 11:00a so the bands were in full swing by the time we started to map our course. The great thing about Vans is there are always 3-4 bands playing and there is never a down time while one band tears down and one sets up. The main stages are side by side - while one band is playing on the left stage the next band is setting up on the right stage - as soon as the 30 minute set is over the next band starts - it really does run like clock work. This show was over 9 hours of music and over 80 bands so the price of the ticket is still the best value anywhere.

When we got there Reliant K was on the main stage - they are not too bad - we gave them a listen for 2-3 songs. Then we were off to the side stages to see what was brewing on some of the lesser known bands. We stumbled upon Every Avenue - they were just ok. However, right after they were done we found the first gem of the day - Oreskaband. This is a sextet from Japan - they are all 19 years old and they play Ska - awesome, awesome, awesome. So much fun - it is hard to believe there is such a huge Ska/Punk need in Japan - Oreska along with the Cherry Cokes have a great future.

After they were done we started out tour around the merchandise tents and to other stages - here were some of the real angry bands we saw - Story of the Year, Everytime I die, Dillinger Escape Plan, Confide - these guys all had serious issues.

Couple more bands on the side stages that warrant another listen are Beat Union - Clash influenced band with a nice beat, Pink Spiders - the more I listened the more I liked them, Valencia - not too bad, these guys are form Philly. Jack's Mannequin was decent - their lead singer plays a grand piano on stage and also plays the harmonica - they were decent and would give them another listen. Kind of like an upbeat Cold Play - but different form Cold Play because every song does not sound the same.

Now on the highlights of the show - 3:45p - The Street Dogs enter the stage to Jimi Hendrix version of National Anthem - the lead singer of Street Dogs was the original frontman of Dropkicks (he left to be a firefighter and EMT). This band rocked the house - awesome. They will be at the Social in September and it will be a must see. They gave tribute to the Ramones (the original punk rock band) and just rocked it for 30 minutes.

Reel Big Fish was up on the next stage over at 4:15 - this is a band that I really enjoy and have seen their last 4-5 shows in Orlando - however - they disappointed me. They played the same songs they always do - sell out, beer, ska band, hates me - blah, blah. blah - they even did the Metallica cover again. Hey, they still rock and are fun to see but give me something new for crying out loud.

Angles and Airwaves - 4:45p - switch stages again. These guys were ok - you can tell they were formed by the guitarist from Blink 182 - they sound a lot like blink without the cool edge that Blink used to have. They were more background music than anything else for me.

The last band of the day for us was The Aggrolites - these guys describe themselves as dirty reggae. They are from Cali and they were really good. Very high energy set that was closed with the Beatles cover Don't Let Me Down. These guys would be a blast to see live. It is hard to explain there look but check out their site and see.

Here is what we saw throughout the day: Lot's of Parents following their kids around, Kids I coached in Middle School Track last year (I am old), Lot's of tattoos, very little smoking, very angry PETA shirts, lots of chicks just wearing their bras (their parents were not in tow, why not put on a bathing suit?). Lots of boys in girls running shorts (is this a trend I am not up to speed with?)Lots of Circle Pit, a little crowd surfing, a few injuries and some folks passed out form the heat.

All in all a fun (HOT) day and some great music - well worth the price of admission!