Bands I Saw:
We left my house at 6am. We got there around 9:20. We waited until 10am for them to open the parking lot. Then we had to wait til 11am for the gates to open.
We walked around checking out the free tables and timetables for a bit before we headed over to where Against Me was gonna play. From there we watched Anti-Flag. I had seen Anti-Flag at the Warped Tour in 2000. They set from 2000 was much better and energetic. They ended with 'Die For Your Government', it seemed way too fast and half hearted. I understand they have probably play that song every night since 1999 when they wrote it. If they are that bored with it, why don't they just stop playing it?
I had been highly anticipating Against Me's performance since I first heard of them over a year ago. Songs on "Reinviting Axl Rose" and "Eternal Cowboy" give off such an amazing aura. With that said, their performance was ok, at best. Like I'll mention another 50 times, it's Warped Tour, so you have only 30 mins to make or break your audience. The set started off with two slower ok songs. They played a block of some really good stuff. They play a new song which was just horrible. And finished off weak. From what I've read online, it's seems like this was pretty common for their Warped Tour performances.
We watched like one or two songs from Thursday and headed back over towards the merch tables and the covered Volcom/Vagrant stage. There we watched Stretch Armstrong. I saw them 5yrs ago in Syracuse and I didn't really care for them then. As We waited for Saves The Day to come on, We hear the Sounds play their last few songs. They ended with "hit song" which was hideous to say the least. She didn't come close to hitting all of the high notes.
Saves The Day played a pretty good set of old and new stuff. There was even a new song I really dug. In past when I've seen them, they were much better and since have had some line-up changes, but again, it's Warped Tour and they only had 30mins. It was pretty good considering.
Bouncing Souls were freakin great. That bands always puts on a highly energetic set, second only to Less Than Jake. They even threw in a 'Sick Of It All' cover. Nathan and I jumped right into the pit as soon as they started and seperated immediately. After that, we were exhausted and dehydrated, it still was over 100 degrees, so we went back to the covered Volcom/Vagrant stage. As Dan and I sat there (Nathan was still missing) to rest, recover and get re-hydrated, this mountain man looking band, Valient Thorr, came on. I didn't particularily care for their music but they had the look and attitude down perfect. It wasn't forced, it was very natural. So as a fellow musician, I could appreciate them.
Saves The Day's acoustic was excellent. They seems much more relaxed and into this performance. Again they played a great set of old and new songs. Much better then their earlier set. Seeing as they have a lengthy catalog of acoustic songs they have recorded over the years, it was nice to actually see them do an acoustic set. We found Nathan again. We walked around til 4:45pm and went to the Helmet tent. They were doing a drawing for a free guitar. None of us won. Dan missed by one number. Page Hamilton and Chris Traynor were cool and signed some autographs.
Note:It's really weird. I've been listening to Helmet since 1992, 14 years now. I own all of their albums, I love them all. But I really didn't know anything about the band other than Page Hamilton sang/played guitar, they broke up a few years back, and were touring with new members. So basically nothing. Once I got home after the show, I went to their website and read everything. I feel like such a dumbass. I've actually seen Chris Traynor before. He use to be the guitarist in Orange 9mm. I was wondering why he looke so familiar. Had I known that, I would have probably talked with him a bit more/asked some ornage 9mm questions as well. The new drummer use to play with Testament/White Zombie and the bassist played with Anthrax. Their old guitarist, left to play with Biohazard, a band I use to love very much. I didn't know that either.
I ran immediately following the drawing to go see my friend's band, Merit. No one knew were this stage was. I gave up after a little while. I watched the secod half of Less Than Jake's set. They were great as usually. I don't think that the band has the capacity of doing a bad show. After that, I was walked around still looking for that Merit stage. I saw a bit of Halifax. Such a bad band for such a good name. So ran into my Ulf and we talked for a bit. After that I wandered back to caught 1/2 of NOFX. Their set was good. I expected it to be a bit weirder though. They seems to have played all of their "hit" songs. They did a cover of Rancid's, "Radio".
After another lil break, we saw Joan Jett and the Blackhearts. It was really cool to see them play. They were one of my favorite bands from my childhood, along with Cyndi Lauper, Madness and Eurythmics. They played a Runaway's song. Finally Helmet came on. I've waited the past 14 yrs to see this band. It was definitely worth the wait. They played all of the classics including, "Just Another Victim", Unsung", "In The Meantime". It was everything I hoped it would be. I would love to see them again. The best performance all day hands down.
People I ran into from Mall: Alot.