Waaaaaaaaarped!

Oh. My. God. Warped was crazy, and fun, and hot, and just such a total freaking blast I can't believe it. I had SO MUCH FUN! So, I left A2 around 10:20 which was a little later than I'd wanted to get on the road and made good time till I got to the exit for Comerica Park. Then I sat in traffic for a good 30-45 minutes. The whole parking/plaza area in front of Comerica was blocked off for Warped and they had stages, non-profit booths and merch booths set up all over the place. It was so fucking hot I couldn't believe it (I'm pretty sure it hit the high 90s plus disgusting humidity) but I stuck it out. Ok, so who did I see??

First I saw Vaux on the Volcom stage which was a pretty small stage and there weren't too many people there to watch them which sucked because they're an awesome band. However, I was able to get up close and got some pretty good pics. I also got to talk to the lead singer, Quentin Smith, after their set for a few minutes which was pretty damn cool too.

After that I saw The Academy Is... on the Hurley Stage which was much bigger than the Volcom stage. There were tons of people at this set and I couldn't get too close to see, but they played some good stuff. I liked Vaux more though:)

Right before I saw The Audition on the SmartPunk Stage I caught a few mintues of Helmet on one of the main stages. I feel like I should know more Helmet but I am woefully uneducated about them:) Decent crowd for them! The Audition was pretty good, not the best of the day but I give the lead singer points for his enthusiasm despite how freaking hot it was.

Next was Armor For Sleep back at the Hurley Stage. I fucking loved them, they were awesome. Great stuff, good crowd and a crowd surfing contest:) As with The Academy Is..I wasn't able to get very close (and after a while standing in a crowd in 90+ weather can make you feel a bit squiffy) but I sure as hell could hear them. Go download their album! It rocks!

Then I took a little break and a tour of the merch booths that were set up all around the inside of the baseball stadium-dangerous on the wallet but great to get out of the sun for a bit.


After that I went to see The Sounds on the right main stage. OH MY GOD. They were AMAZING. So sweet! I got up close and got some great pics (if I do say so myself;) and absolutely loved their set. I think they may have been my very favorite of the whole day. They remind me a bit of Blondie and they definitely had a different sound from most of the other bands on Warped but I loved, loved, loved them. The lead singer looks a bit like Debbie Harry to me, but you decide. I also got to briefly meet the band at a signing and got my Warped program signed by most of them which was pretty fun too:)

Because I hadn't had enough yet, and there were still some awesome bands to see, I zipped over to Main Stage Left to catch Thursday who played a bunch of songs off their new album. They drew a big crowd so I really couldn't see a bloody thing, but it was ok:)

Finally, the last band I saw was Aiden on the Hurley stage. I was pretty exhausted at this point (it was 7pm and I'd been running around in the sun for seven hours by then) so I didn't even try to fight the crowd and plunked myself on a curb to the side of the stage. I actually didn't have that bad a view of things, and it was a lot more comfortable than diving into the MASS of people who wanted to see Aiden. They were definitely good, I love the song "Die Romantic" and need to check out more of their other stuff. The lead singer had his face painted very Crow-esque (the movie) but by the time their half hour set was over it looked like his face melted off (lol:).

After Aiden I headed home-totally, utterly, disgustingly filthy, sweaty and hot, but very pleased with the day over all. I am SO going again next year;) Amazingly, I didn't get totally scorched either, a little red and peely on my face and a teeny bit red on one shoulder, but my constant reapplication of SPF 30 paid off. I mean, for ME, being out in the sun for almost 8 hours and to NOT get completely fried is nothing short of amazing. Go me:)

Busy, busy week...I'm seeing The Editors on Thursday, Big City Rock (with October Fall & Drive By) on Friday and The Raconteurs on Saturday. The only problem is, I think I'm getting sick. Apparently my body has decided I've done far too much running around and has decided to shut down. I feel pretty crappy and all I want to do is go to sleep :( I feel like I've already been at work for 8 hours and it's only 10:40...it's gonna be a long day...

Whew, long post, I'm out. I'll do photos from Warped in a separate post since Blogger is wonky about text & pics together (or maybe I'm just inept at it).

~Sasha
Listening to: The Editors "Sparks"