Sixteen bands to look out for at the 16th Warped Tour
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Andrew WK is on the program at the Vans Warped Tour. -
The Vans Warped Tour, stopping at the First Niagara Pavilion Wednesday, will include Riverboat Gamblers. -
The Vans Warped Tour, stopping at the First Niagara Pavilion Wednesday, will include the Alkaline Trio.
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The beauty of the Vans Warped Tour is that if the band in front of you is lame, annoying, pretentious or has one of the monster-vocal dudes you can't stand, you can just walk away and find another one.
There are usually five or six playing at once, and this year, "punk rock summer camp" offers the usual punk, pop-punk, hardcore punk, emo, screamo and deathcore, with a few excursions, including one trio that will set out to confuse the kids with scuffed-up Delta blues.
The 16th Warped Tour, hitting the First Niagara Pavilion on Wednesday, is still the baby of producer Kevin Lyman, who launched it in '95 when bands like NOFX, Pennywise, Blink-182, Rancid, Bad Religion and Social Distortion were making sure punk didn't burn out or fade away.
Where: First Niagara Pavilion, Burgettstown.
When: 11 a.m. Wednesday.
Tickets: $30; 1-800-745-3000.
Fifteen years later, there are still enough bands with the same mission, and a few of the originals -- namely the Bouncing Souls and Face to Face -- are still standing and on the road with Warped.
On the way to being the longest-running festival tour in the country, Warped has played host to plenty of bands that started nowhere and ended up there, as well as a number of rising stars (Beck, Eminem, Black Eyed Peas, No Doubt, Green Day, Katy Perry) and seminal artists (Joan Jett, Billy Idol, The Misfits, Rollins Band).
For fans, a day at Warped is like a game of punk-rock "Survivor," in which the goal is to see as many bands as possible while trying to stay hydrated on outrageously priced Gatorades.
One warning to the uninitiated: The band you most want to see might play at noon or it might play at 8:30 and you won't know till you get there. There is no hierarchy at punk rock summer camp.
Here are a few you might watch out for:
Andrew W.K: You know how the Warped Tour can sometimes rock, without being very much fun (especially if Fat Mike isn't around)? Andrew W.K. is not going to let that happen. Prepare for the biggest moshpit of the day when one of rock 'n' roll's premier maniacs hits the stage with a six-piece band to party hard. (Warped experience: 2002, 2003)
First Published July 5, 2010 12:00 am
