|
All news is attributed to the source from which it was received so that readers may judge the validity of the statements for themselves.
Have Joan Jett news to report? Email us at jettfc@aol.com, and please include the source of the information so it can be validated.
Fans get a full day of all that is Warped
From bands to merchandise to high-priced concessions, tour has it all.
from: timesleader.com
by Lisa Sokolowski
SCRANTON – As cars pulled onto Montage Mountain Road, they were greeted with brake lights. The red lights that covered the road from Interstate 81 to the parking lot made it look like Christmas in August.
That was only the first line people encountered at the Vans’ Warped Tour, which made a stop at Montage Mountain on Friday. Once people finally parked on the gravel lot – in a spot that seemed close that morning, but miles away at the end of the draining day – it was a hike.
Fans made their way down the wooden stairs, past the will-call tent, down a long, steep hill and into another line. It was a line that slowly crept up to a security guard who would check your ticket, another who would gently frisk you and a third who smiled as you walked in – not exactly sure what he was looking for.
The Warped Tour wasn’t for the impatient.
Doors opened at 11 a.m., and eating lunch beforehand was a sensible thing to do. The lines to get food – which included $4 Gatorade and $8 gyros – wrapped around the concession tents.
CDs were being sold for prices that ranged from $5 (for the "Punk Goes ’90s" album) to $10 for almost every other disc.
Many discs came to fans. Bands were walking around the mountain, armed with headphones and Discmans, begging you to take a listen to their band. Single File was trying to attract people with a cardboard sign that didn’t seem to be working.
Shirt prices ranged from $10 for T-shirts to a $50 hoodie by Clandestine Industries, the company run by Fall Out Boy bassist Pete Wentz.
The Warped Tour wasn’t for the frugal.
Free compilations were given out by record labels such as Epitaph and Victory Records, and free stickers were accumulated by kids who turned their bodies into sticker albums. Many of those same kids used Sharpie markers to draw fake tattoos on their bodies.
Those same markers were used to get autographs from many of the bands that did signings throughout the day. They were grabbing ticket stubs and promotional postcards, sometimes even forgoing sanitation and asking bands to sign their sweaty bodies.
People, who were drenched in sweat (partially theirs, partially other people’s), bought new shirts. Other articles of clothing – hats, belts, sunglasses, shorts and even underwear – were being sold at one of the countless tents that lined Montage Mountain. There was a pant leg lying helplessly on the ground. Apparently that person got hot, and rather than buy a pair of shorts and change in one of the portable toilets, that person made his own.
The Warped Tour wasn’t for the high-maintenance.
Bands rocked. The Academy Is … front man William Beckett danced with a tambourine on the Hurley stage (one of the 10 stages that were set up) while fans sang every word along with him. Motion City Soundtrack played a set that made everyone swing and sway.
Billy Talent’s lead singer Ben Kowalewicz was drenched in sweat almost as soon as he took the stage at 5:30 p.m. He was topless, trying to beat the heat by pouring water on his body. He must have missed the memo that water cost $3 a bottle.
The bands yelled for audience participation. Dancing, singing and synchronized hand claps were required.
The Warped Tour wasn’t for the stagnant.
JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS closed its set with "I Love Rock N Roll." Jett covered the song in 1979 – long before most of the Warped Tour attendees were born. Those youngsters were accompanied by their parents, and the elders sang along to JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS just like their kids fell over Armor For Sleep.
The parents, who shelled out their own $30 a ticket, also appreciated NOFX, which released its first album in 1989. But those who were older than 40 congregated around JOAN JETT, finally seeing someone around their age.
The Warped Tour wasn’t only for the young.
Many of the tents started folding up at about 6 p.m., but the Warped Tour went on long after the PlayStation tent was finished putting video games away and after the Fuse tent packed up its comfy chairs that people found refuge in.
The show started with Vaux, Loko Phylum and Reflective Insight all playing at 11:15 a.m. The concert didn’t end for nine and a half hours. Thursday was on the stage at 7:10 p.m., and Patent Pending and Rise Against both closed the show at 8:40 p.m.
The Warped Tour wasn’t for the tired.
But mostly the Warped Tour was a haven for the pierced and tattooed, where they could form mosh pits or skank to ska music and where their dyed hair and gauged ears didn’t make a difference. For those nine and a half hours, they ran the mountain.
The Warped Tour is for the punk rockers, for the nonconformists, for the kids who stand out to fit in. Warped Tour is theirs. It always has been.
|
| |
This Week:
No shows scheduled this week.
Click on the LIVE DATES link for upcoming shows |
Item Of The Month:
|
