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WARPED TOUR 2006: THE PUNKS MEET THE GODMOTHER
from: Jerseybeat.com
by Phil Rainone, Frank Norek, & Tim Norek
Photos By Lazlo
Warped Tour '06 - Camden, NJ Tweeter Center, Aug. 3, 2006
This years Warped Tour - our crew’s 6th- featured JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS. This was the band's first Warped Tour - long overdue - and all through their set, they performed like they had something to prove to a generation of new and seasoned punk rockers.
Warped Tour can be confusing sometimes; Hey, wait a minute! Getting there can be just as confusing! The morning of the show, we're just printing out the directions to The Tweeter Center. Tim's printer is down, so he's copying them by hand. He's got to get ready for our 'mini road trip' so I finish writing the directions out. Frank's running errands, then we stop for breakfast. Rachel and Troy are the extended crew this trip - then back to Frank's house for his cell phone. I could go on, but I think you get the picture. With over an hour ride to the venue, we get lost for 15 minutes in Camden and finally hit the Tweeter Center around 1 pm. Actually, I probably wouldn't want it any other way. With this crew, we’re rarely on time for anything!
Anyway, back to the part about the Warped Tour being confusing. With all the official stages – there were eight this year, as well as makeshift stages that just pop up at random – it’s hard to tell which band is playing at what time on which stage. (This is even more confusing because the lineups are picked by lottery every morning so the "headliners" rotate on the main stages.) They have however made it easier to see when the bands are playing. Every day’s schedule is posted on an inflatable Tower - about a gazillion feet high – that’s double-sided, and is an easy reference.
Otherwise, you’re making your way around in the muck and mire. It was really hot that day. How hot was it, you ask? About 98 degrees! But the Tweeter Center has a few options: They had the Adult Day Care tent, an air conditioned food court, and a covered amphitheater with seats. They used the stage in the amphitheater for local bands, which gave them a taste of a bigger concert atmosphere.
Other stages include The Ernie Ball Battle of the Bands Stage, in which local acts compete for gear, slots on the stage, and even record contracts. Ball alumni include New Found Glory, Bowling For Soup, and The Mighty Mighty Bosstones. This year, the lineup included Hometown Anthem and Gym Class Heroes. The Heroes proceeded to tear the roof off the joint with some cool-as-fuck pop punk!
The first band we caught was Helmet. Man, talk about post-hardcore, these guys set the standard - around 1 pm - for the other bands to reach for. The vibes the band were giving off were infectious. Frank got right into the groove, pogoing up and down, Tim grabbed his notebook, and the rest of us just felt our bones being rattled, getting the vibe like, NOW we're at the Warped Tour!
JB reporters Tim and Frank Norek
Activist tents, extreme sports, The All Girls Skate Jam, the beer garden, and a baseball batting cage all combined to keep the peace. Actually, we’ve never seen any signs of trouble - Kevin Lyman, the great guru of the Warped Tour, runs a tight ship, or caravan as it were - except for that time in Boston (ask me about my Yankee-hat-in-Boston story, if ya ever run into me) when we were watching Less Than Jake, and a flaming cardboard box comes flying over the crowd, and lands at our feet. What ASSHOLES!!
Veteran emo-rockers Thursday played the entire Warped Tour, and rocked especially hard in their home state! Their latest album, A City By the Light Divided took on a new perspective, as the band played a few cuts along with older material, inspiring the audience to think, feel, and above all, rock on!
Blasting out a few tunes from their new album The Gold Record, the Bouncing Souls also spiked their half-hour set with a fast pace - would you expect anything else? - which included fresh renditions of "Private Radio," "Hopeless Romantic," and the fist-pumping "The Gold Record." Throughout, The Souls had the crowd moshing, mashing, and smashing into each other in true punk tribal fashion! One of their last songs - "East Coast Fuck You" - had the band bouncing and pouncing on stage as they proceeded to literally annihilate the crowd, leaving them wanting more!
A couple of the bands were bad mouthing Underoath, as they had left the tour - reasons varied from them being "Weenies," to getting drunk. Otherwise, the bands all pretty much supported one another, by mentioning who was coming up after their set, or praising bands that had played earlier. Anti-Flag was one of the bands that was mentioned a few times throughout the day, and rightly so. These rebellious punk rockers - they really get they their message our there through their music and talking between songs - recently signed to RCA, their first major label. The album and their set featured attacks on Bush and the war in Iraq, continuing their long running anti-establishment attitude. Anti-Flag also played the Warped Tour in 2002 and 2004.
At one point for about an hour, we all split up checking out a few different bands that caught our attention, but when JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS took the stage, it was like the gathering of the tribes. Tim and I gravitated to the pit for photos, while Frank, Rachel & Troy stood toward the back, sucking it all in. Lashing into their set around 5 pm, Joan reminded everyone that this was a BAND – "Hi, We're the BLACKHEARTS!"- with their first single from their first album "Bad Reputation," They then spit out a mix of old and new tunes. They added a snarly edge to the cover of Tommy James and the Shondells’ "Crimson & Clover" with Joan’s fuckin' amazin' guitar, Tommy Price's stellar drumming, DOUGIE NEEDLES distorted, nasty- guitar work & Enzo Penzzotto's bass-heavy rumble. They premiered a few songs from their new album SINNER that had the crowd singing right along like they were already classics. Wicked versions of "A.C.D.C," "Riddles," and "Five" sounded like they were made for the road. During the cover of Gary Glitter's "Do Ya Wanna Touch Me (Oh Yeah)" there was a sea of raised fists, creating a cosmic swirl of, "OH YEAHS!!" One thing you gotta remember is, The BLACKHEARTS, like the Ramones wear their influences on their sleeve. The Ramones would take an obscure tune like "California Sun" by the Rivieras or "Needles and Pins" by The Searchers, redefine it, and celebrate what makes a song like that so great! Closing their set with "I Love Rock and Roll" was tribal! After all these years it still sounds fresh and unpretentious!
The godmother of Punk, JOAN JETT
In quick half hour sets, you saw punk's past present & future. It was awesome! By now we were into the full vibe of what the Warped Tour is about – music, bonding, beer, a beautiful, hot day, and more music; to me, this is Summer in New Jersey!
For the last three bands, they tried something different. Less Than Jake, the obvious headliner, played third - all the top headliners took turns closing. The band is no stranger to Warped Tour; we saw them six years ago in Boston. They played songs from their new album In With the Out Crowd that fit right in with their older songs. Less Than Jake got the biggest circle pit of the day going full tilt. A few hundred kids started running, going clockwise. Than a minute later the band called for a reverse pit, which went somewhat smoothly, with a few bumps and bruises. They were "SKATASTIC," as my son Steve would say!
Armor For Sleep went on second to last, and The Early November were last. This was Armor For Sleep's first Warped Tour. They played songs from last year’s What To Do When You Are Dead, and a few songs from their new album that they're going into the studio to do after the Tour. The Early November had played the Warped Tour a couple years ago when they were first starting out. They've improved a lot, having a bolder stage presence, and more aggressive sound. Both bands were good, but weren't headliner material - another couple of years, and they could be. I guess maybe they were thinking that everyone would want to see Less Than Jake - which they did - then, when Armor For Sleep played, some of the crowd would thin out - which they did - and an even lesser crowd for The Early November - again the crowd thinned out. No disrespect to either band, but I guess this helped with crowd control, as they pretty much left in smaller groups, in the course of two hours, rather than a gazillon kids all at once. So, you got to see the bands you wanted without the hassle of leaving in a clusterfuck. Makes sense to me!
On the way home - we were tired and dirty, but man, we had a ball at the show! - we hit White Castle for two cases of those belly-bustin' burgers, and a few Cokes, trading stories of the day’s events. Within three weeks our crew - with various members sliding in & out - had covered three major shows (the Warped Tour, The Summer Campout at Starland, and The Summer of Ska at The Stone Pony) and we had a blast! The bands, the music, the interviews, the kids, and the HEAT! Like I said before, to me, this is Summer in New Jersey! Thanks to all the bands, labels, publicists (especially Libby Henry from MSO,)the kids, and especially The Boss, Jim Testa. They all help to make this music scene SO MUCH FUN!!
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