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As I walked through the gates for this year's Warped, I finally considered myself a Warped veteran. This was my third year doing this, I knew how things worked, how stages were organized, the whole shebang. Fortunately, the setup was basically the same as Warped 2003, so the grounds were easy to navigate, and I was able to get around pretty fast. Not that this mattered too much, but nice to know Warped was making things easy on us repeat attendees. So with all this going from me, Warped 2004 got under way...

To start the day off I had to represent the local Milwaukee boys and go check out The Response on the Ernie Ball stage. The Response boys were as usual, amazing. They effortlessly ripped through a bunch of excellent new tracks, one off their current split with Welton, and an old classic from 2002's Six EP. Despite the fact that I see these guys an average of about once every month and a half, they never get old and boring. I can only hope they score the recognition they deserve.

Next came the hardest choices of the day: Warped decided to go and schedule Anti-Flag and Letter Kills at the same time. I was in the mood for some good angry punk rock sing-a-longs, but when it comes down to it, Letter Kills is still one of the greatest rock bands out there right now. Now making this the 5th time I would be seeing Letter Kills, I knew what to expect, but no matter how much you brace for it, there's always opportunity to be blown away. The sheer command that frontman Matt Shelton has over the crowd, combined with the ridiculous stage performance (that's ridiculous in a good way kids), always make this band an entertaining watch. After hanging from the top of the stage (a popular move that day...more on that later), and busting out the familiar songs like "Don't Believe", "Lights Out", and "Clock Is Down", Letter Kills ended their rock assault, to what I hope were a lot of new fans. The bonus thing here: Letter Kills had their new album The Bridge for sale, even though it technically doesn't come out until the 27th. As I listen right now, it sounds pretty fantastic.

After walking around trying to find something to listen to (I know I was surprised too), finally decided upon Don't Look Down. DLD is one of those bands that started off as really crappy Blink-inspired pop-punk a few years ago, but slowly matured their sound into a decent pop-punk band. This maturity however cannot cure the fact that their live show is well, not that fantastic. The boys seemed to put a lot of energy into it, but the guitars were kind of muddled together, and the lead singer's voice just seemed kind of flat. A good watch to fill in the time, but don't go out of your way to check these guys out.

After this, things got kind of boring. And when I mean boring, I mean none of the bands that were on really interested me. Thus, we analyzed the grounds, walked around a bit, and slowly passed the time picking up free shit. After making stops at the Amnesty International and PETA booths and picking up some free shit, we were off to the main stages.

Lars Fredriksen and the Bastards were rocking out as we showed up. If I were into Lars and The Bastards, I probably would have enjoyed this a lot more. Eh, I guess this is the point where you yell at me for not being punk enough.

Alright then, so really the reason we were waiting was for Alkaline Trio. The Trio came out as a 4 piece (of course) and launched into "We've Had Enough". The band played a fairly decent mix of tunes, including "Maybe I'll Catch Fire", "Private Eye", "Warbrain", "This Could Be Love", and a few others that are escaping me. The Ak3 sounded decent enough, but really for as much energy as you think the band would put forth on stage, they kind of just stood there and delivered their songs.

Up on the next stage was Coheed and Cambria. And just like last year, I skipped C&C. Yes yes I am a dumbass and am regretting it right now. Instead I stopped over by the punkvoter.com booth and watched a verbal battle ensue between one of the guys working the tent and a girl wearing an "I Love Bush But I'm Not A Dyke" sticker on her shirt. Although I'm sure C&C would have been way more entertaining, my ears got a slight break, I got some much needed shade, and I got political entertainment. By the way, major props to punkvoter.com for all the free stickers. Back to the music...

Once again, for lack of anything better to do (and because we had to find our friend), headed back over to the main stages and watched some of New Found Glory. I'll tell you this, the band can put on a show. Jordan was bouncing off the walls (Sugarcult played after them, so ha, clever pun right there), the band was constantly yelling "go go go go!!" and really trying to get the crowd into it. They sounded really damn good, and delivered a pretty safe, mainstream set. Did you expect anything else? "Hit Or Miss", "Head On Collision", "My Friends Over You", "Better Off Dead", "The Truth Of My Youth", "Something I Call Personality" maybe one or two others, and the keyboardist for the Sounds joined NFG for "Failure's Not Flattering". Some part of me still enjoys New Found Glory, and that part of me was definitely satisfied with their performance.

Next up, it was time to partake in one of the smaller stages at Warped, the Space Station. Okay let me rephrase that, it's not so much a stage as it was a tent with amplifiers. The Matches came on, huge blonde afro and all. The band played a highly energetic set, sounded dead on for most of it, and pleased the crowd to the fullest extent, even playing "December Is For Cynics", their X-mas track. Most of the other tracks were from their recently re-released album E Von Dahl Killed The Locals, and those in attendance sang along word for word. Enjoyable performance on a very very tiny stage.

As I was leaving the Space Station, I could hear Story Of The Year off in the distance. Last year those guys played to about 100 fans on the Ernie Ball stage (myself included), and were tossing out samplers hoping for some new fans. Guys, I think you achieved your goal. I didn't actually watch Story Of The Year, I just wanted to make the point of how amazed I was at how fast a band can grow. Once again, back to the music...

The next plan of attack was to see Atmosphere. Yes this involved me missing Bad Religion, and I was okay with that. As we were waiting for Atmosphere to come on, we caught a good chunk of an up and coming band called Bleed The Dream. These guys sounded pretty tight, and even got the drummer of Yellowcard (ya know the one, really skinny black dude with dreads) to come out and scream balls to the wall with them. As my friend said "wow...Yellowcard just got cool". Anyways, Atmosphere finally hit the stage. Last year Slug tore up the stage with his brand of hip hop, and this year was no different. Moving the crowd side to side, firing imaginary guns, and doing a fantastic mix of new and old songs, Slug and Crescent Moon (hype man!!) had the crowd under their control for the entire duration of the set. Running through "Godlovesugly", "Trying To Find A Balance", "Lovelife", "The Bass And The Movement", "Shrapnel", "The Woman With The Tattooed Hands", and a few others I'm failing to remember, the rhymes were tight, the beats were fresh, and once again an entire crowd of punk kids were turned into head bopping hip hoppers.

After closing with "Always Coming Back Home To You", the race was on from Atmosphere over to Taking Back Sunday. We arrived to catch a total of 5 songs from TBS and it was almost close to being worth the jog over there. The band's new material didn't sound very powerful, and even their old songs just didn't sound like they were killing like TBS usually does. Adam was entertaining as always, with the mic being thrown violently, and during the closer "Cute Without The E" scaling the stage and hanging from the rafters just like our buddy in Letter Kills did. However the stage for TBS was just a tad bigger, so Adam took a pretty big fall once the song was over and he had to drop down. I was slightly disappointed in how Taking Back Sunday came off, but here's to hoping their new record is better than the songs sounded.

Warped was once again evil, scheduling both Motion City Soundtrack and Taking Back Sunday at the same time. Having seen MCS 4 times before and TBS only 3, and factoring it's a lot more likely that MCS will show up in Milwaukee again before TBS, I picked TBS. I did get back to Motion City in time to see them do "My Favorite Accident", my favorite song off their record, so that one worked out well.

Post stage-running, we settled back and just waited for Rise Against. The band came out, and the crowd blew up. Circle pits, mosh pits...all the great crowd action you'd expect from Rise Against. The band played some songs off Revolutions Per Minute, a few new numbers, and I'm not too sure what else. After about 8 songs, me and my friend decided to duck out and get out of the parking lot early, as we had both heard the Rise Against songs we had wanted to. I definitely want to see them again, and see their entire set, but after a long day of sun, standing, and sweaty bodies I needed to go home.

Overall, Warped 2004 was not quite as I had hoped. A few of the bands delivered sub par performances, and there were a lot of times during the day when I really was just not interested in anything. I suppose that's all based on personal preference, but usually in year's past I was at least able to find something to occupy my time. It was still worth the $30 ticket, even if my third installment of punk rock summer camp wasn't quite what I had hoped it would be.

Final Note: Bands I Regret Missing Include Anti-Flag, Motion City Soundtrack, Waking Ashland, Flogging Molly, and Bad Religion. Eh, there's always next year.






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    Posted by crossed_out on 2004-07-30 06:13:52
    My Score:

    you kids should shoot yrselves.

    Posted by SilentStorms on 2004-07-28 14:40:40
    My Score:

    Damn, I guess there weren't very many good bands playing ... cuz I just wasted my time reading this review. Letter Kills is one of the best bands out there? Shoot me now.

    Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, July 27, 2004 at 8:25 AM (EDT)
    My Score:

    final score: -4

    should be like -15 by your tally

    Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, July 27, 2004 at 12:15 AM (EDT)
    My Score:

    (This is Warped Related, not to this review though)

    OK here's the thing. I'm not a "Warped veteran" or anything but I've been to like four or five of them. Each year the lineup gets less and less appealing to me (partly because the lineup changes but mostly because my tastes change). And yet I have fun each year. Last year there was barely a handful of bands that I would have seen normally, but I had my most fun at at Warped ever. So now I'm sort of debating whether or not to go this year. On one hand, there are a total of two bands that I would normally pay to see. But, I know if I go I'm gonna have fun. I just don't know if it's $75 worth of fun (ticket plus transportation plus food and water).

    So my point sort of is, does anyone else find the same thing as me, as far as fewer good bands but still fun, and is anyone else going to (or has anyone else) just stopped going to the Warped tour?

    Posted by jhfc666 on 2004-07-26 20:46:48
    My Score:

    - 1 for claiming your a warped veteran after 3 years
    - 1 for watching letter kills
    - 1 for watching dont look down
    - 1 walking around to get "free shit"
    - 1 for watching lars and the bastards
    1 for watching the alkaline trio
    - 2 for regretting missing coheed and cambria twice, you should be glad
    - 1 for watching new found glory
    - 1 for being happy about story of the years sucess
    1 for watching atmosphere
    - 3 for missing bad religion
    - 2 for being okay for missing bad religion
    - 1 for watching taking back sunday
    1 for watching rise against
    -3 for going to warped in the first place

    final score: -4

    Posted by Anonymous on Monday, July 26, 2004 at 8:18 PM (EDT)
    My Score:

    "And fuck you faggots, Lars and the Bastards put on a great set. I know its the hip punk rock thing to hate anything Rancid related...but they rocked."

    It's also the hip punk rock thing to call someone a faggot.

    Posted by Anonymous on Monday, July 26, 2004 at 4:23 PM (EDT)
    My Score:

    New found glory and yellowcard rocked! Why don't date Ashlee Simpson, you fucking poser!

    Posted by Anonymous on Sunday, July 25, 2004 at 8:31 PM (EDT)
    My Score:

    This review is laughable...but you geeks are even funnier.

    I was at the show and had a great fucking time. Rise Against of course OWNED the show, but Bad Religion, Tiger Army, and The Casualties were great too. And fuck you faggots, Lars and the Bastards put on a great set. I know its the hip punk rock thing to hate anything Rancid related...but they rocked.

    Posted by Anonymous on Sunday, July 25, 2004 at 7:18 PM (EDT)
    My Score:

    fuck warped tour, and fuck this review. mister i am a warped veternan. for christs sake, fuck this whole scene anymore.

    Posted by BSD on 2004-07-25 16:51:44
    My Score:

    "not the usual I'm-punker-than-thou crap about $3 water bottles at the show."

    You mean the poorer-than-thou crap? Water is a necessity at this type of thing. You can go around outside in 90 weather for 6 hours without water gatorade. It's really unhealthy.

    Posted by TheMightyE on 2004-07-25 11:54:26
    My Score:

    I made it to this show too - a coupla comments:

    I have a few complaints about the Warped tour itself, and not the usual I'm-punker-than-thou crap about $3 water bottles at the show. I had a pretty difficult time finding schedules for the non-headliner bands - some of the stages had a tiny whiteboard with the names/times of the performances hanging up near the soundboard area, some of the really tiny (i.e. local band) stages didn't seem to have anything at all that would let you know who was playing and when. How hard would it be to put up a schedule of ALL the bands somwhere? Also, for some reason the performers didn't seem to be allowed to put up the usual banners behind the drum set, which would have made it a hell of a lot easier to identify groups that you hadn't heard/seen before if you just happened to be walking by and heard something you liked. Finally, I'd almost rather have fewer bands and give them a one hour set than the 30 minutes they were given - just about the time the band and the crowd really got rolling, it was time to wrap it up. Just my wishlist for next time.

    kk - enough bitching about mechanics - on to the show. Bad Religion, NOFX, Bouncing Souls, and Flogging Molly were as much fun as you would expect from the headliners, with BR taking the award for best sound/tightest set, and Flogging Molly for the most fun crowd of the day. The Casualties did a suprisingly good show too; their energy and rapid-fire setlist more than make up for their sometimes generic lyrics.

    The biggest disappointment of the day was Lars & the Bastards. Lars walked out on stage and announced 'I'm Lars Fredriksen...." and then waited for applause for himself before completing the sentence with '... and these are the Bastards'. I could have overlooked this bit of I'm-a-Rockstar attitude if they had then played a good set, but instead I found myself wandering off after a few minutes of very forgettable crap.

    Too much other stuff to comment on - in general it was worth the $30 to get in and another $9 on drinks over the course of a long day. My advice - watch for the 16 year old girls who are there with their moms, note the direction they are going and walk the opposite direction to see the interesting stuff.

    Posted by princessdanarchy on 2004-07-25 01:10:03
    My Score:

    This kid saw the shittiest bands that he possibly could have... The 1 point score is for Rise Against.

    Posted by notfeelingcreative on 2004-07-25 00:11:27
    My Score:

    "The next plan of attack was to see Atmosphere. Yes this involved me missing Bad Religion, "

    Wait, I thought they were both main stage acts? Their better not be any funny shit going on at thursday's show if I have to keep picking between good bands i'm gonna start getting pissed.

    Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, July 24, 2004 at 11:17 PM (EDT)
    My Score:

    "What place in this city is a good music store?"

    Atomic Records over on Locust (on the East Side by UWM). That's pretty much it for Milwaukee. Check out http://www.milwaukeeshows.com or http://www.wmse.org for good shows coming up. Speaking of which, 91.7 WMSE is a great local college radio station.

    Posted by Anchors on 2004-07-24 20:17:54
    My Score:

    Okay okay so let me understand this.

    You were excited to see Anti-Flag, but didn't care about missing Bad Religion?

    I need asprin.

    Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, July 24, 2004 at 6:02 PM (EDT)
    My Score:

    i'm glad everyone in milwaukee enjoyed rise against, because yesterday in cleveland they went on at 11:15 am!? i guess that noon start time on the ticket doesn't mean much anymore.

    Posted by blaubs21 on 2004-07-24 16:33:35
    My Score:

    i love how i got called a loser puke for listening to Story Of The Year and Yellowcard even though i saw neither of them....eh it happens

    Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, July 24, 2004 at 2:59 PM (EDT)
    My Score:

    Do you feel like a big man for flicking off Yellowcard?

    I went to see bands like teh Bouncing Souls, Tiger Army and Big D and the Kids Table, but I had to wait through Yellowcard to see Flogging Molly.

    Theres lots of people like myself who aren't fans of the band, but we give credit to a band like Yellowcard who are trying to give people a great time and they looked to be having a lot of fun.

    You don't have to like a band to respect them.

    Get off your highhorse, you should be ashamed of your behavior.

    Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, July 24, 2004 at 2:28 PM (EDT)
    My Score:

    It's loser pukes like you who listen to Emo of the Year and Emo-Card and all those other bands who have somehow convinced people that they are "punk". Punk is not a style of music, it should never be on MTV. I saw all of the bands that you "Regret" missing. People like you are not a part of the problem, you are the problem. I am proud to say that I was one of the dudes who started chanting "NOFX" with middle fingers in the air towards Yellowcard. All you little snot nosed pussy's need to go back to your coffee shops and talk about your little broken hearts and stay the hell out of punk. I only posted this anonymously cause I needed to get my disgust with your review out immediately. I will be NightEmber79 on the boards. Flame me if you want after you're done crying while listening to your Dashboard Confessional records.

    Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, July 24, 2004 at 1:48 PM (EDT)
    My Score:

    I'm not really into ska, but I got dragged into seeing Big D...

    I loved them. Everyone's gotta' make sure to check these guys out! (And Phenomenauts. Those guys are hilarious.)

    Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, July 24, 2004 at 1:27 PM (EDT)
    My Score:

    "Hazen St. suuuuuuuucked. "

    no surprise there.

    Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, July 24, 2004 at 1:03 PM (EDT)
    My Score:

    Went to Milwaukee and tried to fit in as much as I could.

    after writing down band times here is a short and sweet review

    The Sounds - interesting and set themselves apart from the other bands I saw. I am glad to say I saw them, and they looked to be having fun. GRADE = B-

    Anti-Flag - blah,blah, Bush sucks, our vocals suck, we like to be angry and say unity, but we really just like tp piss everyone off. GRADE = F

    Vandals - Hilarious! Fun, and sarcastic. They were so funny everyone was just having a great time. I can't say I want to buy their new cd, but I won't want to miss their live show. Grade = A

    Tiger Army - Great music. They were so intense, and while they didn't have a lot of audience interaction, and they were concerned about technical difficulties, the new stuff was great." Fuck the world" (FTW)was really the best part. Grade = B

    Bouncing Souls - Always have the energy and the crowd moving. Great intoxicating heartfelt music. Truly a band that feels like a bunch of guys just having a great time. Grade = A-

    Lars F. and the Bastards - Lars looked like an old biker. "don't let your mom see this cd" he said when he prompted his new cd. Pathetic. Grade = D-

    Alkaline Trio - Overrated band, not a lot of energy, but it was okay. Grade = B-

    Coheed and Cambria - All their stuff sounds better live, and being in the crowd that was soaked with the giant hose, it was quite memorable. Grade = B

    Big D and the Kids Table - AS someone below me said, they stole the show. The best warped performance hands down. Grade = A

    Bad Religion - The usual. Solid, gets a lot of the crowd going, too bad they didn't play closer to the headliner slot. Grade = B

    TAking Back Sunday - Not my cup of tea, but I did like how the singer sang upside down from the balcony of the stage. It almost rivaled the moment in Chicago last year when the singer of The Used jumped from the high towering speaker into the audience. Grade = C-

    Yellowcard - Energetic, they really put on a great show for their band, and the violin really adds something. Admirable. Grade = B

    Nofx - These guys suck. They are supposidely legendery, so they don't have to play good music? These guys should have played at a side stage. Fat Mike was an asshole as usual. Grade = F

    Flogging Molly - Lovers of music danced away, it was a sight to see, and they were just a great headliner. Amazing. Grade = A

    - Greg6711

    Posted by CrankWillDestroy on 2004-07-24 11:50:31
    My Score:

    Rise Against, as always, was illin' in denver. best of the day. The casualties, despite what you think of them, were pretty good and had a huuuge circle pit. Those fans know how to do it where as fans of thursday couldnt do it to save their lives.

    Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, July 24, 2004 at 11:43 AM (EDT)
    My Score:

    This review is a little better than that douchebag from Salt Lake City...but ONLY a little!!!

    Posted by 8dollarclarinetsolo on 2004-07-24 03:12:47
    My Score:

    how can you love letter kills and not like story of the year?? they are the same!!

    alkaline trio is pretty much playing that very similar set every where

    Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, July 24, 2004 at 2:37 AM (EDT)
    My Score:

    Anti-Flag and Bad Religion both put on quality performances. The Fuck Ups were fun, despite the repetitive and simple lyrics. Revolution Smile was also decent.

    Rise Against put on a fucking awesome show. The crowd went insane the second they started and didn't calm down until the end.

    My biggest disappointment was that no more than two dozen people turned out for Break the Silence. I think they played an hour early, maybe that had something to do with it. Regardless of the reason, they're a fucking awesome band that shouldn't be playing to 20 people who are just standing around.

    Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, July 24, 2004 at 2:36 AM (EDT)
    My Score:

    What place in this city is a good music store?

    Posted by inagreendase on 2004-07-24 02:19:51
    My Score:

    Definitely go with Motion City over TBS if you have to. Being in the Warped crowds for TBS is like punk rock summer concentration camp.

    Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, July 24, 2004 at 2:19 AM (EDT)
    My Score:

    I was at this, and it was a pretty good time. Like you I hade to make a choice between MCS and TBS. I chose TBS because Id never seen them, plus MCS plays this area 6 or more times a year, at least.

    Good choice w/ Rise Against also. Best show of the night, by far. Ive never seen a warped crowd so into a band. Normally I would say the pits at warped are mild or full of people who are retarded when they mosh. But that totally was not the case here. In fact the crowd was more into Rise Against then when they played here back in January. Also of note, probably one of the biggest circle pits Ive ever seen (except last years warped tour with the Suicide Machines, still this one was even more intense. They also got to play for at least 45minutes because they got on early and went last. Me and my friends spent every once of energy we had left at the show, it felt great.

    Posted by maverick on 2004-07-24 02:12:21
    My Score:

    For the guy who asked about scheduling:
    Go to Warpedtour.com and sign up for the cell phone updates - they'll text message the 4 main stage schedules [Brian, Maurice, Teal, and Volcom] to you the day of the show. It's an awesome reference.

    -Scott

    Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, July 24, 2004 at 2:11 AM (EDT)
    My Score:

    i was also in milwaukee...you made alot of horrible choices

    how do you pick anybody over flogging molly, bad religion, and the bouncing souls?

    you should've also seen big d and the kids table tear it up on the ernie ball stage

    Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, July 24, 2004 at 1:25 AM (EDT)
    My Score:

    its not a matter of you being punk enough. its a matter of you just picking shitty bands.

    Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, July 24, 2004 at 1:18 AM (EDT)
    My Score:

    that should be "they change the schedule daily."

    Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, July 24, 2004 at 1:17 AM (EDT)
    My Score:

    no, they schedule changes daily.

    Posted by CallingLondon on 2004-07-24 01:15:09
    My Score:

    fuck tbs, see motion city

    Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, July 24, 2004 at 1:01 AM (EDT)
    My Score:

    do all the warped tours have similiar schedules? cause i def. dont want to miss motion city soundtrack if i go see taking back sunday.

    and is there any other way to find out the schedule BEFORE you arrive?

    Posted by maverick on 2004-07-24 00:50:10
    My Score:

    Alkaline Trio's set was weird in Cleveland today... They played:

    We've Had Enough
    100 Stories
    I Lied My Face Off
    Private Eye
    Maybe I'll Catch Fire
    Emma
    My Friend Peter
    This Could Be Love

    Weird, weird selection of songs. The matching outfits were cute, though.

    Other bands I saw at least part of at Cleveland's Warped:
    -Rise Against tore shit up.
    -As did Motion City Soundtrack.
    -Billy Talent was really fun.
    -Hazen St. suuuuuuuucked.
    -Avenged Sevenfold suuuuuuuuuuuuuucked, too.
    -In fact, the majority of the bands on the Maurice stage blew.
    -Kids love them the Anti-Flag. Huge crowd.
    -Atmosphere killed it. Totally killed it.
    -The Break=the suck.
    -The Revolution Smile was pretty alright, but nooooo one was watching them.
    -Underoath was surprisingly good, I really enjoyed their set.
    -Bear Vs. Shark stole the whole freakin' show, playing opposite Taking Back Sunday in the last slot of the night [so only me and maybe 2 dozen other kids watched them]. Best band I saw all day, for sure.

    -Scott

    Posted by BSD on 2004-07-23 23:56:49
    My Score:

    Actually I'm gonna be in Milwaukee pretty soon. What's the best music place?

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