Warped Tour @ Post Pavilion Gazette, Pittsburgh

Ah, Warped Tour… every teenage scenester’s festival of choice. A sensory overload in the oft-blistering heat, as well as a bit of a surreal experience as it is sometimes difficult to believe one is seeing so many exceptional bands in one day.

Shwayze

I began by checking out MTV darling Shwayze, accompanied by the ever-greasy Cisco Adler at the Hurley.com stage. The two work well together, psyching up the crowd with their cheesy, yet fun summer-friendly tunes. The hip-hoppers had an obvious backing track for their sung vocals, but the audience didn’t seem to mind. They cheered and sang along with every song despite the juvenile subject matter. Every song they performed was about, as the boys put it themselves “drinkin’, fuckin’ and weed!” I couldn’t bring myself to stay for the rest of their set, as truly stupid lyrics annoy me

Anberlin

At the MySpace tent, I managed to catch a couple songs in Anberlin’s acoustic set. For a Christian band, they show no preachy messages in their music and lead singer Stephen Christian has a truly beautiful voice. I’m torn on the idea of having acoustic sets in the MySpace tent as being a good one or a bad one. While the small, intimate, and toned-down setting is a nice change, the tent itself is much to small for most concertgoers to catch much more than a small earful of these sets.

Katy Perry

America’s beloved new sex-kitten (and Gym Class Heroes’s Travis McCoy’s girlfriend) Katy Perry emerged onstage to the intro of Heart’s “Barracuda,” and did not disappoint. Her energetic and entertaining stage demeanor was kept up throughout her entire set, including the bit where she insisted that it was so hot, that everyone should take off an article of clothing, Perry herself humorously shedding a shoe. On her recordings, Perry’s vocals tend to have a lot of production behind them, making me fear that her vocals could not deliver. I was very glad to hear the strong, pretty voice she had to offer us, with no backing track to be heard. The crowd for her set was fairly calm, but still clearly enjoying her performance, as she pranced her way through her songs, including “One of the Boys,” “You Can’t Afford Me,” and “Ur So Gay,” even strapping on a guitar for a few of the songs.

Schlepping back to the Route 66 stage, I caught ska legends Reel Big Fish. Being one of the oldest bands on the Warped Tour ticked, I was surprised to see that they had an even bigger crowd than the recently radio-friendly Gym Class Heroes and Katy Perry. They prove that they’re seasoned pros, tackling some wonderful harmonies. Spanning their catalog from “Everything Sucks” to “Suburban Rhythm,” their set is fantastically entertaining, peppering their onstage banter with quotes such as “I’m so rich! I was on MTV one time!” RBF is definitely a band that’s showing these youngsters how it’s done.

Reel Big Fish

Now, I know you had already gotten a review of Chicago rockers The Academy Is… from our Kansas City Warped Tour coverage, but I decided I needed to see them for myself. TAI does not need to take lessons from RBF. They know how to play a show and work a crowd, playing as much for the audience as they do for themselves. Opening the set with “Neighbors” and going into this Popwrecker’s personal favorite “Slow Down” frontman William Beckett is all over the stage, wielding his microphone stand like a weapon.

The Academy Is...

His vocals are impressive and clear as a bell, sounding better than they do on the band’s studio albums. Going into “Big Bang” and “Black Mamba” the whole audience is singing along as guitarist Michael Guy Chislett demonstrates his formidable guitar chops. Bassist Adam Siska, or as Beckett refers to him “Sisky Business” is almost a match for the svelte singer’s onstage manner. I was grateful that the band was awarded an extra 10 minutes for their set and cheered with the rest as they closed the set with “Almost Home.”

Staying at the Route 66 stage and pushing my way forward, I snagged a front and center position for one of my most highly anticipated bands, Motion City Soundtrack. Being a Warped Tour virgin, and not using my head, I realized this was a bad idea. The crowd rushed the stage the moment the band began to play their opening number “Attractive Today” and I was continuously assaulted by crowd surfers for the entirety of their set. Although, I wasn’t exactly able to see them most of the time, the band did not disappoint, playing songs spanning all three of their studio albums. From “The Future Freaks Me Out” and “My Favorite Accident,” to “Everything Is Alright” and “Broken Heart,” every song was completely en pointe.

Motion City Soundtrack

Finally, I caught the up and coming Ludo closing the show at the Hurley.com stage. Earlier in the day the band and I sat down for some witty banter. As a matter of fact, attempting to interview these St. Louis boys gives you nothing but an exchange of witty banter. This year is their first time being on Warped Tour for longer than a week and they are absolutely loving it.

Frontman Andrew Volpe is the mouthpiece for the most part, saying, “This is the best tour ever. We get food, shows, a bus—it’s a better experience than we’ve ever had before.” The band, named for the loveable yeti-like character from ‘80s cult classic Labyrinth want their music to be “a home for runaway teens.” Volpe says, “We have this whole idea of our music entertaining people without making them stupider. But I think we’re failing. I watch people walk away after our shows just looking dumb.” He’s kidding of course… I think.

Ludo

Although, keyboardist Tim Convy and bassist Marshall Fanciullo seem to be nodding in agreement. Volpe continues, “We get to be on the road with all these great bands: Reel Big Fish; Say Anything,” the rest of the band begins adding their favorites, including Oreskaband, Relient K, Story of the Year, Dr. Manhattan and The Aggrolytes. Convy picks up where he leaves off, “but we tend to listen to as little rock as possible in our down-time — a lot of old, acoustic stuff, trying t balance everything out.” When queried about their greatest moment as a band together, the band answers jokingly, “This right here. In this room. Doing this interview. With you.” As I laugh Convy adds in, “getting to do this…cool tours, with touring getting easier. We couldn’t ask for more.”

But Fanciullo seems to somewhat disagree. “I think you should recycle: glass; plastic; aluminum.”
“What about paper?” Volpe interjects.
“Nah. Fuck paper.”

Ludo’s set is just as entertaining as the one-on-five time I got to spend with them. The relatively young band has the stage presence of a group that has been around for much longer. Volpe’s vocals are fantastic, dripping with wit. Convy uses the entire stage when he’s not anchored to his keys, which seems to be as often as he can get away with. Their creative song-writing is comparable to Blue Album-era Weezer combined with Harvey Danger, including delectable lyrics such as, “You taste good tonight.”

If you combine 4-part harmonies with a sense of humor, you’re good to go in my book, and Ludo does just that. The 5 piece closes the show with a cover of Faith No More’s “Epic,” and while it was flawless, I wonder if it was the right choice for the crowd at Warped Tour. Although there were a few people here and there rocking the hell out, most of the younger, emo-concious listeners seemed confused, clearly not recognizing the tune.

I can’t lie. I was glad to leave when Warped Tour wrapped up for the day. I was hot, sweaty, tired, hungry, and overloaded with everything I had just seen, heard, and experienced. While festivals are a great idea, giving music fans the opportunity to catch so many of their favorite bands in one day, it’s definitely not something I, personally, would go for on a regular basis. I prefer evening breezes and longer sets to the sweltering mid-day sun and 30 minute previews that Warped Tour gives us.

Written by: Sara Bellum

Warped Tour Rundown – Kansas City (Part Three)

Here is Josh’s third installment of his Warped Tour Rundown. Enjoy.

5:45 P.M. to 6:15 P.M. Katy Perry – Hurley.com Stage

I would be lying if I didn’t confess that I became relatively nervous while making my way to the Hurley.com stage for Katy Perry’s premiere Kansas City performance. PopWreckoning had worked with her several times (Review, Interview) in the past without fail, but following a fairly awful performance on Last Call with Carson Daily , I was somewhat unsure of exactly what type of a show I would be in for. It could honestly swing either way. She could turn out to be an amazingly talented woman with the ability to command a stage and capture the love and attention of the crowd, much like No Doubt’s Gwen Stefani. However, she could also turn out to be a talentless figure head with a pretty face standing in front of a group of world class musicians with the likes of Avril Lavigne. Either way, finding out the answer to these questions seemed like kind of a big deal.

The truth is Katy Perry did not let me down. While she remained a little pitchy and yelled instead of singing more often than she needed to, Katy’s set was pretty damn good. Her stage actions are fairly amusing and her songs are really entertaining. The presence of personality that she brings to the stage is completely responsible for her new found fame. She interacted with the crowd as well as anyone I had seen that day. Bottom line is, Katy Perry won me over. She is the real deal and worth your time.

Grade: B+

5:50 – 6:20 Cobra Starship – Highway One Stage

Rumor is that Cobra Starship is kind of a big deal. Everyone I met at Warped Tour had their name on the tip of their tongue, which says something about the group considering the hype from the movie Snakes on a Plane has long died down.

Instrumentally, the group has a tight set. For being known for providing the song to such a cheesy movie, they surprisingly have really interesting instrumentals, partly thanks to the addition of a keytar player. However, instruments may not be enough to win over the entire audience because you either love or hate lead singer Gabe Saporta’s cocky antics, which range from dancing around the stage to brushing his own shoulder off.

The jury is still out on this group. Those of us here at PopWreckoning can’t decide if we want to give this group two fangs up or down.

Grade: B

6:50 to 7:20 Say Anything – Highway One Stage

PopWreckoning reviewed Say Anything when they passed through Kansas City two weeks prior to Warped, but was left desiring a little more energy and enthusiasm from the group. After getting a second chance to see them, I feel the early assessment was pretty accurate.

Their songs are well-known and loved in Kansas City because of the heavy radio play they get here, but the group’s singer Max Bemis, seems to have lost his enthusiasm for their songs. It is a shame that the quirky lyrics weren’t enough to save this group from delivering a boring set. Although it was fun to see Say Anything joined by all their “friends” like Cobra Starship’s Gabe Saporta on “Belt.”

Grade: B

7:20 to Apocalypse Gym Class Heroes – Route 66 Stage

Gym Class Heroes, much like their previously reviewed Fueled By Ramen labelmates The Academy Is,  have greatly improved over the years and they delivered one of the most impressive sets of the day, until it was sadly cut far too short by the apocalyptic thunderstorm that broke out during the Gym Class Heroes’ tour of the Papercut Chronicles.

Actually, the band could have sounded like shit and they still would have been entertaining. Travis McCoy is one of the most entertaining frontmen in the industry with his great crowd interaction and wild facial expressions. Fortunately, the group sounded great, so it was a pleasing experience for both the eyes and ears.

Grade: A

Katy Perry: website | myspace
Cobra Starship: website | myspace
Say Anything: website | myspace
Gym Class Heroes: website | myspace

Interview with: Norma Jean

Continuing a series of Warped Tour interviews at the Bonner Springs show on July 2, 2008, Bethany had the chance to talk to Christian metalcore group Norma Jean.  Below is their conversation:

Bethany, Popwreckoning: Hi. My name is Bethany. Can I get you guys to state your name and role in the band?
Norma Jean, Cory Brandan Putman: I’m Cory. I sing a lot.
NJ, Chris Day: I’m Chris and I play guitar a lot.
NJ, Chris Raines: I’m Chris and I play drums sometimes.
NJ, Jake Schultz: I’m Jake and I play bass.
NJ, Scottie Henry: I’m Scottie and I play guitar usually.
NJ/CP: What is this interview for?
PW: This is for popwreckoning.com. It’s a webzine.
NJ/CP: Popwreckoning. Ok. Cool.
PW: You guys have openly stated that you are committed to bringing a different sound on each of your albums. Why do you feel this is an important thing to do?
NJ/CP: We just have a lot of ideas. We have really, really good ideas and like to use them all. Next question, just kidding.
NJ/JS: Stagnant music is really boring.
NJ/CP: We just don’t want to do the same thing over and over. That’s too easy. We want to push ourselves and challenge ourselves. Our fans have caught on that that’s going to keep happening. So, it’s kind of cool how that’s working out.
PW: So of all your albums, which do you think has been the best received and why?
NJ/JS: Our last one.
NJ/CP: I would say the last has been received the best. I don’t know why. I think the newer one is better than that one. It’s heavier than Redeemer and has a lot more melody than Redeemer as well, so I think it balances itself out maybe.
PW: So you guys were on Ozzfest for a tour. How does that compare to Warped? Is it fairly similar or is one better than the other?
NJ/CD: They’re just totally two different tours. Ozzfest was primarily heavy bands only and Warped Tour has heavy bands and not heavy bands and dance bands and all kinds of music going on here, so it’s two totally different settings.
NJ/CP: Ozzfest is a lot more banging of the head. I want everybody to have a bangover.
PW: Do you prefer the fans for one of those tours? I’m sure the fans are different between Warped and Ozzfest.
NJ/CP: Yeah, they’re different. I don’t really have a preference. It doesn’t matter, they’re rowdy kids. If you come to a Norma Jean show, you kind of expect that.
PW: Rowdiness all the way? Ok. Well, rumor has it that you had to change your original name because it kept getting confused with Ludacris, do you really think that was an issue? It’s kind of like apples and oranges, right?
NJ/CR: We just didn’t like the name anymore, so we changed it.
NJ/JS: That kind of gave us an excuse to do it, though. The label wasn’t liking that we wanted to change it at first. So we were like, “Well, this guy got huge and it’s the same name, so let’s change.”
PW: Who are your favorite bands on this year’s tour that you’ve either made friends with or discovered through it?
NJ/CP: I like Every Time I Die, Against Me, Say Anything.
NJ/CR: Maylene
NJ/JS: MC Chris
NJ/CD: Is Pearl Jam on this tour? I’d say that would be pretty sweet.
PW: Has any really amusing thing happened so far this year on Warped or has it been pretty mild?
NJ/SH: Yeah, we saw a dog yesterday.
PW: Wow.
NJ/SH: Yeah, it was awesome. It was like a German shepard.
NJ/CR: There was a shed. I saw a Boxer in a shed.
NJ/SH: I didn’t see a Boxer.
NJ/CP: We beat up the guitarist from Katy Perry’s band.
(Pretty sure Putman was joking, but he delivered it so matter of fact dead pan, I must admit I had some doubts that he was lying.)
PW: Why would you beat him up?
NJ/CP: It was like, you know, that kid back in high school who picked on you? One of those guys and we felt like doing that back to somebody else so we picked him randomly. We’ll start some beef here with Katy Perry’s band.
PW: Is that true?
NJ/CP: We didn’t. (laughs)
PW: I’m going to go find Katy Perry’s guitarist and tell him you said you could take him in a fight.
NJ/CP: Ha. You could.
NJ/SH: Don’t do that. (teasing) This is all off the record. Next interview. Now we can start the interview. Are you recording this? No, you can print that all on your site.
PW: Finally, if you could take this space to talk about any issue right now, what would you talk about, what would you say to your fans? (Blank stares) Maybe a political view?
NJ/JS: We’d say our record is coming out August 5, so buy it.
NJ/CR: Listen to music. That’s about as political as we get right there.
NJ/CD: Vote for our new record. Vote for The Anti Mother.
PW: Well that’s all I have. Thanks you guys. Nice meeting you.
NJ/CD: You too.

Norma Jean: website | myspace

Say Anything @ Light District, Kansas City

Kansas City’s Power and Light District does this cool little thing in the summer where they offer a free rock concert every Wednesday night. A good idea in theory, but not as effective in action as was evident at the Say Anything show June 18, 2008. It might have been an off night for the band, but the venue is also partly to blame for their lackluster performance.

In the past, Say Anything fans have been some of the most active audience members I have ever seen at a show. For this free 21 and over show, however, the audience seemed more interested in their drinks than what was occurring on stage. It made me feel sad for the true, but underage fans that could be spotted standing outside the entrance, trying to listen in. It made me feel especially sad for the band that usually feeds off of the energy of its crowd.

Max Bemis and crew kicked off the show with “Woe,” quickly followed by “Skinny, Mean Man” before they jumped into their first radio single “Alive with the Glory of Love.” The audience showed a little more interest in this song and consequentially, the band did as well.

The band’s older songs seemed to fare better than the ones from their most recent release and “Every Man Has His Molly” off of …Is a Real Boy stole the show with the help of a hilarious introduction by Bemis. “This song is about a girl,” Bemis said, “And I got the last word.”

The band needed to depart quickly to catch a flight and Bemis bought his band mates extra packing time by performing a solo encore. It was refreshing to see Bemis show that he not only sings but can play guitar, as well. He performed a stripped down version of “Baby Girl, I’m a Blur.” As interesting as this was, it was not the raucous and energetic closer I expected from a band like Say Anything.

It really wasn’t a bad performance, it just seemed like both audience and the band didn’t really care that a concert was occurring there. Perhaps when Say Anything returns to Kansas City in two weeks with Warped Tour and have the opportunity to play for people who care, they will deliver the energetic set I’m used to seeing.

Setlist:
Woe
Skinny, Mean Man
Alive With the Glory of Love
Yellow Cat / Red Cat
Shiksa (Girlfriend)
Every Man Has His Molly
Retarded in Love
The Futile
Wow, I Can Get Sexual Too
We Killed It
The Church Channel
Belt
–encore–
Baby Girl, I’m a Blur
I Want to Know Your Plans
Aww (new song)

Say Anything: website | myspace

by Bethany Marie