The Warped Tour @ Montage Mountain, Scranton, PA, USA

I can now say that I have actually been to the Warped Tour! such a crazy statement as It’s one of the things you never thought you ever would be able to. Was such an amazing day, the atmosphere, the people..huh huh kids… the place in the mountains and not forgetting the Music!

Entered to cath some of Fall Out Boy (Jingkei :p ) was pretty good. Saw some random bands who were ok such as Bleed the Dream, Valient Thor before the day really kicked off with The Offspring at 2:30pm (bit of an of odd one) Still they were awesome anyways, played classics alongside new and ancient tracks rally got the pubecent crowd buzzing. Next onto My Chemical Romance who we couldn’t get anywhere near. Despite this they were excellent and really impressed me with their string vocals and rocking heavy riffs. Next up on the ‘Volcom Stage’ were Street Dogs. No nonsence staight up punk with a distintive vocals and an eye for punk rythems and street attire, really enjoyed these and they put on a god show for the tiny crowd.

Next was a huge decision, Transplants, The Starting Line or Funeral For A Friend. Tough Hey!! I went with the first 15 mins of The Starting Line who were really good, lots of emo vocals and poppy punk hooks. Next i dashed back to the ‘Volcom’ stage to see Funeral For A Friend. This turned the day around. I was soo close (2 rows back) I felt I could reach out and touch them, not crowded either. This was the beauty of the day, you could see some really great bands up so close as many people were watching bigger names at other stages scattered across the mountainous site. As these guys are not famous stateside I got a cracking performance from the Welshmen in close and personal. They ended the set on ‘Escape Artists Never Die’. I adore this track and live it was astounding (great video footage captured too :).

Still on a high from this I watched a band on the ‘Hurley’ stage next door (rotated head 45 Degrees) straight after. The band was called Mae and i loved them. Super smooth vocals, again slightly emo but had the firm rooting in punk pop, keyboards added to their attraction. Had awesome riffs and really made a big impression on me. They were definatly my find of the day and I want to grab some of their Cd’s / Merch (after I got the name wrong first time round and ended up with a crappy girl punk group. Idiot…lol!!) Buy them, download them you shouldn’t regret It a track called ‘Suspension’ is a snippet of what i mean.

Next a trip to see the Dropkick Murphys was highly entertaining and plenty of pogoing and crazy dancing later had a rest and some well earned H2O. Still on an adrenaline high I went with my co-councellor Bria (Randomocity Legend) to see MXPX. They pumped out some really cool ska influenced riffs and had the crowd in a frenzy of crowd surfing and crazy circle dancing, so amusing. Also the throwing of tiny kids onto the sea of hunamity of a surf was especially amusing. Was tempted myself but realised they were all so small I would crush them all…te he!

Finally with the day drawning to a close we headed to see Thrice who were out last chance to enjoy ourselves before heading back to camp. Admittedly did pull some funny moves and plenty of bopping and I not ashamed to say so neither. These were really good, cant tell you why or how. They were just damn good!

Had such a great day and I think the length of this post reflects this.

Kev Recommends: Mae, Street Dogs, Thrice, MXPX and The Starting Line