Jay Mazeffect's Review of Warped Tour @ Monmouth Racetrack 7/18/10 Warped Tour 2010, Or Names, Sort Of Names, And No Names. As you well know, the yearly Warped Tour trots out a bunch of "name" acts, supported by other acts you may have sort of heard of, who in turn are supported by a bunch of no-name acts hoping to get some sort of "big break". Combine that with carnival food and near carnival like commerce, and you get the idea. If I'm coming off as cynical, don't take it as such. This tour is still one of the few all-day, bang for your buck marathons shows that some kid in East Bumblefuck, Nowheresville, USA, can get to see a bunch of bands that normally wouldn't cross their state line, let alone play a gig there. So in theory, I'm cool with the Warped Tour. There were a few good changes from last go 'round (like more reasonable food prices, as well as merch prices reflecting and respecting the still bad economy), as well as some glaring problems (as in why is it that all of the great, and I do mean GREAT, bands only played California? Fear, The Dickies, Agent Orange, etc.? You should've brought them around the country. Young, angry, musicians, and their young, angry, fans could learn a lot from Lee Ving. So Warped Tour people, next year, make this happen. Please have a better ratio of old with the new. People still talk about those old bands for a reason. But I digress...) After bypassing most of the traffic getting to the venue (due to the deft driving of Blowupradio's own Lazlo) we made our way to get our passes (rather painless, thank you) and swiftly ran the gauntlet of no-namers trying to sway you to check out there set, as well as the merch booths that lined every bit of free fence space there was to be had, to get to the big-ass schedule board in the middle of the fray. Lo and behold, most of the "name" acts were on early in the day, followed by an afternoon/evening filled of sort of heard names and no-names. Seriously, first act on at 11 AM on the main stage was Andrew WK! Sure it's a lottery every day as far as what "name" goes on when, and in reality I was quite glad to be able to see Andy WK and Face To Face not so much later, but for those people stuck in the craptastic amount of traffic along the way, it would rather suck to finally make it to the venue to find out you already missed Andy's party, because said party ended at 11:35 AM. Speaking of Andrew... What a way to start the day. Party is the right word for his act. From the first millisecond of his set to the very last moment of it, it was non-stop, hi-energy, good time rock and roll. Sure the songs don't differ much from the upbeat, major key, three chord rock and roll, but for one glorious half-hour, you can't help but feel good about life. If his mission is to shake you out of your doldrums, slap you across the face with the saving grace that is a rock and roll show, and send you off better than you were before, than I salute you, mission accomplished. His cheerleader/tae-bo enthusiast/back-up vocalist Cherie did a great job at keeping the movement up as Andy was tied to his keyboard, and the band themselves were tight. Andy WK's party machine were going to be really hard to beat, and they were the first act! From there, it was wandering around to check out the scene. I remember hearing some craptastic no-names, seeing the lone half-pipe with three skaters on it (remember when the skateboarding was an integral part of the warped tour? It's not anymore. it seemed like a gesture, really), and then coming upon The Pretty Reckless. Apparently it's Taylor from Gossip Girl's band. I remember asking myself "Wait...who from what?" I guess I'm officially no longer in that demographic. In my opinion, they were going for sleaze rock, and as Taylor bitched about the heat, all I could think of was that she was going for a black lace version of Cherie Currie. She's no Cherrie Currie, by the by. The Runaways would've held Taylor down and shit in her throat to keep her from attempting to have a rock and roll band. Matter of fact, can the surviving members do that now? The Pretty Reckless left me pretty bored. A little more wandering produced Versaemerge. They sounded like if Miley Cyrus had a little sister that liked emo-metal-punk. Again, I guess I'm not in this demographic anymore, but it just didn't do it for me. Then I came across the Jersey Shows stage. Which had bands that sounded exactly like I expected them to sound. That's all I'm gonna say about that. Oh, and it was getting hotter. Like, seriously, ball-boiling hot. Four dollar powerades and two over-crowded hoses weren't cutting it to beat the heat. Reel Big Fish were up next on the main stage, and I gotta say ,it was a pleasant experience. Was it mind blowing? No. Was it boring? No, as well. It was a well-paced, breezy set of hits, that made the heat feel less oppressive, and more like a fun summer day at the shore. The covers of "Brown-Eyed Girl" and "Take On Me" were quite good, and over all it just made things, well...a lot more pleasant. I don't mean that in a derogatory sense at all. It made the heat bearable. A few stages away, after the RBF set, Fair Fight played. They were what passes for Warped Tour pop-punk. Young and cookie-cutter. Right out of the art machine. Boring. So Lazlo and I wandered over to a stage that had one girl, with nothing more than a bass slung low and a sequencer, completely sans band, getting ready to perform. This got my attention, due to the completely unusual nature of such an act at the Warped Tour. Gardening Not Architecture was the name of the project, Sarah Saturday the girl, and the music was a soft, ethereal pillow upon which I could lay my head, amongst all of the heat and screamo. It's a brave thing to go up there on your own, with a soft, electro-poppish sound, in the middle of the Warped Tour. The songs drew me in. This is what I look for every year. A no-name (as far as I know, but more than likely a "sort of heard of name" for others) that comes out of the blue, and makes me excited to track down their music, and discover more about them. Kudos to you, Sarah/Gardening Not Architecture for doing that. You should go check her out. By 1:55 in the afternoon, the sun was assailing the denizens of the show with unmitigated fury, but it still wasn't enough to keep us from checking out Face To Face. Back together after a lengthy absence, and claiming that they're going to continue until their too old to do it anymore (Trevor exclaiming that will be in another three or four years, hahaha), they showed the youngin's how a pro act does it. Why they are a "name" act. The played a tight set of hits, with a new tune or two from a forthcoming record, with such fire and precision, segueing most of the material, stopping only to make some self-deprecating old jokes, and sarcastic (yet very humorous) swipes at some of the folks there, all the while sounding like a well-oiled machine. Finally getting to hear "A-Ok" and "Disconnected" live for the first time left me giddy in the boiling heat. I'm seriously glad these guys are back. I thought Andrew WK had the day won, but Face To Face came out swinging, took the lead, and triumphed. Literally seconds after Face To Face finished, The Riverboat Gamblers took to a stage (that was way too small. Really, they should've been a main stage act). They proceeded to play an energetic set, even though they were hung over, and the vocalist's voice was shredded due to the excessive drinking the night before, but still a good set. The Gamblers also win for having the best merch of the day, a plain white t-shirt that simply said "MEL GIBSON IS AN ASSHOLE" on it. Kudos to you, boys. It was a few songs into their set that the rather hellish heat finally took it's toll on Lazlo and I, and now realizing that everyone else left to play that day were either a "sort of heard of name" (but not enough to really care to see), or a no-name act (in which the chances of seeing an awesome act that I never heard of didn't outweigh dealing with the unrelenting heat), we decided that our Warped Tour adventure was complete. It was time to find some shade (which was severely lacking at Monmouth Park) and get a big gulp. In closing, Warped Tour is still a helluva bargain for it's target audience, it delivered on my hope of finding an act to be excited about, and only had marginal missteps. So thanks, Warped Tour people. Just next year bring out Fear, The Dickies, Agent Orange...Hell, if I'm asking The Weirdos, Husker Du, Black Flag, The Dils, The Replacements, The Stooges....I can dream, can't I? -Jay Mazeffect www.vanswarpedtour.com www.andrewwk.com www.theprettyreckless.com www.reel-big-fish.com www.gardeningnotarchitecture.com www.facetofacemusic.com www.theriverboatgamblers.com