Warped
Tour 2005 @ Montage Mountain, Scranton, PA
by Rebecca Clark
Static Noise
http://www.staticnoise.net
Ever
since I can remember Warped tour has been an essential concert that every punk
rocker planned their summer around. It was about celebrating the love and thrill
of the music, and it was cool in my book way before MTV gave it their official
stamp of approval. The whole tour has lost its focus and the music has begun to
blur
into the background and become more of an accessory rather than a main
experience.
I am not saying the warped tour is terrible, I loved it and enjoyed every minute of the music and bands I got to see, but the atmosphere at this tour has changed so drastically within these past few years.
Thanks
to MTV and their susceptible audience, this once ingenious event has turned into
a Saturday evening at the mall. The massive crowd was crammed like sardines into
the tiny space at Montage Mountain. And even before arriving I was stuck in a
traffic jam that was backed up for miles, and I began pondering how everyone was
going to fit into this venue. But the truth was we didn’t.
I know things change but I miss how Warped used to be. The tour was more about the music and extreme sports and time to hang out with your friends. Now there is more of a commercial feel to the tour because it is now overcrowded and bigger than ever. Cramming more bands and more people into a venue in one day gave the tour this disposition. Who wouldn't look at the line up and not want to go?
The craziness of teenagers
running amuck made it a rat race, and
going
from stage to stage was a chore and made
it impossible to make it on time to catch sets. And by the time I was done
photographing a band I had to leave and make my way through the massive crowd to
give myself enough time to catch another band. I felt like I was on the go so
much I didn't get to really watch and enjoy the music because I was too worried
about missing bands.
There
were so many bands I wanted to see but there simply was not enough time to catch
them all. The horrific set up at the venue also made me want to die of exhaustion
by the nights end. There were 4 stages up top a
secluded steep hill and the other stages were spread out and impossible to get
to in a timely manner. Walking up the hill by yourself was aggravating enough,
but I had my heavy equipment in tow making the trek a literal "uphill
struggle." Lead vocalist of Yesterday’s
Rising put it best when he described the set up that day, “This place is like
a fucking maze.”
One
of the biggest annoyances of the day was the ill-mannered crowd. The younger
generation that has leached onto the newer pop/punk bands can be flat out intolerable.
Garbage was
tossed about making the venue look like a landfill and when a band was running
behind schedule the little brats in the crowd threw plastic bottles at the stage
and in the air until the bands began to play. It reminded me of a little kid
throwing a temper tantrum until they got their way. I have been seeing this more
and more at shows, but never this bad.
Okay
okay I will stop ranting about the bad things that happened at warped tour. Most of the bad
was not caused by the tour itself rather then the new generation of the new pop punk
fans. Despite everything I have said before there was indeed a lot of positive
things at Warped Tour as well. I am still old school and was there to see what
Warped is really about, amazing in your face punk and rock music! The roster was
huge and crammed with various punk rock, punk pop rock and hardcore bands.
I
try to deny my weakness for some of the mainstream bands on this tour, but my
curiosity pulled me in. My Chemical Romance is one of the “mainstream bands”
that has been on my “want to see” list for a long time, way before they made
it big. It was amazing to see all the fans flooding down the hill to catch a
glimpse of this band. At one point during their set the rowdy teens decided to
make more room and tear down metal fence and spilled up the hill. This band has
really come a long way and left no one disappointed after their set.
One
band that was on my “must see” list was Skindred. I have seen them numerous
times before and there was no way I was going to miss them on this tour. Their
set is so intense and raw and you know when Skindred is performing there will
never a dull moment. Skindred’s sound is reggae metal/rock and a rare breed on
this tour. I always envisioned them being on a tour like Ozzfest rather than
Warped, but they held their own drawing a big crowd and tore it up taking no
prisoners! Lead vocals Benji Webbe is a phenomenal front man and has a special
charismatic flair on stage. Benji is very connected to the audience making sure
everyone gets intertwined with Skindred’s energy!
Another
band on my “must see” list was Funeral for a Friend. These UK boys have
exploded overseas and have come back over to the states in an attempt to gain
more fans. They have a hardcore metal sound with old school riffs mixed in with
rock riffs that jumpstart your heart into a mosh-pit frenzy. FFAF’s energy is
very potent and captivating making them a band to definitely see live.
Seeing
the old school bands like The Offspring and The Dropkick Murphy’s rocking out
with all the pop punk bands was amazing to see. Bands like them are like roots
to Warped Tour and to this day they are still as good as they first started.
There were so many good bands to check out and the day happened so fast made it impossible to get every detail down. the array of bands was good whether you were new pop punk fan or an old school fan, there was something for everyone. Not all the bands were there for the masses and it was refreshing to see they are still on the tour.
Here is a list of bands that we checked out and loved. Some of them are new bands we have never seen before and others are some of our favorites:
Yesterday’s
Rising, the AKA’s, Atreyu, Gratitude, The starting line, Go Betty Go,
Acceptance, A7X, Bleed the Dream, Fall Out Boy, Mae, Motion City Soundtrack, Big
D and The Kids Table, SOTY
Bands we missed but wanted to check out:
Paramore
and Soasin
I hope any teenager that reads this doesn’t hate me, but I had to be honest. I love warped tour and a lot of the bands on the tour, but the biggest disappointment was the chaos and rude manners. Maybe it is a generation thing and since I am getting older and the crowd seems to be getting younger. I hope the Warped Tour continues to be a success but I hope they decide to tune it down a notch and let it become such a machine for the mainstream and kick some more Indie into it!
Damn the man save the Warped Tour!
Check out our photo galleries from the show!!
Funeral For A Friend August 11, 2005 @ Montage Mountain, Scranton PA
Avenge Seven Fold August 11, 2005 @ Montage Mountain, Scranton PA
Big D and The Kids Table August 11, 2005 @ Montage Mountain, Scranton PA
Bleed The Dream August 11, 2005 @ Montage Mountain, Scranton PA
My Chemical Romance August 11, 2005 @ Montage Mountain, Scranton PA
Motion City Soundtrack August 11, 2005 @ Montage Mountain, Scranton PA
The Offspring August 11, 2005 @ Montage Mountain, Scranton PA
Skindred August 11, 2005 @ Montage Mountain, Scranton PA
Story Of The Year August 11, 2005 @ Montage Mountain, Scranton PA
Yesterday's Rising August 11, 2005 @ Montage Mountain, Scranton PA
Gina August 11, 2005 @ Montage Mountain, Scranton PA
The Starting Line August 11, 2005 @ Montage Mountain, Scranton PA
