Saturday June 15 marked the first day of my summer vacation and I lived it up on a beautiful sunny day just south of Seattle at the White River Amphitheater. The amphitheater grounds are vast rambling grounds with Mt. Rainier looming gloriously over it.
When I first arrive around 11:30, the press list had not yet arrived so I sat and waited about half an hour and listened to bands already starting behind the chain link fence. If my ears served correct, it didn’t sound like I was missing much.
I finally got in and this time those taking tickets directed me to the press area. There I scanned the list of who was playing when and on what stage. Unfortunately Itch was nowhere on the list. Itch, the former front man and songwriter for British band The King Blues, was one artist I came specifically to see. The person manning the press tent didn’t know why he wasn’t playing. He was supposed to be on all dates. If anyone can tell me why Itch suddenly wasn’t on Warped, let me know. I wrote down the information on other bands I wanted to see and went on my merry way.
The first band I planned to see was Big D and the Kid’s Table, a ska band from Boston whom I’ve loved since I first saw them at Warped in 2004. However, they weren’t scheduled to play until 3:30 so I had time to kill. I wandered about, listening to various bands play on various stages but everyone seemed to either be screamo, which I deplore, or just sound like the proverbial flavor of the week. I began to grow frustrated until I happened upon Emily’s Army. Hailing from Oakland, CA, these guys looked like they just graduated high school. Clean, blond and adorable, they also looked like that proverbial boy next door. But their music belied such descriptions. Their fast paced grinding power chords and manic drumming proved they’re as good at making music as any band who’s been around twenty years. They could work an audience and managed to ignite a small mosh pit with their catchy tunes. For their last song they brought up a sax player named Sebastian who blew his horn while strutting about the stage. I hope Emily’s Army starts getting some notoriety. I’m heartened to see some younger bands making music with depth. I for one will keep my eyes peeled for future gigs from Emily’s Army. Check them out! Emily’s Army consist of brothers, Cole and Max Becker along with Travis Neumann and Joey Armstrong. Good power punk pop coming from these guys.
Next up was getting comestibles. Unfortunately there was no improvement on this front. The selection was just burgers, hot dogs, pizza or chicken strips and it was grossly over priced. They could have included tacos, maybe some place to get a smoothie, but no such luck. I choked down some chicken strips and went off to see Big D and the Kid’s Table. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen Big D. They’d been out of commission awhile since front man/vocalist David McWane got treatments for throat cancer. Thankfully said treatments were successful because he sounded as good as ever and was back to his old antics of leaping about the stage, mic in hand and oozing charisma. His energy has no boundaries. While singing LAX he took a brief pause and the audience yelled out the next line. At that point, he broke into a grin and claimed he felt like he’d just worn a beautiful dress to the prom and some other bitch showed up wearing the same dress. The whole band was in top form. The horn section sounded exquisite and exuded as much charm and energy to the show. It was great seeing Big D and the Kid’s Table again and I hope they come back to Seattle for a full show before 2013 is over. I love these guys!
Next I traipsed across the compound to the Kia Soul Stage for Southern Cal ska punks Reel Big Fish. I’ve seen RBF probably half a dozen times now and quite recently. But I’ve yet to grow bored with them. As usual, they came on stage clad in bright colors and this time also sporting brightly colored sunglasses. They opened with Sell Out and everyone sang along. Other highlights were She Has A Girlfriend Now and a cover of the old Van Morrison tune, Brown Eyed Girl. The former song was introduced as one that was intended for a male/female duet but they had their sax player (Saxel Rose) to sing the high notes. As front man Aaron Barrett claimed, “he sings like a little girl.” This fact was evident when RBF performed their final song, a cover of the old AHA tune, Take On Me. He hit the high notes with precision. Other highlights were I Want Your Girlfriend To Be My Girlfriend and the obligatory Beer. Not only did everyone sing along, but the crowd surfing was relentless. I had to duck several times to prevent the top of my head from being a landing pad and the security at the front of the stage did a fine job of grabbing said surfers and hauling them safely over the barricade so they could turn around and go back for another go. RBF are wild, energetic and just plain fun! I always have the best time at their shows! I stuck around to catch Motion City Soundtrack. These guys pack more of a hard core punch in their live act than they do in their recordings, yet surprisingly they attracted fewer crowd surfers than RBF had. Still, they put on a very high energy show that ignited several incidents of moshing. And perhaps I’m getting old, but their bass player didn’t look a day over sixteen.
I headed back to the main stage awhile, but the next band that came out wasn’t doing anything for me (don’t even remember who they were), so I returned to the main compound and sat on a bench near the Kevin Says stage. The sounds I heard coming from that stage intrigued me. A band was doing a raucous, rocking cover of my favorite Sublime song, Caress Me Down. What I saw was New Beat Fund, another Southern Cal reggae punk band, but NOT formulaic. Unfortunately for me I came in on their second to last song. For their finale someone draped in a white sheet and donning a baseball cap danced about the stage. I had noticed this ghost wandering about earlier handing out flyers and telling people to go see this awesome band. These guys not only churn out some powerful punk/ska sounds, but their songs (judging by the final song called Scare Me) contain lyrics with depth. Again, New Beat Fund (comprised of Michael Johnson, brothers Jeff and Paul Laliberte, and Shelby Archer) is another band I will watch for and hope to see playing a full concert in Seattle very soon.
I decided to stick around for the next band since I detected British accents as they set up. I’m a sucker for anything Brit. I wasn’t disappointed. The Exposed is a four-piece London punk band that played strong power punk/pop songs. Around since 2006 (obviously started as teenagers), The Exposed attracted a crowd immediately and even got a good bunch of moshers. They not only put out music that rivaled the original Brit punk scene, they looked the part. One of the guitar players wore a patch over one eye that said said Out of Order on it. Drummer Owen had bleached hair long on one side and shaved on the other so that his left profile made it look like he had a mohawk. The Exposed are, Tony – vocals/bass, Sim – guitar/vocals, Mark- guitar/vocals, and Owen on drums. They were wicked awesome.
I meandered awhile to see if I would come upon any more awesomeness but seemed to run into more screamo where ever I went.
So I returned to the Mainstage and just hung out until the last act of the night — Goldfinger came on stage. Technical difficulties delayed their concert by about fifteen minutes and the audience grew restless. But at long last Goldfinger came on stage and opened with Spokesman and then Counting the Days. The delays were immediately forgiven as everyone shouted along (still counting the days since you left me. One, two, three four . . .). The band members took turns jumping all over the stage and the audience followed suit by jumping in place — at least those who weren’t crowd surfing. A couple times a horn section was brought out that included Johnny Christmas from RBF on trumpet and special guest Mike Herrrera from MXPX played guitar. Front man John Feldmann constantly joked around with the audience and also announced that it was his wife’s and his 17th wedding anniversary and told everyone to yell, hi, Amy, to his wife. He then added there were also the children and for everyone to say hello to the children. Everyone complied without hesitation. Then there was the gross and disgusting part when they had a dude come on stage and stick a Hostess Twinkie between his bare butt cheeks and ask for an audience volunteer to come on stage and eat the Twinkie out of the dude’s asshole. Surprisingly, they got a volunteer. You could hear the groans of disgust emanate throughout as said volunteer performed the act.
The horn section returned for Superman and the crowd surfing and singing along continued unabated. For the finale they played their famous cover of 99 Red Balloons, but their sound was cut off before they finished as it was now time for The first Warped show of the summer of 2013 to end. The fact that technical difficulties delayed their show for 15 minutes apparently didn’t allow them much extra time to compensate. Nonetheless, Goldfinger put on a fun-filled performance, grossness and all! I love this band!
As I exited the White River Amphitheater another extremely young band was playing a semi acoustic set just outside the gates. Rosedale lists one member, Mike Liorti, but there were two other musicians playing (a drummer and guitarist). Mike Liorti played keayboards and sang beautiful pop songs reminiscent of Blink 182. Their lyrics were heart felt without sounding pretentious. Rosedale hails from Toronto, Ontario and were the second band of the day who barely looked old enough to be out of high school, but like Emily’s Army they exhibited great prowess in not only their musicianship but also their depth of lyrics and ability to connect with an audience.
So there’s my wrap up of Warped Tour 2013. I got to see some long time favorites and discovered several bands as well that I highly recommend.
