THE VANS WARPED TOUR 2007 @ Parc Jean Drapeau

By Josh Mocle - The Kids Are So-So - 08/12/2007

Not much can be said about the Vans Warped Tour that really hasn’t been said once or twice before. Over its 13-year history, it has essentially become the tour most punk purists love to hate (and usually end up attending anyway).  It’s morphed from a street punk and third wave ska tour that hit most major cities in the US to essentially an alternative flavor of the week showcase that hits outdoor venues all over the globe during the summer. The official structure of the tour has remained the same since the beginning: bands are given 30 minute sets and the schedule is changed every day, thus, fans will only know when their favourite band is performing when they are inside the venue.

2007 marked the fourth year in a row that I attended what many bands have affectionately called the “punk rock summer camp” and my reaction to this year’s festivities is pretty much the one I’ve held since 2004: certainly not incredible or awe inspiring, but not a wasted day in the sun either. This year also marked the first year I was in attendance when the tour stopped in Montreal as opposed to my usual Boston stomping grounds, although as it happened, this year’s Montreal date featured a few performances not available on any other date of the tour.

The first, and possibly most important, Montreal exclusive was an appearance by Only Crime. The group, featuring Russ Rankin (formerly of Good Riddance) on vocals, Aaron Dalbec (formerly of Converge, currently of Bane) on guitar and some dude named Bill Stevenson (of some bands no one has heard of called Black Flag and The Descendents) on drums, had been touring Canada in support of their 2007 Fat Wreck Chords release, Virulence, and saw fit to make an appearance at Warped in lieu of playing an official Montreal show. Now, one would think that given the exclusivity of their appearance and the amount of respect the band members had collectively obtained over the years that they would be given a decent time slot. However, as I entered the grounds at 11:45, I immediately noticed that Only Crime were, indeed, well into their set as they had begun playing at 11:30, when most people were still waiting in line. Another great act, indie-rapper P.O.S. had begun his set at 11:15.

Despite this horrible botch on the part of whoever handles the schedule, the rest of the day proceeded relatively well. 12:30 saw The Flatliners perform on the semi-exclusive-to-Montreal Union Label Group Stage (I say semi-exclusive since the stage and the bands on it appeared at the Barrie date as well). I’ve seen the Winnipeg quartet perform three times now and can safely say that they have improved every single time. Their own brand of horn-less ska-tinged punk was as tight as ever while the band themselves really appeared to have found their true potential. I guess their signing to Fat Wreck Chords was no accident.

I should mention at this point that it would have been impossible for me to catch every single performance that day, as over 100 bands were spread out over 8 stages. I did manage to catch snippets of quite a few sets though, the second of which was Boston’s Big D and the Kids Table. I’ve seen this band too many times to count (and by that I mean 5 times) and they haven’t once disappointed me. This time they focused primarily on tracks from their new record and SideOneDummy debut, Strictly Rude. Many people have said that Big D are currently the only ska band that have mattered in nearly ten years. This statement is highly debatable, but what isn’t arguable is their showmanship. Even when only playing for a half hour in the blistering afternoon sun they managed to put on a tight and entirely enjoyable set, which culminated in singer David McWane announcing that they would be returning to Montreal on their headlining tour later this year (December 8^th to be exact) and promising that if they hadn’t played your favourite song that day, then they would when they returned. They subsequently played two of my favourite tracks ("Checklist" and "L.A.X.") to close out their set. All was good in the world.

Shortly afterward, Montreal’s own The Planet Smashers took the stage and despite being the elder ska statesmen, their set seemed to lack the energy and intensity of the Big D set, despite playing similar tunes. I also happened to notice that the crowd, while large, was for the most part just standing there, prompting me to wonder whether people were legitimately there for the music or only there to show support for their city. Whatever the reason, I was bored rather quickly and walked off after three songs.

Killswitch Engage, one of the few metal bands on the tour (there were none on the tour last year, so this was a step up), took the stage at around 3 o’clock. I had always heard rumours of bands flourishing while out of their element, but had never once observed the phenomenon. On a tour of mostly pop-punk and emo bands (none other than Hawthorne Heights played immediately after they did), KSE could not possibly have been more out of their element, yet they put on one of the strongest sets I saw all day. Having not seen them since 2003, I had forgotten the intensity that they bring to their metal/hardcore hybrid that oh-so-many have ripped off in recent years. However, despite becoming one of the bigger modern metal bands, they still seem to value audience interaction, which is something so rarely seen these days. A personal highlight of the set was Adam Dutkiewicz spouting banal anti-emo sentiment from his perch on stage left (such as “I want to feed you emo kids to sharks. Do you know why? BECAUSE SHARKS DON’T CRY!” and “Tell the emo kid that they’re giving away free Warped Tour tampons and then punch him when he runs to look for them”). Apparently the man is a fan of throwing rocks in glass houses, but regardless, the gathered crowd seemed to eat it up and ask for seconds. Whether KSE will make a second Warped Tour appearance remains to be seen, but they did provide at least a slight bit of variety to the proceedings that the tour had lacked in previous years.

Following a rather boring performance by Long Island emo veterans Bayside and a few enjoyable but slightly out of place songs by the second of two hip-hop acts on the tour (in this case, it was Toronto’s K-OS), I made my way back to the main stage to take in Nashville, Tennessee’s Paramore. Say what you will about the band, whose oldest member is 22 and whose front(wo)man is actually an 18 year-old girl, but they create some of the best (albeit entirely safe and TV friendly) pop-punk seen or heard in years. As expected given the circumstances, the gathered crowd was made up of predominantly teenage girls and their jock, Polo shirt-wearing boyfriends. However, amongst the crowd I noticed none other than Protest the Hero’s Rody Walker, which just serves to highlight the amount of respect and admiration Paramore has amassed within the industry, and amongst fans of music in general, in just a few short years. What they do, they sure as hell do RIGHT, and it appears that with the release of their sophomore full-length Riot! earlier this year, a lot more people are starting to become aware of that fact. Where this will lead the group is uncertain, but if there was ever any one flavour-of-the-week band that deserved to become more than just the flavor of the week, it’s Paramore.

Following Paramore’s set, everyone’s favourite stereotypical drunken Irishmen and women took the stage. I am, of course, talking about none other than Flogging Molly, and while I was only able to catch their first three songs, a smile was nonetheless plastered on my face the whole time. Flogging Molly are one of the few pseudo-punk bands out there who can really do no wrong in my book, and that day was no exception.

I then made my way across the grounds to observe arguably the one band that got me to attend the show in the first place, Hertfordshire, England’s Gallows. At risk of becoming a gushing fanboy, I say with zero hesitation that they put on one of the best live performances I’d seen not only that day, but all year (which is no small feat given the amount of shows I’m wont to take in). Singer Frank Carter stalked the stage like a young Henry Rollins while the rest of the band played their own unique brand of British hardcore (or Britcore as I’ve affectionately labeled it) behind his searing vocals. Eventually he abandoned the stage altogether and entered the crowd himself, proceeding to rough up the small but dedicated group that had amassed to watch him. Despite his over the top machismo, it became clear that nothing pleased this guy more than having a group of burly, sweat-drenched Canadians (myself included) scream his lyrics back to him literally inches from his face. The other members of the band seemed to share his sentiment, for all intents and purposes they loved what they were doing and it showed through their performance. Are Gallows the future of punk? The ones who will make the genre truly great again, as all the hype seems to indicate? Probably not, but who fucking cares when it’s this damn good?

Following “punk’s new face,” I made my way over to observe its old one: Bad Religion. This band needs no introduction and even if they did I’m not qualified to give it. All I will say is that for a band that just released its 14^th album, they played stronger, faster, tighter, and with more obvious dedication than any of the bands they shared that stage with. It has been 27 years since their formation and they show no signs of stopping. More power to ‘em, I say.

The Unseen took the stage at 7 p.m. and proved why they are still the city of Boston’s reigning street-punks. Of all the bands I’d witnessed that day, they easily packed the most songs into their half hour. Ripping through a whirlwind set of both very new and very old tracks, they made it clear that they are quite aware of their back catalogue and that they don’t plan on forgetting it any time soon (although to be fair they’ve never written a song that’s particularly difficult to play).

Immediately following The Unseen was a surprise performance by Whitby, Ontario’s Protest the Hero, another band who, like The Flatliners, constantly seem to improve every time I see them. Having just spent most of 2007 writing and recording their new record (titled Fortress, out November 8^th), they’ve emerged from the studio with the same intensity and energy they’ve always brought to their particular brand of “prog-metal” (whatever that means). However, this time they also brought noticeable technical improvement. They generally seemed to have learned a lot during their time in the studio and I look forward to seeing where they go next. (Oh, and the new stuff didn’t sound half bad either.)

As I Lay Dying, the only other mainstream metal band on the tour aside from Killswitch Engage, were the last to play on the main stage at around 8 p.m. However, at this point, I found myself entirely exhausted, dirty and thirsty, so I honestly can’t recall whether they were good or not. Given their history (and new record), I’d hazard to guess that they put on a so-so performance, but you’ll just have to go track them down to make sure. What I can say, though, is that I feel bad for all the metalheads who had to wait around for 8 hours to catch a half hour As I Lay Dying set, but they probably should have known better anyway.

So that’s that – another year, another Warped Tour. Will I return next year? Probably. Will it continue its recurring trend of being entirely mediocre but still giving me a decent idea of who would be worth seeing in a closed-venue setting in the year to come? Most likely. Will The Mighty Mighty Bosstones finally reunite and play the tour next year like many assumed they would this year? Probably (hopefully) not.

That’s all folks.

Tune in to The Kids Are So-So with Josh every Tuesday from 2pm-4pm