A day spent in the sun. Vans Warped Tour 2005 Opening day 

Review by Michael Mason

Photos by Rob Kern 

Thousands of punk rockers took on the sun and heat to watch this summer’s definitive punk show.  Fifty bands for forty bones, not a bad deal for some of the best-known bands of the genre.  Bands from yesteryear also joined the tour for the first time, Offspring, a long time name in punk joined up after 11 years of Warped.  Younger bands also got a shot on the main stage.  Up and comers No Use For A Name, My Chemical Romance and Fall Out Boy landed spots on this year’s main stage.  On other stages; and sometimes without stages, younger, less known, but sometimes better; bands set up for what they hoped to be a smash performance to win new fans, and please the old ones.  Bands like Boys Night Out and So They Say were on online merchandise distributor Smartpunk’s stage at the show.
The highlight of my day was seeing Amber Pacific have a seat outside their booth just to rock out an acoustic set for a few dedicated fans.  What they thought was going to be twenty to twenty-five people turned into nearly one hundred fans sitting around in what felt like a private show.  The band played songs off the older EP Fading Days and off the newer LP The Possibility and the Promise at a fan’s request.  Will, lead guitarist and backup vocalist for the band broke a string during this set, but played on regardless.  The band felt the show was an enormous success helping them sell over one hundred cds and one hundred shirts, a record day for them.
Underoath
On other stages, indie bands and unsigned bands plied their trade and won some new fans.  Bed Light for Blue Eyes rocked out Hot Topic’s sponsored “Mike Say’s” stage.  A special tent was set up for a history lesson (yes history) of punk music, featuring such bands as The Ramones, The Sex Pistols and many others.  Ernie Ball’s Battle of the Bands winners were given a stage and played their hearts out.

Choices of music varied so greatly in one setting it was astonishing.  A person could go listen to some indie rap, head over and watch some awesome girl bands rock out, then hit up the Smartpunk stage for some newer bands, then watch main stage for a guaranteed good show.  However you like it, Warped Tour has it.  The show was an astonishing nine and a half hours long, but worth every minute of the day, and every inch of skin burnt to a crisp.  Tickets seem a little steep at nearly forty dollars a show, but the amount of bands at the show eliminates the fact that you paid an entire day’s worth of work at minimum wage to get in. 

So go buy yourself a ticket and enjoy a day in the sun with some awesome bands, both musically and personally.  Bands are always willing to meet a new fan and hang out for a few, just go hit up their merch tent and see if they’re there and if so, you can have a chat with them.  Just don’t forget the sunscreen…
No Use For A Name