Weekly Warped: A Twenty-Something Takes on Warped Tour Twenty Ten

For the third story in today’s on-going coverage of the 2010 Vans Warped Tour, Felicia Stanikmas walks through the reasoning she keeps coming back to the Warped Tour year after year. Ignoring the naysayers who say that a 24 year old has now place on the tour, Felicia is a proud Warped attendee and will be for as long as she can be.

Check back in an hour to see this week’s photo gallery for the tour.

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A Twenty-Something Takes on Warped Tour Twenty Ten
By Felicia Stanikmas

Standing there in the midday sun, with my layered T-shirts sticking to one another (as well as parts of my body I didn’t know existed), I waited for the gates to open. What felt like hundreds of others waited there with me to be let into the venue; all of us already hot and sweaty, cramped into this tiny space with only one thing on our mind: Once those gates go up, you’ve got to make a mad dash for the schedule board in an attempt to get front row to see your favorite band.

A guy to my right played the bagpipes while a band played in the parking lot, surrounded by young girls going gaga over them. There was talk all around me of which band is better than which; and who would get the cut if two bands were playing at the same time.  And though we all seemed to come from different places with different ideas about why we were there, the fact remained that we were all there for one purpose and one purpose alone: music.

Welcome to Warped Tour, because that is what it’s all about.

I find myself catching flack sometimes for going to Warped Tour as a 24 year old. With friends and acquaintances saying that it was something that they used to do in high school or something that they’re ‘over’ now that they’ve entered the ‘real world’.  I also find myself wondering where else, as a 24 year old, could I find such an awesome all day music experience?

Do tell me, O, Warped Tour naysayers, where else would I get the chance to see Every Time I Die absolutely shred it live and then get to chat with Jordan Buckley afterwards at the merch tent?

What other all day music event would allow me to see Polar Bear Club front row with an open invitation to fans to come hang out with them afterwards?

What other concert gives me the opportunity to make jokes about Twitter with Andrew WK (who spent HOURS at his tent with fans and even gave away free stuff) and then get to catch him onstage doing what he does best with his band?

I’m sure by now you get the point. There isn’t really anything else out there like Warped.

Okay, so the food and water are expensive. The ATM fees are outrageous. However, I do not think I speak only for myself when I say that it is the music that keeps me coming back for more.

And although, people are really quick to judge the kids who are into the neon-synth-punk band of the moment, those kids might end up catching a Bouncing Souls show for the first time at Warped. And those Warped veterans who proudly don their Ramones shirts and studded vests? Well, they might just accidentally hear one of those pop-punk bands and even, (gasp!) like them.

For the normal twenty-something’s like myself, Warped Tour is the one chance I get to feel like a rock star all year. It’s about as close as most normal people will come to getting backstage and partying with their music idols, and who knows, they may even discover their new favorite band there.

I realized something this year at Warped. It occurred to me whilst watching the happiest, most peaceful circle pit that I have ever borne witness to. There I stood, as I watched the metal-head kids, the punk-kids and the pop-punk kids dancing together in circular harmony. There were no fists of fury flying around, no thrashing, just kids being kids together, enjoying music. I usually back away from the circle pits, but this one I wanted to dive right into, headfirst. And although Andrew WK did not bleed on me that day, he did bring those kids together in the name of something bigger than all of them. And that is a pretty awesome thing.

Whether you are 15 years old and it’s your first Warped Tour or you are 55 years old and have been coming for years, remember to try and check your hang-ups at the gates and try to keep an open mind. Warped Tour really has something for everyone and I don’t care what the other twenty-something’s say, I’m going to go to Warped Tour for as long as they’ll have me; even if that means taking my Metamucil beforehand and rocking it from my sticker-covered power scooter someday.