Weekly Warped: The Memory Maker

Today’s the fourth week in our on-going coverage of the 2010 Vans Warped Tour that kicked off on June 25th in Carson, California and runs all the way through to the middle of August – hitting 43 cities in a total of 51 days.

Each week, on top of posting numerous interviews from the first two days of the tour, we’ve looked at the different elements of the tour and today I decided to step back and remember all the good times I’ve had at the tour over the years.

The Memory Maker
By Bobby Gorman

For all the ups and downs, the naysayers and lovers, the pros and cons of Warped Tour, one thing is undeniable: The Warped Tour is a memory maker.

Think about it. Think about all the shows you’ve ever been to and all of your favourite concert memories. Chances are at least one of them comes from a trip to the annual punk rock circus – I know plenty of mine are.

My first trek to the tour was in 2004. I took the three hour drive down to Calgary with a friend and we walked into the Race City Speedway as Dave King of Flogging Molly held up a can of Guiness, proclaimed that was his breakfast and busted into their set. It was the first time I saw Bad Religion and I actually ran into Jay Bentley and got an autograph. Coheed and Cambria was there but Claudio Sanchez was far too drunk to play and opted to try and play the guitar with a bottle of Jack Daniels and ask the crowd to throw bottles at him and the rest of the band. I saw a few Alkaline Trio songs but skipped over them to catch Rise Against play for the first time (a band I’ve seen almost a dozen times since) – and the dust filled tornado that rose up from the circle pit is still an image permanently implanted in my brain. Little did I know that less than thirty minutes later I’d be hiding from a real tornado and golf ball sized hail as a funnel cloud cut through the Calgary skyline.

All of that was in one day, more than six years ago and yet I still remember it vividly.

Since then I’ve seen more and made more memories. Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band blew me away last year and the six piece, all girl Japanese ska band Oreskaband the year before remains a talking point between my friends and I.  It’s still the only place I’ve ever managed to see NOFX play and watching Tom Morello shred it on guitar a few weeks ago in Carson as part of Street Sweeper Social Club is another image that will stay forever in my memory banks.

That’s part of the fun of Warped Tour – it gives you the opportunity to see bands that you may not get to see otherwise and those thirty minutes become an instant memory.

Chris Cresswell of The Flatliners fondly remembers watching Rancid year after year on the tour, back when Brett Reed was still drumming; and then, of course, there was Me First The Gimme Gimmes. “The only time I’ve ever seen them live was at the Warped Tour and it was awesome. They had like their tikki bar on stage with them, it was too funny.” When asked about his favourite Warped memory, Fake Problems front man Chris Farren thought back to seeing Glassjaw for the first and only time at Warped Tour along with the enigmatic Andrew WK, “I saw him in 2003 at Warped Tour and it was one of the best live shows I have ever seen.”

In 2007, I remember laughing as all of Set Your Goals energetically ran through the crowd to catch New Found Glory during their mid-day performance; something that they seemed to do quite often according to singer Jordan Brown. “I think it was 2004, when New Found Glory had just put Catalyst out. So they had Sticks And Stones and Catalyst as well as all their other records they had put out. And Good Charlotte had just put out Chronicles of Life and Death and they were two of the bigger bands on it that year,” he said thinking back to the day. “I remember they both played in the middle of the day and I remember getting that really good feeling of ‘wow, there are so many people here and everyone’s just having fun. Everyone’s attention is all on the stage.’ Like, really enjoying themselves so I thought that was really fun.”

The performances aren’t the only thing there making memories, there’s also all the weird random stuff that happens at Warped Tour that stands out. “My favourite memories are just the barbecues,” said Sierra Kusterbeck of VersaEmerge. “Sometimes there will be a few people left, it’s like three in the morning and somebody would just blast the stereo and everybody, it doesn’t matter who you are or how shy you are – dance circle. Just dancing and everyone’s just having a good time. No judgement whatsoever. It’s just a truly, good, good time.”

Rock photographer Lisa Johnson, who’s been on the tour since the very beginning, echoes that thought, “Some of my fondest memories are the most random,” she said. “I love going to the Gorge and watching bands on the big grassy hill. We’ll spend weeks figuring out ‘what are we going to ride down that hill?’”

Chris Browne, guitarist for New York’s Polar Bear Club, only went to the tour on one occasion back when he was fourteen and on top of seeing Sevendust and crowd surfing to Blink-182, he also ran into some of his personal heroes. “I actually got to sneak back by the tour buses at age fourteen and hang out with Fletcher and Jim from Pennywise. They were Gods to me at that time and they were such nice guys and I just remember thinking ‘this is what a punk band should be.” That feeling never ends – whether your watching the show as part of the crowd or performing on a stage, you’re still a fan. “I look over and [The Bronx] was there and I was like ‘fuck off’ and I freaked out,” joked Cresswell. “I’m like ‘I’m running to the van right now and getting five CDs’ and I did. I mean, I love the band; I gotta dork out about it. You might never get that opportunity again.”

So whether this year will be your first time to the tour or the tenth, it will still find ways to implant as many memories into your brain as it possibly can; which means that when you hear Andrew WK sing “You Will Remember Tonight,” you can smile inside and silently agree with him.

After all, it’s true: you will remember tonight.