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Vans
Warped Tour 2005 entertains fans at CSULB
By
Brian Spigel
Online Forty-Niner
Staff Writer
By no means do I consider myself any sort of punk purist. Still, with a mainstream
attitude it really seems to me the Vans Warped Tour 2005 has officially crossed
some type of consumerist chalk line.
What Cingular Wireless and Samsung, the two main sponsors of the tour, have
to do with punk rock ideals I will never quite understand (though it is slightly
better then the year Target sponsored the tour).
I guess I spent so much time at the Elle Girlz Garage, the Major League Baseball
batting cages and the giant Fuse couch that I missed most of the action on
the Volcom and Hurley stages.
But I’m not here to complain about corporate sponsorships, I’m
here to critique music. Friday’s Warped Tour stopped at a packed Cal
State Long Beach parking lot and combined flat-out hardcore (Avenged Sevenfold
and Atreyu) with indie-hardcore (the wonderful Senses Fail), breaking punk
(My Chemical Romance) and well-established punk (The Transplants, The Offspring
and MXPX).
But for all intents and purposes the show truly belonged to two second-stage
bands: the charismatic Tsunami Bomb and the show-stealing Riverboat Gamblers.
Straight out of Denton, Texas, the Riverboat Gamblers are quickly becoming
the best reason to leave your house since ABC’s Tuesday night lineup.
Show-stealing wouldn’t quite describe how good this band is.
I would put them alongside Arcade Fire and possibly Eisley on the national “Do
not choose for an opening band” list.
Even with 84 other artists playing that day, there was no lead singer who could
remotely pose a challenge to Teko. Let’s just say he doesn’t limit
his show to the stage. In a mere half hour he ran out into the crowd as far
as his microphone would go, jumped on top of the speakers, entangled photographers
in his mic cord and threw peanut shells at the crowd.
I know it may be a tough sell to run out on some of the main stage bands, but
sometimes the second stage is just the way to go, especially with bands like
the Riverboat Gamblers playing them.
Speaking of great second-stage bands it continues to amaze me that on a tour
where nearly half of the attendees are female, Tsunami Bomb continues to be
the only notable female-led band to play any of the four main stages.
The band has transformed itself from a bland, gothically-laced band to a straight-forward
punk band that isn’t afraid to jump around.
While the band possesses enough musical talent to fill up several gym-sized
swimming pools, the true star of the show is the band’s radiant lead
singer, Agent M. Let’s get this out of the way first of all: Agent M.
is a very good looking woman-probably the best looking woman in punk.
But by no means is that the tip of the iceberg of what makes her a good front
woman. M.’s confidence and charisma carries the group. Her ability to
jump around and lead the audience without an ounce of staleness or premeditation
is truly refreshing.
Like all good front women–and men–she brings her own personality
to the show without overshadowing any of the bands songs or musical ability.
Getting away from the side stage, the shows two main stages were populated
with well-known acts, which each spent 30 minutes exciting the crowd. My Chemical
Romance, arguably the hottest band on the tour, had to settle with a 2:30 p.m.
set, though they did attract the biggest crowd of the day.
Despite the teen girls screaming in my ear, the band’s performance was
as hot as the weather.
Another hot band on the tour was the Transplants who also played early. I was
impressed with how tight the band has gotten since their horrendous showing
at this years KROQ Weenie Roast.
The band just seemed to click. Tim was unusually playful, Skinhead Rob proved
he is really a highly skilled rapper and Travis Barker showed pound-for-pound
you cannot find a better punk drummer.
Two established bands tried to wrangle in some well-needed Warped Tour magic
of their own. MXPX was tight during their half hour, and it was nice to see
how well their songs have held up after 10 plus years (though they still seem
to have the same set they’ve had for the last few tours).
The Offspring’s appearance on this year’s tour seemed a little
too calculated for my tastes. After several albums of falling popularity, it
seemed they wanted to use this tour to reconnect with the “punk crowds.”
Not that there is really anything that wrong with that, but you could tell
they were going for some well-needed cred with a set list made up mostly of
the bands early “punkier” albums.
This year’s Warped Tour at CSULB was by no means a complete success (umm,
an all day concert on a parking lot with no place to sit down? A main stage
placed in the middle of a walkway?), but the school did take several strides
to clean their reputation after the 1999 “Beach Fest” debacle.
Kudos for having free parking and kudos for having a fast-moving line. |
