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My Day at the Warped Tour - Detroit

Written by Art Michalski

Thursday, 02 August 2007

As the 13th edition of Warped Tour rolled through Detroit, over 60 bands hit as many as 8 stages during the 9-hour event at Comerica Park in downtown Detroit. Now, without being able to teleport myself from stage to stage like I was on Star Trek, I tried to check out the sights and sounds of as many bands as I could at Warped 2007. I was taking mental notes throughout the day, and I would like to share the satisfying and somewhat alarming moments of the Lucky 13 Edition of Warped.
The least surprising event of the day: The emo backlash begins. Don’t get me wrong, the Warped lineup is still littered with emo and lighter fare and the ones that didn’t fit into that category, the fans let their voices be known. The set by Hawaiian inspired Pepper (more to come later in the article) seemed like a half-hour infomercial on the evils of emo. The tour’s sponsor, Vans, has a “Don’t Get Emo” shirt that was a popular seller.
The most surprising event of the day: The amount of Jesus-friendly acts on the bill. I am a firm believer of keeping church and hard music separate, but I guess I am in the minority. Groups like Haste the Day, Family Force 5 and Anberlin all either alluded to their beliefs in their songs, or just came out and said it. It may work while having a concert in a church parking lot, but at Warped, it will leave a lot of us a puzzled. And in no way am I downing these bands, because all of them had some redeeming qualities to them.
Angriest People of the Day: No, NOFX wasn’t there this year; but this honor goes to some of the water/Gatorade vendors that were working for tips. At one point, I saw a female vendor not tipped by a kid no older than 14 proceed to go after him for not tipping. It really makes you rethink that whole 15 percent thing…
The What Ever Happened To Award: Ska! It used to be a main fixture at Warped, but has dwindled down to almost nothing this decade. Boston’s Big D and the Kids Table and long time local act Mustard Flag hold up the flag up in its dying hours.
Biggest Crowd of the Day: Tie between the Red Jumpsuit Apparatus and the almost hometown show for Chiodos. The Jumpsuit’s set was heavy on their alt-rock hits (“Face Down,” “Don’t You Fake It”) and was swarmed by the underage set. Even though I was watching It Dies Today at the far more intense Ernie Ball stage, I could see the throngs of people watching the soon to bust wide open Chiodos wailing through their set.
Biggest Pleasant Surprise of the Day: Tiger Army. The L.A. band is lead by a guy with an Internet screen name (Nick 13), but the band was probably the most mature sounding band on the bill. Sounding like a cross between Bad Religion and AFI, with a little rock-a-billy thrown in, Tiger Army seems destined to be future alt-rock hitmakers. Coming in a close second was the previously mentioned Pepper, who brought an island vibe to Warped, battled emo, and won the crowd over. If you are really into Sublime, listen to Pepper. I imagine this is how a Sublime record would sound today.
Most Satisfying Band: Bad Religion. This one wasn’t real hard. For the long-time punk godfathers to play for only 30 minutes is a travesty, because their set only touched the tip of the iceberg. They could have played for over an hour, and had more than enough material to keep things entertaining. I haven’t seen this band in years, but with great tracks like “Infected” and new songs like “Honest Goodbye,” it is awesome to see these guys back on stage. Good call on starting the set with “American Jesus,” if I may say so.
Other notes: MCB interviewee Throwdown rocked, but getting only 25 minutes to perform left the crowd, and the pits, wanting more. Toronto’s K-OS was so far away from the current hip-hop scene, that it was overly refreshing to hear tracks like “Sunday Morning.” Killswitch Engage is back at full strength, with guitarist Adam D. back in the fold. I think Adam scared the kiddies with his sarcastic talk of killing emo bands and doing disgusting things to them.
This year’s Warped was a mix of new and old. It was good to see old school punk bands mixed in with all of the guys wearing their jeans just way too tight and the girls that wear beads so large that they could be declared a weapon in certain states. Even as I get older and skew the age curve a little higher at Warped, it is still one of the best values of the summer.

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