Warped Tour 2010
July 25 is going to be a big day for me. Y'all in Orlando know what's up: Warped Tour is coming to the Central Florida Fairgrounds (if they don't move it again). I'm sure some of y'all are asking "aren't you a little old to be hitting up Warped Tour still?" and to you, I quote Andre 3000: "w-w-well yes and no," last year's Warped Tour wasn't really my cup of tea, lots of major-label artists, shitty, trendy bands played, and there was a lot of stuff for 12 year-olds who could only listen to what Alternative Press recommended for them (in short, the abomination that is 3oh!3 was a headliner). I was pretty much done, I had decided I was done with Warped Tour altogether, but this year, I checked it out again and boy, was I surprised. This year's lineup is actually pretty damn good. If I'm going to be honest, all I had to hear was that The Dillinger Escape Plan is on it again this year and i'm 100% down to go, but there are a lot of good bands playing the Warped Tour this year, including (but not limited to): Alkaline Trio, Bring Me the Horizon, Emmure, Every Time I Die, Fit for Rivals, His Name Was Iron, Parkway Drive, Suicide Silence, The Sparring, The World Alive and Whitechapel. It's not all metal and hardcore bands. It's not even mostly metal and hardcore bands, but don't get it twisted, it'll be heavy. Heavy as balls.
If you can't find me at The Dillinger Escape Plan's tent, you're likely to see me lurking around the Kevin Says stage. It's a beautiful thing they've got going there. As the story goes, back in the day, bands trying to play Warped Tour would tell the people running the show "Kevin [Lyman] says that we can play." It started out as a picnic table, and grew into one of the smaller stages where bands could sign up to be considered. The Kevin Says Stage is a place where underground music lives on Warped Tour, and you can imagine that I heard a chorus of angels when I read about it. I had never heard of the premise surrounding the Kevin Says Stage until just the other day, but It turns out that Kevin Says Stage has been around for quite some time. Four years ago, at my first Warped Tour, I remember walking around and hearing metal coming from one of the tents. My friends and I all stopped because that was just super-exciting to us. We, being metal heads at this punk show, had to investigate. We found the Hot Topic, Kevin Says Stage and were so happy to see a metal band at Warped Tour that we didn't even care what it sounded like. The band we saw there was called Timeless (now defunct). I remember that in the very end of their set, the final breakdown was "metal is timeless." It got us so amped; this outright celebration of metal in this sea of emo. We had a blast watching them.
All I'm trying to say is that the Warped Tour is going down this Sunday and if you're not going, you're going to be terribly sorry. I know there's a whole "I'm too metal for the Warped Tour" mentality, but let's be real; this year, The Warped Tour is a must-see, so don't be that guy that missed out.
For dates click here. I know most of them have passed but all my ATLiens can still hit it up on Monday, July 26 at the Lakewood Amphitheater. Edit: while writing this post, I came across footage of this show, check us out on facebook to watch the video and add Gravedigger Magazine while you're there.