Warped Tour 8/3/06 Camden, NJ The Warped Tour has been around a long time, and while I haven't made it to the festival every year, I do try to make it. Which is why when I found out that the Old Bridge, NJ (my hometown) date for the tour coincided with a wedding I had to be at, I decided I'd go check out the Camden, NJ show. The Camden show is billed as being at the Tweeter Center At The Waterfront, but really it is predominantly in the parking lot of the amphitheater. Arriving just before the 11am start time, my friend Jay (from the band Mazeffect), and I, were led on a wild goose chase to try to find where the press check in table was, first being told to go one way, then another, and back and forth for a good 30 minutes. We actually walked through the interior of the Warped Tour four times (without anyone stopping us), while trying to find the press check in table. There was a serious lack of communication among the staff, but after being led round and round, we did find the table (which was tucked away between some trees, with no sign saying what it was). Once that mess was cleared up it was time for some punk rock and roll...well, not quite. Today was one of the hottest days of the summer (topping 100 degrees), so the first stop was getting a $5 powerade, the first of many of these expensive beverages. Now it was time for some punk rock and roll...wait a minute, do I hear a woman crooning a mellow cover of John Mayer's "daughters"? Yes, I do. Wow, no sense of irony to the song, just a straight-laced beautiful rendition of the song. That is so not punk rock, that it may actually be the most punk rock thing I heard all day. The band in question was Meg & Dia, playing on the Shira Girl stage, and after that one mellow cover, they rocked through several great numbers sounding somewhat like Teegan & Sara. A lot of fun, and a great start to the day. Walking over to one of the main stages, we caught a couple of songs by a band that may as well have been called Something Corporate (or better yet, something derivative), as they sounded somewhat like them, with a little more screamo added in to sound just like everyone else. And here is where Jay and I started talking about how punk music used to be a vague term to describe artists as diverse as the Ramones, Talking Heads, Elvis Costello, the Clash, and even Tom Petty, none of whom sound alike. These days, many of the bands on the Warped Tour have that same screamo/emo sound, so that I can't tell the difference between the bands. I know that that probably makes me sound old, but my taste in music is probably not the same as the teenagers that compromise the largest chunk of the audience at this festival anyway. However, I did manage to see some good bands that showed the diversity of punk rock. The Sounds was one of them, that played early in the day on the main stage. Sounding like a mix of Debbie Harry and Wendy-O, the Swedish band had a 80's new wave punk rock sound. High energy, and good music. Unfortunately, halfway through their set the extreme heat started to get to me and I needed some shade and/or air conditioning. One of the upsides of the Camden venue was that it had both shade and air conditioning. Their indoor food vendors and rest room section was air conditioned (and therefore one of the most crowded places on this day), and the actual covered amphitheater was being utilized for two of the smaller stages (why they didn't move the two main stages in there on this extremely hot day, is beyond my comprehension). Cooled down and ready to brave the heat, we headed back out into the "flea market" section of the Warped Tour. These days you can't walk 5 steps in any direction without being hit with someone trying to sell you something, from t-shirts and CDs, to video games and cellular plans, the Warped Tour has become as much about music, as it has about marketing to the youth of America. While some of what they were trying to sell was interesting, does anyone really come to a punk rock festival to consider their cellular plan??? Back to the music, and as always, there is a lot to choose from. With about a dozen stages, they say over 100 bands play every show. But how many were worth seeing? Well, admittedly, I didn't get to see as many bands I would have liked, but when it's 100 degrees out, you tend to stay in the shaded areas as much as possible. So I caught a lot of the bands on the amphitheater stages, of which I can speak highly of a couple of bands. First was Valient Thorr. Looking like a cross between a 70's southern rock band and Spinal Tap, these guys rocked. Lead vocalist, Valient, has a great stage presence, and his pure energy and enthusiasm won me over instantly. These guys were also one of the odder bands on the bill, sounding more like a cross between Black Sabbath, Motorhead, and Judas Priest. The other standout performance I caught in the amphitheater was the Pink Spiders. They look like glam rockers, and play infectious pop-punk. No matter how cynical I may be at times to some of the pop-punk music that actually becomes popular, I hope this band does catch on with the mainstream, and put some good pop-punk back on the radio. When I did brave going back out into the heat the rest of the day, it tended to be for bands that I have seen, or bands I really wanted to see that I had never seen before, but were already fans of their music. The big highlights for me were as follows: Helmet. Back in the 90's I was a big fan of these alt-hard rockers, but I had never caught them live. Knowing they reformed in the last year, I wasn't sure if I'd enjoy their music as much as I did when I was in my late teens/early twenties. But a few chords into their first song, I knew these guys still had the same impact on me as they did years ago. They were still playing grungy hard rock, and it was one of the only times that standing out in that heat didn't seem unbearable. Bouncing Souls. I remember seeing these guys back in the day at the Court Tavern, and it's great to see how they have risen in popularity, and still have the same energy. While there are a few of their newer songs, sound decidedly un-punk, and really don't do much for me ("the pizza song" for example), their 30 minute was compromised of the punk rock that they do so well. Joan Jett & the Heartbreakers. As big a fan as I have been of her music, this was my first time actually seeing her live, and as it was a the last set that my friend and I stayed for, due to the heat, it was definitely a good way to end the day. Joan came out and burned right through "bad reputation", with the same feeling it had the first time I heard that back in the 80's. her set was a mixture of her greatest hits ("cherry bomb", "do you want to touch me?", "crimson & clover"), and songs from her new CD, "sinner" ("a.c.d.c.", "change the world"). And yes, she closed out with a great rendition of "I love rock & Roll", that everyone (including security there), was singing along to. This led to Jay and I both wondering out loud if anyone else there was familiar with the Arrows original version. By the time Joan Jett ended, it was a quarter to six, and Jay and I, beaten down by the brutal sun, decided to leave, sadly missing some good bands that still had not played. Hopefully next year it will be overcast, 80 degrees, and low humidity, when the Warped Tour comes around. Because even with a bunch of bands on the bill I didn't care for, there's still enough good bands to make this tour worth while.