My Personal Experience of Vans Warped Tour 2013

DISCLAIMER: Everyone's experience of the Vans Warped Tour is different, however this post is coming from my perspective of what I saw. There are things that I witnessed that might have not been present at every stop of the Vans Warped Tour, but again, all from my experience. 

Above: Inflatable Schedule

   Rather than post the Vans Warped tour news-style or in a more formal way, I will speak about my own personal experience, which is far more relatable and from the point of view of a "Warpie" (this is my own term for Warped Tour festival-goers).

     I attended the Toronto stop of the Vans Warped Tour on Friday July 5, 2013 at the Flats at the Molson Canadian Amphitheatre. This year's theme was "The Best Day Ever" meaning simply what it sounds like; the tour is the best day of the year for concert-goers, since they get to experience fun, adventure, music, and meeting some of their heroes. I must agree, this theme is very accurate.

Above: The Black Dhalia Murder (photo by Larry Airapetian)

     I arrived right on time when the first bands were starting (around 11 a.m.). There were eight stages listed on the schedule, not including the Lemmon Stage or the Acoustic Basement area. With so much selection, the first band of choice was Oh,Sleeper (we only caught the tail end though as we were trying to get organized for the day).

     Next was The Black Dhalia Murder. Their performance was full of energy with plenty of movement on stage. There was even a fan in the mosh pit wearing a horse mask. He was one of many costumed people I saw during the day.

     Aside from the horse-masked-man, I witnessed a unicorn-masked-man, a man in a banana costume, a man in a killer whale costume, and a man in a Spider Man costume. I, as well as many other concert-goers found this quite funny, especially when they could be seen in the mosh pit, or even crowd surfing in these get-ups.

     My first witnessing of the killer whale was at Stick to Your Guns's set. Aside from the whale, and being unfamiliar with their music, I quite enjoyed their music and you could say that they gained a new fan. What really sealed the deal for me was when Jesse Barnett (the lead singer) was thanking the audience for all their support and talking about how the effect their music has on the audience is misconstrued. Barnett told the audience that it's ok to be angry sometimes and I found this to be a beautiful moment as the band isn't "sugar-coating" the meaning of their music, and showing that it's something beautiful. Also, the band instructed the crowd to do a circle pit, around the audience. I like to think of this as a "donut-shaped" circle pit, for a better visual.

Above: Care Failure from Die Mannequin

     In between set times, I explored the shopping area and discovered a big black truck. "Rockford Fosgate", a car audio company from Arizona, set up a tricked out sound and light show inside the truck. I took a gander at this and went on inside. The demonstration was supposed to last 50 seconds. The music was almost louder than the bands playing at Warped, and the lights flashed white and red. But 10 seconds was all we could last, as the noise gave everyone in the van chest pain. This was still worthwhile to check out, even for a few seconds.

     Die Mannequin, which has been one of my favourite bands since the age of 12, and has been featured on The Rock Spot as its opening article (http://kapralosmedia.blogspot.ca/2012/06/die-mannequin-back-with-vengeance.html), was next. They're known for their fiery performance, and luckily I was right at the barricade with a stellar view. I even caught the drummer's drum stick!

   

Above: Reel Big Fish

     Even luckier for me, after their set was finished, I got to say "hi" Care Failure at the Die Mannequin merch tent. She was really sweet and quirky, and a pleasure to take photos with. In every fan's photo, she'd do a different pose, like bunny ears or making a funny face. I also got an official Die Mannequin bandana from the band for guessing the name of the song correctly that they told the fans to guess. But since they ran out of bandanas, Care gave be her own bandana, full of her makeup. I actually find this to be a really neat memento of the show, since not every band gives out items like this.

     Later on, I watched Like Moths to Flames, The Amity Affliction, and Reel Big Fish. For me, Reel Big Fish was especially fun because they are a ska band. This genre is very upbeat and features trumpet and sax in the music so it was really fun to dance around to. Unfortunately, because I really wanted to meet Jeffree Star at his signing, I missed the majority of Reel Big Fish's performance.

Above: Bring Me the Horizon (photo by Larry Airapetian)

     On the positive side, while waiting in line to meet Jeffree Star, I got to watch Kairo Kingdom's performance on the Spotify stage. This stage was dedicated to strictly electronic/dubstep music rather than rock bands. Since there were DJs playing their music rather than rock bands with lots of movement, the Spotify stage featured girls dancing on the stage whilst doing hula-hoop tricks.

     After meeting Jeffree Star and getting a photo and autograph, it was time to run to see Bring Me the Horizon. Since I was a little late and missed two songs, I didn't have a spot with the greatest view. Nonetheless, I still enjoyed the music and was very happy to be listening to them play. The audience was also very enthusiastic, and some people showed their enthusiasm in different ways. For instance, I had spotted a man in a bra screaming the lyrics to all their music. Regardless of his interesting fashion choice, kudos to him, because he knew every lyric and showed lots of charisma and passion for the band's music.

Above: The Chariot; circle pit around the guitarist

     Next up was The Chariot. They're known for their wild stage antics, including smashing objects on stage and tearing banners, and jumping off ceiling bannisters. They lived up to this image in my books. The vocalist jumped on the drum kit as the drummer was playing, microphone stands were thrown in the air, and both the guitarist and vocalist stage-dived their way into the crowd, whilst playing. Moshers circled around the members as they were playing in the audience. I found this to be fun to watch, especially because it's as if the band and audience had become one.

Above: The Used opening up their set 
(photo by Larry Airapetian)

Above: The Used (photo by Larry Airapetian)

     The last band I saw was The Used. For a while, they were denied entry at the Canadian border, but luckily (unlike Attila) they finally got in and Canadian fans rejoiced. Watching them perform meant a lot to me because I have loved this band since 11/12 years old, and their music always got me through life's rough patches. The day of this performance was also the day of release for their new EP, "Ocean of the Sky". When they got on stage, they were accompanied by fans, including Much Music VJ Phoebe Dykstra, wearing neon coloured ski masks. The fans on stage sang along to the first song and then left the stage, leaving The Used to entertain the crowd (which they succeeded in). They sure know how to rile up a crowd too! Between speaking about the importance of equality, and how the band and the fans are one, they also instructed the crowd to jump and even have a wall of death (for those who don't know, this is an extremely big wall of death, but The Used's was on a much smaller scale, and less intense: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKrGMbRc4NA). They played a lot of their older music, including a song off their brand new EP, in which vocalist Bert McCracken taught the audience the words.

     All in all, even though it rained during the day at times, I had a lot of fun at Toronto's Vans Warped Tour 2013 and I look forward to next year!