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Warped Tour 2004
Tweeter Center, Tinley Park, IL
7/24/2004
Reviewer: Andrew
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I've been visiting the Warped Tour stop in Tinley Park (Chicago), Illinois, for five years running. Five years ago, I lost sleep over thinking about the upcoming event featuring some of modern punk rock's finest names, from NOFX to Rancid to Less Than Jake. Although my musical taste has evolved and drifted toward heavier and less accessible sounds since that first venture to the Warped Tour in 2000, there always seems to be enough worthwhile bands playing smaller stages, as well as some always-enjoyable bands performing on the main stages. No, I didn't have trouble falling asleep this year, but I still feel that the $26 entrance fee (and fucking ridiculous $9 service charge from Ticketmaster) wasn't money wasted.
Tinley Park, Illinois is considered Chicago, but there's some distance between the Tweeter Center, a rather large music venue, and the bustling movement of the city. The venue is primarily surrounded by fields and parking lots, with some suburban households, which all look identical, within a couple of miles. We had to drive about ten minutes to find any food, and still had to settle for some McDonald's, which was expectedly overrun by people talking about Sugarcult and Taking Back Sunday. So I grabbed that Big Mac and fled. Oh, and there was a dad trying to be hip by talking to a McDonald's employee about Good Charlotte.
Eventually we made our way back to the theatre and waltzed on in as the procrastinators who didn't buy advance tickets formed lengthy lines in front of the box office. Staring Back was playing early and we listened to a couple songs, but were more concerned about missing other bands so off it was to find a schedule of performances. When we finally found one, I heard a rather heavy band playing, so, of course, I headed toward the Smartpunk stage. Underminded was the band at hand and, while one of their songs sounded almost too much like older Thrice material, they had the crowd moving and sounded pretty tight. When you're at Warped Tour, it's always interesting to see heavy bands as the different crowds tend to clash. In any case, Underminded sounded pretty good; I'll check out their new album when it's released in September.
We went to the Uproar stage to catch Bear Vs. Shark but were apparently early, so we listened to some Day Two songs. The band just played some sort of poppy metal/hardcore, but I feel awkward calling classifying it as that. It was pretty lighthearted overall, but with screamed vocals. Bear Vs. Shark followed them and their live show was about as strange as their recorded material. A band of few words, they just charged through some material and seemed to confuse those passing by the stage. Their singer flailed all over the place, which caught a respectable amount of attention, as did their quirky music. They sounded good, though. Bear Vs. Shark is pretty wacky and worth watching.
So around this time, about 2:45 p.m., I wanted to see Atmosphere before A Faith Called Chaos' set. And we walked around the entire place for about 20 minutes without finding the Maurice stage. I was really pissed off, and then we realized that the actual theatre portion of the venue was open, which had never been accessible in years past. From beneath the shade of the roof emanated Atmosphere's beats, but we came in only to catch their last song. It seemed as though Slug (vocalist) had the crowd pretty satisfied with his inventive words -- there were a lot of heads bobbing in unison. With the theatre portion open, the massive stage was divided in two, so A Faith Called Chaos started right after Atmosphere finished. I like this band's recent record, "Forgive Nothing," but their live show wasn't all that impressive. It might have something to do with the band being on a huge stage and not moving that much or them being drunk, but the performance wasn't too hot. All of their songs were from their full-length, "Forgive Nothing." Fortunately, the band played "The Pugilist," which has a nice breakdown but didn't get the crowd moving. The best part of their set was when the singer changed the lyrics in "The Pugilist" to get back at a stereotypical punk guy who was badgering them throughout their set. The punk guy slowly drifted toward the stage while threatening the band, until the song ended. Nothing physical resulted (that I know of) and it was humorous, but still not quite the way to handle things on either end. A Faith Called Chaos could have been more into their set and the small crowd didn't show much of an energetic response.
We caught From First To Last's set. I wasn't too keen on this, but their drummer is really skilled so I wanted to witness his playing. The crowd liked them, but wow, the most memorable aspect of From First To Last was the excessive amount of makeup. Three of five members had matching, red eye shadow, which quickly got on my nerves. Their singer was not impressive and seemed really spacey when speaking between songs. I felt bad for the remaining band members, but hey, whatever works for them.
My Chemical Romance drew a huge crowd in the theatre portion of the venue (not the main stage, though), but we were so far away that we mainly heard the echoes and distorted sound. So we skipped out to get a good spot for Coheed And Cambria. As it turned out, Yellowcard was playing in their slot, leaving us a bit bummed. Everyone from front to back was singing along to "Ocean Avenue" when we arrived.
We then caught Letter Kills' set and killed some time walking around before Haste The Day played. Haste The Day had one of the better sets I saw all day, drawing most all of the hardcore and metal fans in attendance (or so it seemed). The band played material from their debut full-length, which was released last spring. "Blue 42" opened up the set with some chunky breakdowns and great sing-along lyrics. After seeing a lot of sub par bands, I felt the need to get up front and sing along, something I don't do often any more. Quite a few kids formed a sizeable circle to show off their dance moves to the unknowing attendees. I'm not a big Haste The Day fan, but hearing a band play some breakdowns and metallic riffs was a welcome addition at Warped Tour. Against their will and at the crowd's request, the band closed with "Substance," and also played "The Closest Thing To Closure," "American Love" and a couple others.
Nearing the time of NOFX's set, we finally headed to a main stage to see them. I've been a fan of NOFX for somewhere around six years, so I couldn't pass up another opportunity to see their comedy and music. As expected, the guys were funny from the very beginning, first coming out and saying they took the stage two minutes early just to talk about Fat Mike's neck, which he claimed to have "thrown out" while playing golf. Comedy aside, we watched them play some of their finest material, much of it from the "Punk In Drublic" or earlier era. The band opened with the ever awesome "Lineoleum," played "Something Sticking In My Eye," "Reeko," and, the first song by them I ever heard, "Drugs Are Good." I was so happy to hear that live. I think NOFX is hilarious, in a lame, old and not politically correct way at times, but they always sound good live and prove to be good musicians with every set. Before they finished, we heard noise from the other main stage, which was... Coheed And Cambria!?
Apparently the band and Yellowcard switched slots. I wanted to see them again, so we bolted over there only to miss a couple minutes of the title-track from their latest album, "In Keeping Secrets Of Silent Earth: 3." I was skeptical of this lengthy song's ability to translate to the live setting, but it just floored me. When the music cut out after about six minutes, some of the crowd thought the song was done. I hoped they'd finish it off, and they did with a bang. The moment they came back in, revisiting the introduction, was so fucking cool; the crowd went nuts, as did the band. I wouldn't be surprised if the "Whoa oh's" were heard at the other end of the venue. Oddly enough, I think Coheed And Cambria's performance at Warped Tour was the best of the three times I've seen them. The band members seemed really into the show. Everyone watching the band, myself included, sang along to the terribly catchy "A Favor House Atlantic," as well as the lighthearted "Blood Red Summer." Coheed And Cambria also visited their debut effort by playing "Everything Evil" and "Junesong Provision," both of which were greeted by a strong crowd response. Vocalist Claudio did an exceptional job of hitting all of his notes, even the highest of them, making the performance sound precise, even though the band did their share of flailing. These guys stole the show.
Sun now setting, Chicago's own Break The Silence took the stage featuring local bands and tore things up for a while. The band said that they had never played for such a large crowd before, and you could tell they fed off of the crowd's energy. Their singer sounded exceptional, and Mr. Precision (of 88 Fingers Louie, Rise Against fame) looked to be having a great time. Break The Silence primarily played material from "Near Life Experience," their only album, and the crowd dug the melodic hardcore goodness. The band played a new song, which was much less influenced by fast punk rock, and much more by melodic metal. It sounded great, but I think longtime fans might be a bit disappointed if this is their new direction. Their material on "Near Life Experience" showed their metallic tendencies, so seeing them branch into that direction would not be entirely surprising. While the song didn't have the same level of melodic singing, the harmonized guitar riffing made up for it. They closed with a cover of At The Gates' "Slaughter Of The Soul." Okay in my book. There was a lot of singing along and dancing throughout the entire set. It was a good way to close the day.
Avenged Sevenfold was also nearing the end of their 8:30 p.m. set after Break The Silence finished, so we just checked it out. And wow, this band's crowd size was probably about 10 times bigger than it was last year. Their vocalist had the crowd eating out of his hands -- he's got a strong presence. We watched the last couple of songs from a distance in the theatre area, and during "Unholy Confessions," saw one of the biggest, most active pits of the day. People of all types were just going nuts. At times, there were hundreds and hundreds of fists in the air, making the view from a distance impressive.
That's it. This seems really, really long. Maybe I said too much but, after all, it was an entire afternoon and evening of bands. Once again, I had a good time. For the first year, I didn't walk out with a nasty sunburn and, somehow, I effortlessly made it through the day without eating or drinking anything. There were some memorable performances to be seen and, without much of a doubt, I'll probably go again next year.
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