Warped back to the future

Talk about deja vu. This year's line-up for the Vans Warped Tour featured some old-school and new-school artists. Make no mistake, by old-school, some of these bands go back 15+ years (New Found Glory) and by new-school we're talking about bands like Breathe Carolina, whose fame caught mainstream attention only a couple of years ago. Yet, this year's Warped Tour could have been the pinnacle of the tour for a fan like myself. This year's line-up featured bands from my first couple of years attending the Warped Tour (2002, 2003), Yellowcard, Taking Back Sunday, New Found Glory, Senses Fail, Patent Pending, and Vinnie Caruana whose old band, The Movielife played a Warped Tour set back in the day. As well, some of the other bands I was pumped to see included: Four Year Strong, All Time Low, Mayday Parade, Piece The Veil, Every Time I Die, among many others. My excitement for the line-up could be seen through Facebook status updates, heard through my voice as I sang some of my favorite songs (albums in this case), and by the earliest arrival I have made to Warped Tour since 2002, my first year of going to the show. This year's line-up carried headlining acts from beginning to end, thus giving me so much ease (I was able to see a ton of my favorite bands in one day!). My only concern for the day was if Warped Tour would schedule bands I wanted to see at the same time slot but nothing could break my optimism for this day. Now, I was only moments away from beginning what would be a memorable and exciting day.
I could definitely go through and describe with a quick review all of the bands that I saw but I want to keep this short and simple so here are some highlights.

Yellowcard has not missed a beat since I last saw them about 10 years ago. Wonderful set all around. Old favorites of mine like "Only One" and "Ocean Avenue" made me feel very jubilant. This was the same band they were a decade ago, except with new songs and a little bit of a line-up change. In any case, a great way to start the day.

Next up: Senses Fail. Senses Fail has gone through various line-up changes. At this point only Buddy and and Dan are the only original members. Maybe it's the line-up changes, maybe it's time passing, Senses Fail doesn't seem to have the drive and energy from when I saw them 8 years ago. Mind you, Buddy is the same age as me and can and has played wonderful shows but Senses Fail's loud screams are not as loud, Buddy's onstage presence has succumbed to something between break dancing and jogging, and the popular question seems to be "Do they have the guy from Midtown playing with them?" and no, they don't anymore. I wasn't too impressed with one of the few good bands from New Jersey this time around.

And now, for Massachusetts' pride and honor: Four Year Strong. When Four Year Strong is playing you can be sure that if you are anywhere near the stage you will either be pushed, punched, or shoved, this because of the various mosh pits, crowd surfers, or people jumping at the catchy choruses or pre-choruses, yes that is how poppy Four Year Strong can get. I am almost always mixed between feeling energetic and concerned. This Warped Tour set brought those two feelings not only to me but possibly many others. Three songs into their set, a fan apparently was injured and the band was left to play one more song. With circle pits and mosh pits, someone may just get hurt during a Four Year Strong set. In the end, Four Year Strong mixed in songs from their three albums, all of which made their set just another wonderful show. The highlight of this set, for me, was crowd-surfing during Heroes get remembered, legends never die. I was ecstatic as I was held above fans, singing my favorite line: "Sorry about the mess, but when we team up, team up. We always seem to bring this place to the ground" after this however, the crowd went insane and I was grabbed by security and safely placed down... how my back wishes that were true.

And now for Long Island's own: Patent Pending. What else can Patent Pending do to solidify a year in which they played for 12 million people at the Billboard awards? Easy, keep playing like you're competing to play in front of millions over and over again. Since I last saw Patent Pending at the New Jersey Bamboozle festival in 2008, they have yet to have a  dull set. And how do you finish an awesome set in your hometown? With confetti shooting high and far! I am very happy to see the growth and progress of Patent Pending and their set has yet to disappoint me.

I thought I was having a pretty good day, I had no idea what I was in store for, here, up next for me was Pierce The Veil. I will only say this about Pierce The Veil's set, if you have not seen a show this year or have yet to see a really good show, please do yourself a favor and go see Pierce The Veil. I'm not sure where Pierce The Veil goes from here, but this set, by far, was the best set I saw the whole day. I am still in awe over the electrifying performance they gave. This set goes on my list as one of the top 10 of all-time.

Moving on, one of everyone's favorite: New Found Glory. A Warped Tour regular, New Found Glory had every punk fan singing when they played a cover of Green Day's "Basket Case". Overall, New Found Glory has not lost anything in their 15 years as a band and if anything they have added so much more including, derived a lot more from their side-pseudo-band, the International Superheroes of Hardcore, their yelling and even faster-paced songs has really brought some new found music to the band. New Found Glory has already announced plans for their 10 year anniversary tour to commemorate Sticks and Stones and their set at Warped Tour solidified my plans of attending their anniversary show.

Down to the last three. Who loves talking about farts and sex, at the same time? All Time Low. These guys lost my interest a while back when they began introducing a lot more electronic parts to their music. I tend to think about All Time Low as another band inspired a lot by Blink-182, and such I hoped All Time Low would keep their sound similar to Blink-182. Although I'm pushing to like them, their set, especially the fun I had with Jack during the set, really inspired me and opened me yet again to really have some patience for this quartet from Maryland. If you can keep jumping and singing along, All Time Low will have you entertained for hours on end, in this case however it was more like half an hour.

Ever have your heart broken or wanted to sing out your revenge for someone? Mayday Parade's lyrics are just about that and nothing else. This Florida five piece have been able to make heartbreak sound like something I want to go through again just so that I can put into words and have hundreds of people singing to it. Unlike most of the other bands I saw, the crowd for Mayday Parade was not opening up mosh pits or jumping as much. No, Mayday Parade's set was mainly focused on wonderful musicianship and sing-alongs. As wary as I was for this band, (the last show I saw of them was somewhat disappointed because they did not sound too well) they delivered very well on all aspects. Guitar solos are a big part of Mayday Parade songs and they were played as if Slash was on the guitar. Being that it was close to the end of the night, Mayday Parade could have kept on playing all night and I bet I would've seen couples kissing, boys proposing, and the heartbroken feeling so connected and maybe even inspired.

And now, the cherry on top of it all. Before I introduce the last band, I want to add a personal note. Years ago when I went to Warped Tour, I would usually be burnt out by this point, actually, I would've been finished and wiped out by the time New Found glory finished but this band has been one of my favorites since I bought their first album at the Circuit City on 80th St. and Broadway (Yes, I have a vivid memory for this album) in 2003. Now the only thing to keep me going on this night was that I was going to see one of my favorite bands. Ladies and gentlemen, Taking Back Sunday... the original line-up! It's only been about a year since I last saw TBS at the Bamboozle festival where they played Tell All Your Friends from beginning to end for the first time. In any case, I had to make my way to the front, this was Taking Back Sunday playing in their hometown of Long Island. I made it to within one person of the barricade. For the next 30 minutes, it was all TBS. Although the band has gone through line-up changes, I was glad the original line-up performed songs from their first album, their new album, and the other albums recorded with different members. As frontman, Adam Lazzara sang "I got the mic and you got the mosh pit", it was those words I always wanted to sing at a Taking Back Sunday concert when I first heard the album a decade ago, and yet even now I still sing those lyrics because of how fond I am of that album having a lasting memory for me. What can a Taking Back Sunday show be without Adam swinging the microphone around and hanging from atop the stage sporting his southern-like leg-shaking dance moves. Sure, the band members might be a little older, some of the songs I've heard hundreds of times, but this is the original line-up that created a masterpiece with their first album. And here in front of hundreds of fans they played loud, they played with great synergy, and I do not see one thing Taking Back Sunday should change. Guitarist and back-up singer, John Nolan complemented the singing of Lazzara very well and played songs from the albums he did not record on almost as if he did record on them. Bassist Shaun Cooper's fast fingers are similar to that of former bassist Matt Rubano. Guitarist Eddie Reyes, easily "rocks the house". Drummer, Mark O'Connell makes it seem like the drum heads will break any minute as he pounds away. If I have found a big peace in my life it is because this piece was missing. Taking Back Sunday's original line-up played up to an "A" performance if there was a grading system. I could not have thought out a better way to end what began with what I would consider a "vintage" band and yet it ended with another similar one.
(Side-note: I am still waiting for the day that Warped Tour moves back to the grassy and very large ground that Randalls Island offered. Personally, I'm very cautious when I have gone to Warped Tour in Long Island because of the hard pavement. Also, did I mention I can walk to Randalls Island!)