Show: Vans Warped Tour 2012
Date: June 22, 2012
Venue: Pomona Fairplex
City: Pomona, CA
Vans Warped Tour 2012
Photos by Nicolas Bates
Written by Katie J. Norris
The sun was pretty good to everyone the entire day and traffic into to the event was surprisingly mild—obvious highlights to any festival. It never got extremely hot and there was enough shade to seek refuge for anyone who needed the occasional break. The parking coordinators really stepped it up this year since parking was half the battle it usually is. Once inside, excited groups of friends could be seen checking out new bands playing, running around to different booths to get their favorite bands’ merch, lining up for autographs, ordering lunch from eclectic food trucks, skateboarding in the make-shift skate park and playing in the moon bounce sprinklers before heading to the main stages to see the first big band of the day! The days’ events didn’t run as late as in past years this year. However, in retrospect, at the end of the day, it appeared as more or less good planning.
Ten seconds into the opening song “Fuck Police Brutality,” the entire center section of the outdoor audience was running in a human-hurricane circle pit, kicking up a sandstorm of dust for others to enjoy. What a fitting way to launch this punk rock main-stage favorite. By the third song, “Broken Bones,” the crowd massed as wide as the festival boundary perimeters on one edge of the stage and all the way across in the other direction to the next stage.
Crowd surfing, peace signs, middle fingers and dirt flying everywhere united this group under the sun while the band played some of its old-school hits as if they were new, and introduced some new songs like they were already massively accepted favorites.
The sound quality was incredible and top-notch for any outdoor show. Justin Sane and Chris Barker’s vocals were flawless, and every word was audible. Chris Head played some slick licks in between their driving punk rock chords and performed the hell out of the set! They continue to have some of the best stage presence a band could have, having perfected their live show over the many years. They have mastered the balance between promoting reckless, careless abandon and spinning it to a positive message by including everyone from all walks of life and promoting neighborly respect. “I wanna see that circle pit again, right now! And if someone falls…we…Pick…Them…Up—just like in life!”
They ended their set with a real high—quite literally. They jumped all over the stage, taking leaps off huge amps and rocking out with every last bit of energy they had. Before their final exit, they signed off with, “Good night. And good luck.”
Tie-dye shirts, an LED light screen backdrop and an entourage cheering just offstage, this group signified the more mainstream direction Warped Tour has taken. The group has a vibrant energy—that matches their electronic, more produced sound—which is plainly visible in their live performance. One of their band members is a DJ spinning their back-up tracks and turning the musical breakdowns into clubbing-style dance parties. In the middle of one of these dance breaks a pack of twelve year olds came running out from the sides of the crowd with neon super soakers in hand, matching the super soakers that the artists on stage whipped out from their hiding spot. In unison, the whole crowd was hosed down. The whole scene was incredibly reminiscent of a spring break celebration, and none of the 2012 Warped Tour population seemed to mind.
Joshua Aragon seems to have no end in sight for instrument skills, as he switched effortlessly from the keytar, to the guitar, to bass, to synthesizers and to backing vocals. Eric Armenta took the drums by storm and filled in the DJ’s beats, pumping along with the changing light show images on the screen. The two lead singers, Kyle Even and David Schmitt, are the roots for this high-energy, color explosion band image. Even though this group is obviously being aimed more toward the high-tech future of our youth, they fit together on stage and tactfully accomplished tackling every aspect they were trying to cover. Even and Schmitt crawled out in to the audience on top of the crowds’ hands. Half way into the sea of hands, they made a motion that signaled Luis Bonet, the programming DJ, to ignite an electro-dance explosion that set the crowd jumping. The super soaker kids sent themselves into hyper-drive water-war mode. Under the hot sun, the crowd that had gathered for this band went along with it all, jumping, dancing and squealing away from the water-gun attacks.
Hiding behind big, dark sunglasses, Emily Armstrong began singing a sweet, sweet song. Sean Friday kicks in on the drums and the band launches into no-turning-back, real rock n’ roll. There is a great sense of dynamics in their live show right from the start. Siouxsie Medley, co-creator of this band, is on guitar and vocals and Chris Null is on bass and vocals. As a band, they all flow together from milking meaningful lyrics and cadences to jamming out a hard release of angry rock.
As soon as the songs get going, Emily Armstrong loses the black sunglasses and reveals a very expressive face. She holds nothing back when showing everyone the meaning of her songs. Armstrong and Medley elevate the bands’ stage presence to that of an arena, making their placement on one of the smaller stages seem like an incredible mistake. The bands’ speedy rise on the music popularity charts is moving faster than the spots they’ve been booked at. Easily one of the best shows of the festival, Dead Sara attracted a full crowd, all packed into a small area. Everyone was pushing in, wanting to see the show and sing along with their new radio-favorite tunes. Finally playing their biggest single, “Weatherman,” the mass of fans all belt to the top of their lungs along with Emily.
Armstrong has such an incredible vocal range! It seems she could even be better live than her recordings, and everyone was enjoying that fact. She soared into operatic heights and then was able to drop to a heavy rock growl. Supported by the band in an easy-feeling balance by Medley, Friday and Null, the group filled the air as one entity. The show was a lovely mix of great writing, fantastic vocal gymnastics, catchy tunes and fun attitudes.
Starting with a toss of a toilet paper roll out to the crowd, one of the most awaited bands of the day jump-started their set with “Take It Away.” It was quickly obvious that lead singer Bert McCracken has a bit of a sense of humor in their live shows. The band flowed from the opening song into “The Bird and The Worm,” which is one of those fully-loaded tunes that has a lot of little specific musical gems. When compared to the recording, this song done live was like taking the inanimate symbol of the track and breathing creative life into it. All the nuances of it popped out from everywhere.
The band almost rushed all their songs and didn’t seem to want to take time to drag anything out. They have a lot of singles under their belts and it was clear they were trying to get as many played as possible. All the vocals stayed on point the whole time for every lyric and every note. The band was loving their own songs and was definitely having as much fun as the audience. Quinn Allman on guitar and backing vocals, Jeph Howard on bass and backing vocals and Dan Whitesides on drums were almost as high energy as McCracken, who confidently, and enjoyably, led everyone through the set. He announced that they were going to play “old shit,” and the crowd roared with applause. McCracken was the first artist of the day to get the audience to make a circle pit that went all the way around the entire sound booth toward the rear of the crowd. It took over and everyone had to join in. The Used ended their set with a massive mosh pit of excited, jumping, screaming fans.
Taking over one of the biggest stages of the festival, the band drew a crowd so expansive, it appeared to go on forever. The sun was getting ready to set and it was nearing the end of the day. Aside from the thousands of people standing and jumping around in celebration of their hero band, the ground had become littered with flyers, hundreds of Magic the Gathering playing cards (for inexplicable reasons) and sporadically placed, exhausted couples immobile on the ground. But even those down for the count on the grass were singing along to the hits and bobbing their heads with closed eyes.
Lead singer (and guitarist/bassist/harmonica player) Adam Lazzara was quite confident on stage, calling out the other bands of the day and screaming at them from on stage, yelling, “I do it better!” He did not hesitate to crowd surf, jump off tall items on stage and make challenges between each song. John Nolan (vocals/guitar/keyboards), Mark O’Connell (drums), Eddie Reyes (guitar) and Shaun Cooper (bass) played very well together, especially considering the band looked like they were merely sprinkled on stage in between the entourage that was standing right next to them. There’s no shortage of a rock n’ roll lifestyle for these guys. However, despite Lazzara’s better-than-you persona on stage, as he walked back through the park towards his trailer, he patiently accepted every request for a picture and autograph on his way. He even smiled through amateur musicians’ questions and gave thoughtful advice they could hang on to forever, giving a ton of credit to his fellow musicians.
Taking Back Sunday stretched out their time on stage making sure they played all the songs they wanted to, the length of their set almost double to other bands. They played their tunes from Tell All Your Friends, Where You Want to Be, Louder Now, New Again and their latest album, Taking Back Sunday.
The fading festival-goers began amping each other up, preparing to get their second wind, which they were definitely going to need for this act. A large group armed with plastic light-sabres ran to the middle of the massive crowd to get ready. The mosh-pit scene had been a pretty cooperative spectacle all day. But the metalcore band Of Mice And Men shook things up the second they started. Within one minute of their first song, the weak were separated from the fearlessly reckless. The injured dragged themselves out to mend their wounds, and the volunteer gladiators remained in the pit throwing themselves and others around in all directions. The intensity of the fans was deemed impressive by lead singer Austin Carlile, who is all hardcore through and through.
Carlile’s vocals are actually kind of like a sound-wave mosh pit. Hitting incredibly high notes in a heavy metal growl, he reaches impressive feats. A favorite for everyone was when they performed their song “This One’s For You.” Carlile hit a high-note roar and held it, letting it ring out until it didn’t seem humanly possible to hold it any longer. The crowd cheered and the band chimed back in, the mosh pit reigniting. Of Mice and Men appeased the masses by including their tunes “Second & Sebring,” “Those in Glass Houses,” “Purified,” “The Depths,” “Still YDG’N” and “O.G. Loko.”
The survivors in attendance continued to thrash around, exerting the rest of their energy for the day along with the band. Light-sabres were flying through the air and lyrics were screamed out in unison until the bitter end.
