This summer, our intrepid reporter Lauren Novik will be covering loads of US gigs and festivals, and to kick things off we sent her to the Warped Tour Kick Off party. Here’s what happened on the night, and what you can look forward to this summer if you’re coming to Warped in the US!
In about two months, the summer fest season will kick off with a bang when the Van’s Warped Tour commences. Over in LA, we’re counting down to Sunday, June 23 when warped lands at Ventura, California’s Seaside Park.
Patience is a virtue and all that, but the good people behind Warped know that nobody has any, so to appease the music & fest fiends in sunny So Cal they put together a kick-off party in downtown Los Angeles. Punktastic was privy to some tunes & tracks we’ll be hearing live in the not so distant future, and it was an absolute blast.
With the entire evening’s performances laced with comedian Grant Cotter’s no-holds-barred, inappropriate onstage antics, Warped managed successfully to show off what we can expect from this summer – a double dose of rock served fresh with textsfromlastnight.com worthy shenanigans. Since at-fest dabauchery is more than expected, let’s get down to the music and our don’t miss list –
New kids on the scene Echosmith killed it on stage with a brand of contagious pop punk that saw singer Sydney ping-ponging back and forth onstage so intensely that her iPhone jumped ship from her pocket onto the stage (somehow without shattering), but the band still didn’t miss a beat. Brian Marquis followed, and rocked it on a slightly more folk-rock level. Those two acts alone are great reasons to invest in the tour this year for new music, but jumping to the tried and true warped bands I wouldn’t miss this year (in no particular order) are Hawthorne Heights (who are working on a new album), Motion City Soundtrack, The Used, VersaEmerge, Architects, While She Sleeps, Blessthefall, Black Veil Brides, Bring me the Horizon, Issues, Silverstein, and a little acoustic mid-day break of William Beckett (formerly of the Acadmey Is…).
Keep checking back here for the latest on what to expect at warped this year… Is it June yet?
http://www.vanswarpedtour.com/dates/index
http://www.echosmith.com/
LAUREN NOVIK