Our entire day at Warped Tour could be summed up quite simply: tons of circle pits and really fucking HOT. 
But before we move further, we would like to send our condolences to the friends and family of the 26 year old who passed away at Warped Tour that day. We are very shocked and saddened by this heartbreaking news.
We arrived at Sandstone around 11 a.m.; for the next few hours, we were spoiled with air conditioning in the press area.
We had confirmed interviews with a few bands prior to the show but ended up talking with many more, so the majority of what you’ll hear on PodWreck is us winging it – it made things interesting to say the least.
The bands we were lucky enough to talk to: Andrew W.K., Four Year Strong, Every Time I Die, the Dillinger Escape Plan, Closure in Moscow, After Midnight Project, Disco Curtis, Vanna and Of Mice and Men.
We caught some of Closure in Moscow’s performance on the Ernie Ball Stage. Chris (vocals) promised to be dressed in costume, despite the 100 degree weather – he was not lying. With black makeup covering his eyes and a metallic gold cape, he hit the high notes while dancing around stage – and the fans loved it.
But we had to make our way over to the Teggart Stage because Dillinger was also playing during that time and we’ve heard shit gets crazy.
Some people were dancing and the band was precise, but the heat seemed to be affecting most of the crowd, not just for Dillinger but for almost every performance we watched.
Andrew W.K. was up next and since we’ve never seen him before, we were pumped and ready. He brought a lot of energy and of course, the party. He announced Cherie Lily, his wife, as a new singer in his band. When Andrew was busy pounding away on the piano, she kept the party going with fist pumps and “hey’s.” The crowd loved it and pumped their fists back to the stage.
They also gave away free “merch” – the t-shirt off of Cherie’s back, the t-shirt off of Andrew’s back, and an Andrew W.K. air freshener and lighter. One person got on a friends’ shoulders and Andrew said that’s why they deserved free gifts; soon, there were people on shoulders everywhere.
It was everything a rock show should be: energetic, over the top, crowd-moving fun.
We decided to take a rest in order to keep going – did we mention it was fucking HOT?
We waited in the shade until Set Your Goals started their set at the Altec Stage. It seemed they warmed the crowd up for Four Year Strong, who played right after them.
The crowd was huge for FYS, by far the biggest we had seen that day and probably the most active. There was an abundance of crowd surfing, dancing and circle pits, and they never slowed down.
They played a mixture of songs from their first and latest record, plus a few covers (one from their second CD, Explains It All).
Since it was their last day on tour, FYS and the crowd seemed to give it all they had.
Many of the other bands also showed their love for FYS by coming on stage to help sing the chorus to “Wasting Time (Eternal Summer).”
We really wanted to stay and watch Every Time I Die but frankly, we were tired and over it.
As we walked back toward the car, past all the merch tents, the trash covering the ground and the kids packed together under what shade they could find, we couldn’t help but feel like… well, we’re too old for this.
Don’t get us wrong – Warped Tour is great and they always have bands we enjoy; plus it gives the audience the opportunity to see bands we normally wouldn’t/don’t know of prior to the show. But Kansas City Warped Tour is also always in August, the hottest month of the year, and it seems we just don’t have the excitement or tenacity we did when we were 16 to deal with the heat.
We’re sure Warped Tour will continue to be a huge, truly wonderful event that will bring kids out and expose them to great musicians. While we had fun interviewing the bands and watching some of our favorites; we may have hit our Warped Tour peak with this one.
Photos by Todd Zimmer. Writing by Melissa Cowan.
