Vans Warped Tour @ Birrarung Marr, Melbourne (07/12/2013)
Vans Warped Tour has finally returned to Australia after eleven long years. Hip hip hooray! With a lineup featuring a bunch of local and international punk, hardcore and metal bands there was something for everyone. This was made quite clear by the massive line snaking along side the Yarra River at Birrarung Marr, the site for Melbourne's show.
Maryland's The Dangerous Summer hit the Off The Wall stage (stage two). The alternative rockers play a very tight set and are a good start to the day.
Moving over to the #No Regrets Stage (stage three) local boys Masketta Fall take to the stage. A surprisingly big crowd are here to watch the boys play probably their biggest show in their short career. They play through songs from their two EP's with lots of crowd involvement and even include an acoustic cover of Panic At The Disco's I Write Sins Not Tragedies.
Walking over to the main stage (Kevin Says stage) Sydney pop punkers Tonight Alive are half way through their set in front of a huge crowd. Lead singer Jenna McDougall (green hair and all) knows how to work a crowd brilliantly as the band work the last five songs of their set. They end with the title track of their debut album What Are You So Scared Of?
Next up we have Californian ska punk band Reel Big Fish. With twenty two years as a band, sixteen past members and seven studio albums the band certainly have quite a history. The crowd, featuring people of all ages, certainly love every minute of the band's hour long set. A circle pit even gets started during P.S. I Hate You. For a band I only knew one song by before seeing them they certainly blew me away and watching Beer performed live was quite memorable. Singer/guitarist Aaron Barrett is one of the great frontmen. He's funny and knows exactly how to work a crowd. A cover of A-ha's Take On Me wraps their set up in very fun style.
The Used take to the main stage next and the screams from the fans are deafening as they launch into Listening from In Love and Death. In their almost hour long set they play a lot from their first two albums as a tribute of sorts to their long time die hard fans which is certainly nothing to complain about! The Bird and the Worm and Pretty Handsome Awkward (which even included two walls of death!) were a couple of the few songs they played from more recent albums. You can just tell that vocalist Bert McCracken and co love being up on stage performing.Their great set comes to an end far too soon with Bert saying “this is the greatest song ever written” before launching into the few few chords of Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit before playing A Box Full of Sharp Objects. With chants of more from the crowd the band sadly don't return.
Going back over to stage two melodic metalcore six piece We Came As Romans are taking the stage. Even though the small but very enthusiastic crowd were loving it they really didn't do it for me.
The hardcore fans come out of hiding when Hatebreed take to the stage and straight away get the crowd moving which causes quite a dust storm! Playing through songs including To The Threshold and Live For This vocalist Jamey Jasta even gets the crowd to do a massive circle pit around the sound tent. Jasta mentions a few times that the Canberra crowd from the day before is the crowd to beat and by the end of the set he (naturally) says the Melbourne crowd has been the best so far. The band's first official single I Will Be Heard brings their entertaining set to an end.
Getting back to the main stage punk rockers Millencolin are on stage. These guys are another band I'd never listened to but jeez can these Swedes play! Certainly wish I'd managed to catch more of their set but after just a few songs it was over. They are the only band of the day (that I saw anyway) to do an encore to the delight of those in the large crowd.
We're getting to the tail end of the day now and it's time for those pop punkers that people either seem to love or hate. Simple Plan are of course the band I am talking about. The Canadians have certainly never let the haters stop them however. They start their set with I'd Do Anything and most of the crowd sing along to every word. The guys play through songs from all four of their albums but surprisingly nothing off their new EP released last week. They even play a mash up of a bunch of their songs from their debut album No Pads, No Helmets...Just Balls as a thank you to the fans that have been with the band from the beginning.
Lots of massive beach balls are thrown out into the crowd during Summer Paradise and there's even a partial cover of Black Eyed Peas I've Got A Feeling during Jump. The five piece bring their set to an end with Perfect which begins with frontman Pierre Bouvier with an acoustic guitar before the rest of the band join in mid song. Even though their set is supposed to be an hour and they finish just shy of that the chants of one more song don't bring the band back out but that certainly doesn't take anything away from how great a set they just played.
It's hard to believe that next year marks thirty years since The Offspring formed but with nine albums and a massive following they show no signs of slowing down. Warped Tour is the second time the band have toured Australia this year after playing Soundwave Festival in February/March and having seen them then I knew we were in for a real treat.
Dexter, Noodles, Greg, Pete and Todd casually walk out on stage before Dexter announces they are The Offspring (like anyone didn't know!) before they kick things off with All I Want and the crowd go nuts! Days Go By is one the newer songs they play in a set featuring mostly older songs to the pleasure of most of the crowd. Spare Me The Details has everyone singing along and the nostalgia is strong when Why Don't You Get A Job and Pretty Fly For A White Guy make an appearance. It all seems to end all too quickly however after just over an hour and seventeen songs Self Esteem brings an end to their set. To say the crowd loved every moment of it would almost be the understatement of the year.
My back and feet are killing me and I'm very sweaty but it was totally worth standing in the heat all day. Warped is finally back in Australia and you'd struggle to find someone who went today that doesn't want it to return next year. Promoters AJ Maddah and Kevin Lyman have my thanks!
Matt Barton
Maryland's The Dangerous Summer hit the Off The Wall stage (stage two). The alternative rockers play a very tight set and are a good start to the day.
Moving over to the #No Regrets Stage (stage three) local boys Masketta Fall take to the stage. A surprisingly big crowd are here to watch the boys play probably their biggest show in their short career. They play through songs from their two EP's with lots of crowd involvement and even include an acoustic cover of Panic At The Disco's I Write Sins Not Tragedies.
Walking over to the main stage (Kevin Says stage) Sydney pop punkers Tonight Alive are half way through their set in front of a huge crowd. Lead singer Jenna McDougall (green hair and all) knows how to work a crowd brilliantly as the band work the last five songs of their set. They end with the title track of their debut album What Are You So Scared Of?
Next up we have Californian ska punk band Reel Big Fish. With twenty two years as a band, sixteen past members and seven studio albums the band certainly have quite a history. The crowd, featuring people of all ages, certainly love every minute of the band's hour long set. A circle pit even gets started during P.S. I Hate You. For a band I only knew one song by before seeing them they certainly blew me away and watching Beer performed live was quite memorable. Singer/guitarist Aaron Barrett is one of the great frontmen. He's funny and knows exactly how to work a crowd. A cover of A-ha's Take On Me wraps their set up in very fun style.
The Used take to the main stage next and the screams from the fans are deafening as they launch into Listening from In Love and Death. In their almost hour long set they play a lot from their first two albums as a tribute of sorts to their long time die hard fans which is certainly nothing to complain about! The Bird and the Worm and Pretty Handsome Awkward (which even included two walls of death!) were a couple of the few songs they played from more recent albums. You can just tell that vocalist Bert McCracken and co love being up on stage performing.Their great set comes to an end far too soon with Bert saying “this is the greatest song ever written” before launching into the few few chords of Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit before playing A Box Full of Sharp Objects. With chants of more from the crowd the band sadly don't return.
Going back over to stage two melodic metalcore six piece We Came As Romans are taking the stage. Even though the small but very enthusiastic crowd were loving it they really didn't do it for me.
The hardcore fans come out of hiding when Hatebreed take to the stage and straight away get the crowd moving which causes quite a dust storm! Playing through songs including To The Threshold and Live For This vocalist Jamey Jasta even gets the crowd to do a massive circle pit around the sound tent. Jasta mentions a few times that the Canberra crowd from the day before is the crowd to beat and by the end of the set he (naturally) says the Melbourne crowd has been the best so far. The band's first official single I Will Be Heard brings their entertaining set to an end.
Getting back to the main stage punk rockers Millencolin are on stage. These guys are another band I'd never listened to but jeez can these Swedes play! Certainly wish I'd managed to catch more of their set but after just a few songs it was over. They are the only band of the day (that I saw anyway) to do an encore to the delight of those in the large crowd.
We're getting to the tail end of the day now and it's time for those pop punkers that people either seem to love or hate. Simple Plan are of course the band I am talking about. The Canadians have certainly never let the haters stop them however. They start their set with I'd Do Anything and most of the crowd sing along to every word. The guys play through songs from all four of their albums but surprisingly nothing off their new EP released last week. They even play a mash up of a bunch of their songs from their debut album No Pads, No Helmets...Just Balls as a thank you to the fans that have been with the band from the beginning.
Lots of massive beach balls are thrown out into the crowd during Summer Paradise and there's even a partial cover of Black Eyed Peas I've Got A Feeling during Jump. The five piece bring their set to an end with Perfect which begins with frontman Pierre Bouvier with an acoustic guitar before the rest of the band join in mid song. Even though their set is supposed to be an hour and they finish just shy of that the chants of one more song don't bring the band back out but that certainly doesn't take anything away from how great a set they just played.
It's hard to believe that next year marks thirty years since The Offspring formed but with nine albums and a massive following they show no signs of slowing down. Warped Tour is the second time the band have toured Australia this year after playing Soundwave Festival in February/March and having seen them then I knew we were in for a real treat.
Dexter, Noodles, Greg, Pete and Todd casually walk out on stage before Dexter announces they are The Offspring (like anyone didn't know!) before they kick things off with All I Want and the crowd go nuts! Days Go By is one the newer songs they play in a set featuring mostly older songs to the pleasure of most of the crowd. Spare Me The Details has everyone singing along and the nostalgia is strong when Why Don't You Get A Job and Pretty Fly For A White Guy make an appearance. It all seems to end all too quickly however after just over an hour and seventeen songs Self Esteem brings an end to their set. To say the crowd loved every moment of it would almost be the understatement of the year.
My back and feet are killing me and I'm very sweaty but it was totally worth standing in the heat all day. Warped is finally back in Australia and you'd struggle to find someone who went today that doesn't want it to return next year. Promoters AJ Maddah and Kevin Lyman have my thanks!
Matt Barton