VANS Warped Tour – at The Pomona Fairplex – Pomona, CA

The first day of the Vans 15th Anniversary Warped Tour began in the hot city of Pomona, at the Pomona Fairplex. When my party and I arrived at eleven, the entrance was packed with cars, all eager for the day's festivities. Early arrivals enjoyed small tailgate parties in the parking lot, of food and drink before actually entering the event.

Rumors that Anti-Flag was the first band up at 11AM circulated the parking lot, and some people tried to rush inside to see them, others continued their pre-Warped Tour preparations outside. Once we were ready to go inside, cars were still packing the parking lot, and people were still lining up to go inside. The event was getting ready to blow up.

Upon walking inside, activists against products tested on animals would walk right up to you, explain their cause, and ask if you would sign their petitions. They were friendly and polite, and were able to get many signatures hassle free. It was a pretty kind introduction to the day's events. There were a couple of bands already playing upon entering, each with small crowds watching. The first thing we decided to do was check out the giant display in the middle of the Fairplex that demonstrated the line-up for each stage for the day. There were 7 different stages, the Vans Main Stage, Hurley Stage, Smart Punk Stage, Hurley.com Stage, Kia Kevin Says Stage, Skull Candy Stage, Ernie Ball Stage, and the Old School Stage.

When we saw the line-up, we began to panic because we saw none of the Punk bands we had wanted to see anywhere on the list. It wasn't until someone pointed out the separate section for the Old School Stage all the way at the bottom of the display board, written sloppily on a piece of cardboard that our fears went away. It was pretty Punk Rock and fitting for the Old School Stage list to be printed on cardboard anyway. No Complains there.

We walked around, watched a couple of bands play, looked at a few booths before deciding on heading to the Old School Stage to see Guttermouth. As we made our way near the stage, there was a large crowd waiting in anticipation for the band. The band opened up with "Baker's Dozen", and a small circle pit began to form. The band included with their set a small boy who looked about the age of 8, who would occasionally scream and sing into a separate microphone they had given him. The band went on to play more songs from their album "Musical Monkey" like, "Lipstick" and "Perfect World". The band ended their set with "Bruce Lee Vs. The Kiss Army", and the crowd went wild for the song. Once Guttermouth was done, we migrated to the Hurley.com Stage for Big D and the Kids Table.

Right next to the Hurley.com stage was the Smart Punk stage, and while we waited about 20 minutes for a moment of ska, "Queen of the Internet" Jeffree Star was on the Smart Punk Stage dancing and performing for a rather large crowd. Jeffree Star was accompanied on stage by members of his entourage who were all scantily-clad. Jeffree Star was met with both positive and negative responses from the crowd, but the majority of the Hipsters and Scenesters present were enjoying his music.

Once Big D and the Kids Table finally approached the stage, the attention of the crowd formerly watching the Smart Punk Stage switched, and all started skanking when the upbeat music began. The band included 4 female back-up vocalists, which added flavor and sass to the music. The entire time that Big D and the Kids Table played, the audience danced and skanked and had good clean fun in the pit. The majority of the songs the band played came from their most recent album. The set was somewhat short, but it certainly did not disappoint.

While migrating back to the Old School Stage, it wasn't difficult to notice that each band that was playing Warped Tour had a booth set up to sell merch. Every so often you would see a band member or two checking up on the booths, and fans surrounding them trying to get their attention. As we made our way to hydrate our bodies with water before going to the Old School Stage, we saw Tony Cadena, vocalist for Adolescents, walking around by himself. We ran up to him asking for a picture, and always pleasant to his fans, agreed to take a picture. As we tried to figure out who to ask to take our picture, Tony asked a tall and lean man, "Hey, you look like you know how to use a camera, will you take our picture?" We realized then that Tony Cadena jokingly asked photographer Edward Colver to take our picture! We gave our thanks to Colver and Cadena, and excitedly made our way to the pit for the Adolescents.

Adolescents finally hit the stage and opened up with their classic, "No Way". At the beginning, there was hardly a circle pit, but as more and more people began to make their way to the Old School Stage, the band's pit was intense, full of dust, and non-stop until the very end. The band played most of their songs off the "Blue Album" and two tracks from "OC Confidential". The band ended their set with "Kids of the Black Hole", and people were crowd surfing and running into one another. The set was well played out and one of the most intense for the Old School Stage.

Once the afternoon sun began to hit, it was clear that water was vital to make it through the day. People were huddled in whatever spots of shade they could find, and there were lines of sweaty and tired people looking to buy water. Some people straight out passed out on the grass with their water bottles to their side. It was crazy to see how the weather was beginning to affect the day. There were no serious reports or accidents involving the heat, but if you were there, you felt the grave intensity of the sun. Luckily there were booths selling shaved ice, and even a large waterslide provided for the crowds to cool down with.

A while after 4:30 TSOL took the Old School Stage, and vocalist Jack Grisham displayed a shaved head, a hair-do we've yet to see from him. The band opened up with "World War III" and the circle pit was fast and aggressive. Because of the dirt clouds that would rise out of the pits, people were quickly running out of air and coughing up all the dirt they had inhaled. People were smart enough to know when to get out, and once they felt they could handle it all over again, they would rush back in, just in time for their favorite TSOL songs. TSOL went on to play "Superficial Love", "Fuck You Tough Guy", "Abolish Government/Silent Majority", and ended with crowd favorite, "Code Blue".

The most difficult thing to deal with at Warped Tour, other than the heat, was managing the time sets for each band that you wanted to see. Because there were so many stages and so many bands, there were times when two bands you really wanted to see would go on at the same time, at different stages. You often had to make a decision between what band mattered the most, and what band you would ditch for the other.

The Dickies were scheduled to be on at 5:40, but NOFX was scheduled to hit the Vans Main Stage at 5:50. Though we wanted to stay for the entire Dickies set, we decided to stay for the first 10 minutes of their set before migrating to the Vans Main Stage. The crowd for The Dickies was small, and there was hardly a pit, but those who were pitting were doing it with passion, often pushing people who were just standing and watching and encouraging them to go in. We managed to catch "I'm Ok, You're Ok", "Give It Back", "Got It At The Store", and "Waterslide" before leaving to go see NOFX.

We pushed and hassled our way to get all the way near the front for NOFX. They were just beginning to start, and they opened up with "Intro/Dinosaurs Will Die" The whole set was full of comedy. Vocalist Fat Mike and Guitarist El Jefe were cracking jokes and jokingly making fun of each other the entire time. Because Fat Mike is Jewish and El Jefe is Mexican, the majority of their jokes were aimed towards their ethnicities. At one point Fat Mike asked the audience, "What's the difference between a Mexican and an octopus?" and followed it with, "I don't know, but it sure can pick lettuce." El Jefe then turned it around and asked, "Why did Hitler end the Holocaust?" and followed it with, "Because he saw the gas bill!" Fat Mike retaliated by saying, "Hey man, that's not funny, my grandfather died in a concentration camp... he fell off the watchtower while he was at work!" Audience members laughed at their inappropriately appropriate jokes. NOFX continued to play songs, "Eat The Meek", "Orphan Year", "Bob", and ended their set with "Linoleum". The crowd demanded an encore, but Fat Mike instead said he had a different surprise for the audience. He brought out Alien Ant Farm, and they paid honor to Michael Jackson by playing their pop hit cover of, "Smooth Criminal".

Punk Rock Karaoke took the Old School Stage right after and played about 5 songs, letting members of the audience come on stage to sing along. A while after, Less Than Jake took the Vans Main Stage. The band opened up with "Automatic" and people were dancing and skanking all over the place. The band went on to play, "Johnny Quest Thinks We're Sellouts", and "Short Fuse Burning". Less Than Jake had a huge crowd and a lot of positive feedback from the audience.

Bad Religion was the final band to hit the Vans Main Stage, and many fans agreed that it was the most insane show of the night. The entire crowd was the entire pit for Bad Religion, and it remained so until the end. The band opened up with "21st Century", and played "Sorrow", "Do What You Want", and "Generator", among many other songs. People were highly satisfied with Bad Religion's set, and when the show was over around 8:45, audience members were in disbelief by how much they loved the set.

So the day turned to night and it was all finally over; we were exhausted, dehydrated, hungry, sweaty, out of breath, and 100% satisfied. It was a long and gruesome day but once it was all over, you were filled with great satisfaction over the bands you saw, the songs you danced and pitted to, the day's events, and everything else in between that you witnessed. It was an awesome kick-off for the Vans 15th Anniversary Warped Tour, and it was one great start for Summer 2009.

Don't miss the tour when it comes to a city near you, it will definitely make the rest of your Summer days seem like incompetent faint days accompanied with torturing heat. Why not withstand the torturing heat with your favorite bands providing you with live music and cheap thrills? Seems to make the torturing heat completely worth it.
Official website: www.warpedtour.com

MORE coverage from the Ventura stop of the 2009 VANS Wapred Tour is HERE

-Stephanie M.-
Senior staff reporter

 

More photos of the show can be seen HERE

 
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