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forumofkuka · 6 years

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Vans Warped Tour 2018: My Amazing First & Unfortunate Last

When I discovered my love for the emo subculture during the summer after 7th grade, I began expanding and refining my taste in both fashion and music. Spending countless hours on Tumblr - discovering new artists and designers - I eventually came across the epitome of emo/punk celebrations: Vans Warped Tour. As a nationally-touring, all-day rock & roll/punk/metal festival, Warped Tour became the unofficial holiday for all those who identified as “alternative,” almost like a family reunion. Each date of Warped Tour across the United States was a unique opportunity for all the surrounding scene queens, metalheads, and pop punk kids to come together, an event that truly seems like the only one of its kind. Here, dozens of bands/artists come together, perform sets on various stages scattered around the arena, sell their merchandise at (sometimes discounted) prices, and host meet & greets/signings for their fans to attend. Additionally, in the midst of all the music, alternative clothing brands, charity organizations, and local food trucks offer all kinds of products, some you buy and others you can win! Warped Tour is an opportunity for devoted fans to see many of their favorite artists take the stage, as well as discover new ones.

Ever since I discovered Warped Tour, I’ve wanted to attend; every summer, they make a stop in my state, in a city that is barely 20 minutes from my house, yet I’ve never been able to go because the festival always seemed to fall on my mother’s birthday or a vacation outside of the country. Finally, as I’ve graduated high school, Vans announces that 2018 will be the final year for a cross-country Warped Tour. Seeing the heightened stakes, I knew that this was the year I had to go, no matter what; fortunately enough, my local date fell three days after my mom’s birthday, and with a couple of friends, we bought a 4-ticket pack and planned our attendance!

Although it has become less prevalent in my day-to-day demeanor and appearance, my love for alternative music and edgier style hasn’t faltered. Sure, I’ve given away many of my Hot Topic graphic tees and lessened the black makeup, but if anything, I’m listening to post-hardcore, newcore, hard rock, and pop punk even more. Warped Tour encouraged me to step outside of my usual and to finally listen to iconic groups that I’ve neglected to give a chance in the past. Their names were very familiar in my head, but when it came to their actual music, I was clueless.

Two weeks before my mid-July date, I decided to create a collaborative Spotify playlist, where my friends and I (mostly me haha) added our favorite bops from artists that we knew we HAD to try and see. Through personal exploration, I finally listened to Tonight Alive’s latest album, Underworld, and absolutely fell in love. I wish I had given them a chance earlier! Although I didn’t end up sticking around until their set, I know now that I have a new band to keep up with and to hopefully get to see live in the future.

In addition to ‘studying’ for Warped, I spent a couple of weeks coming up with the ultimate outfit. Because I don’t get decked out in checkered patterns, fishnets, and band tees on a regular basis, I wanted to go all out for this festival, even more so because I’d be surrounded by people who were going to do the exact same!

When we finally arrived, July 15th, 2018, at Xfinity Theatre, I felt almost euphoric. I don’t think my friends or I could describe to you how smiley I was. Because of crazy traffic, we walked a little over half a mile to the actual entrance. As much as I’m super proud of being an emo, I didn’t hold back from laughing with my friends at how stereotypical or cringey some of our fellow concertgoers were - I mean, come on, alternative kids are usually outcasts for a reason and I’m not going to deny that we’re usually freaks LOL, I know I am! It was so so so hot outside, but there were many opportunities to affordably stay hydrated, since Vans Warped Tour hosted a large, FREE hydration station right by the Journey Stage and the entrance. At most concerts, any beverages - alcoholic or not - are never complimentary, and so I think this anomaly only shows the care and consideration the creators of Warped Tour have for its fans and attendees.

I felt so in my element. For years, I had only ever had a handful of friends who only moderately shared an interest in this subculture, but it was never to the same extent as I did. Being at Warped Tour finally gave me a chance to feel free, an opportunity for me to not have to tone down or hide this actual part of my identity. Looking back, I’m happy with how it went. We ended up splitting up in pairs for parts of the day, but I was able to watch or listen as I walked around to the sets of almost a dozen bands: Doll Skin, Issues, Real Friends, Unearth, Wage War, The Amity Affliction, The Story Untold, Northlane, Ice Nine Kills, Crown the Empire. Although I didn’t watch all of them fully, and there were various others I had wanted to see, it was so much fun to get a taste of different styles of music, ranging from pop-punk to metalcore, and to also see the vibes of the crowds. Never in my life, have I seen so much dust in the air from crowd-surfing, headbanging, and mosh-pitting. It was amazing, and with concerts already being such a euphoric and almost spiritual experience for me, I loved it even more.

Out of all four of us, I’m definitely the one in the group who is more extroverted, aggressive, eccentric, and just overall “out there.” I almost ran away from the group at times, as I would walk ahead of the group, looking around, and was the only one who seemed to be able to beeline through the crowds.

Rather than spending ridiculous amounts on junk food, I was able to bring in half a dozen, packaged mini cucumbers, and surprisingly didn’t get them confiscated. Although it was a strange snack to bring, it worked out pretty well as an addition hydration boost!

Instead of droning on about the minute-to-minute occurrences of the day, I’ll summarize some highlights.

One of the funnier moments of the day was unexpectedly walking by a faculty member from high school, decked out in all black with his swoopy, punk-styled ginger hair. I had no idea he was into this kind of scene, but seconds after we walked by, a set ended and he quickly left. While I don’t know if he walked away because he saw that we had seen him, it was such a surprise that the one familiar person we’d see that day, wasn’t a student but someone who had worked in the IT department at our high school.

Another moment was when I was buying an Official Vans Warped Tour T-Shirt, and a girl came up to me, in order to compliment me on my outfit. To be honest, she wasn’t the only one to praise me for my checkered overalls, blue barlot crop top, fishnets, and dark gray Doc Martens. I even received a free sticker from a vendor for my overalls! I felt so warm inside, seeing others appreciate these stylistic choices that I had very much been excited about displaying! What stood out to me about this moment with this girl, in particular, was that she had actually tried complimenting me from her car, as my friends and I were walking to the venue, but I hadn’t heard her! The fact she came across me and went up to me, just to tell me, was so sweet <3

To continue on this train of highlights, although I had went into Warped Tour, not planning on getting anything signed or waiting in line for a meet & greet, I ended up meeting The Story Untold and getting all of their signatures on my phone case! Before Warped Tour, I had definitely seen their name around the internet, knowing they were a pop-punk band. Nonetheless, I had never listened to them before and didn’t get a chance to before the festival. When we were walking around the different stands, partly to see what’s there, partly to kill time until Ice Nine Kills was set to take the stage at 4:00pm, we decided to take refuge by the Fueled by Ramen stand and reapply sunscreen in the shade of the tent. While standing there, we had overheard a really good set by this pop-punk band that turned out to be The Story Untold. Hearing how good they had sounded, we decided to get closer and become more a part of the crowd. After jamming out to their songs, “History” and “Delete,” they had announced that they were going to their nearby stand for a meet & greet shortly after. Seeing as we had loved their set and weren’t planning on going elsewhere for the next hour, we quickly ran to their stand and managed to be within a dozen people from the very front of the line. When watching their set, their lead singer vaguely reminded me of All Time Low’s Alex Gaskarth, in both appearance and sound. In between songs, he mentioned something about the group being French-Canadian, with the drummer, Johnathan Landry, having horrible English, as a part of a bit that continued on. While waiting in line, I kept thinking about why these two thoughts felt familiar, until I realized that the lead singer was Janick Thibault. Back in 2016, I remember watching a few of his All Time Low/Green Day covers on Youtube, at a time when I don’t think he was in the band. The world truly works in mysterious ways. I hadn’t thought about him since, and so it was crazy that we happened to be chilling by the Owly.fm stage, right when they were in the middle of their performance.

Aside from The Story Untold, my favorite set was by Ice Nine Kills, a band that was in my Top Three to see for the day. Besides being basically in love with Spencer Charnas, I absolutely loved their performance. In addition to sounding great, they really took their theatrical sound to the next level by having everyone in the band dress up as iconic and classic horror movie serial killers, such as Jason Voorhees (Friday the 13th) and Freddie Krueger (Nightmare on Elm Street). Having probably something to do with their two latest singles, “The American Nightmare” and “Thank God It’s Friday,” it was really fun to watch, and their music completely encouraged an awesome moshpit (that I watched from afar) and a ton of head-banging.

The one downside of the day was having to leave 3 hours or so earlier than I had planned. Of course, it was mildly expected, but that’s part of going in a group, you make compromises, and with some friends not feeling well periodically throughout the day, it was my turn to sacrifice, especially since out of everyone, I was able to see the most artists on my list. Although it was advertised as the last cross-country tour, I know my friends and I - as well as many others - hope that that simply means that Vans Warped Tour might be a regional event, with separate tours on the East and West Coast. Warped Tour was a true moment of liberation for me and I will forever remember July 18th, 2018 as a peak of not only my 2018 summer, but my 2018 year as well.

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