VANS WARPED TOUR, Utah State Fairpark, Aug. 8
The Vans Warped Tour is celebrating its 15th anniversary. And if the crowd at the Utah State Fairpark Saturday was any indication, the tour should continue to do well in Salt Lake City for another 15 years and then some.
The annual summer concert drew thousands of mostly middle school to college-aged people, many of them heavily pierced or tattooed, to the fairgrounds for a full day of punk, ska, emo electronica and pop music. About 70 bands played on seven stages from 11:15 a.m. until 9 p.m.
"This is the biggest crowd I think I've seen," said 20-year-old Warped fan Jason Williams, who has been to five previous tours. "This is the best (Warped Tour) of them all."
Williams said he liked the longer set times bands on the main stage were given this year.
He, along with his brother Casey, 17, and their friend Lauren Riggs, 17, drove to Salt Lake from St. George Friday night to see the tour, and planned to drive back to southern Utah right after it ended.
By 11 a.m., the streets around the fairgrounds were already full of kids being dropped off by their parents and cars looking for places to park. Heavy cloud cover and a breeze were a welcome relief from past years when temperatures at the not-so-shady Fairpark have soared over 100 degrees.
We The Kings got the Warped Tour started on the main stage with an energetic set that was well received by a good-sized early crowd.
"The best crowd we've had on the Warped Tour," announced front man Travis Clark.
The White Tie Affair on the SmartPunk Stage also delivered a fun, upbeat early set. Energetic lead singer Chris Wallace had the crowd dancing as the band mixed a cover from Lady Gaga in with their own songs like "Candle (Sick and Tired)."
"Mostly I came here for the music," said 18-year-old Jon George who drove from Ogden to see the tour.
George, who stood out in the crowd with his tall, red Mohawk, said he was there to see bands like NOFX and Streetlight Manifesto. When bands he didn't like were on stage, he said we walked around to one of the many merchandise tents set up between the stage and purchased some pins.
A row of tents from each band on the venue, and some that weren't even playing Saturday, lined the area south of the main stage. One tent offered spectators the chance to play Rock Band. Another sold all Ramones swag, while another tent offered Michael Jackson memorial T-shirts.
The crowd had grown by the time Less Than Jake took the stage at 1:15 p.m. The ska-punk-pop band at one point picked out a "dad" from the back of the crowd and had all the kids in front of him, pick him up and body surf him to the stage for a free beer.
I Set My Friends On Fire, on the Hurley.com Stage, and Chiodos, on the main stage, both had frenzied circle pits that resulted in more than one bloody nose. At one point during Chiodos' lively set, the band attempted to break the record of 60 crowd surfers per minute. Whether such a record actually exists wasn't verified, but the audience became a sea of fans being lifted and passed around.
By 3 p.m., the food vendors around the fairgrounds were packed with wall-to-wall people. Many fans at the tour wore T-shirts from their favorite bands (3OH!3 seemed to have a large representation). The "Free Hugs" campaign was also seen heavily Saturday on shirts and signs being carried.
"The people are interesting," said Tess Hendrixson, 17. "The outfits are interesting."
In addition to people watching, Hendrixson and her friend, Jaydan Smith, 15, who both woke up at 7 a.m. and drove to Salt Lake from Logan, said they were at the show to see All Time Low.
Ellis Gross, 26, brought his 9-year-old son, Erick Gross, to The Warped Tour for the first time.
"We're here for the music, NOFX. We bought a shirt and a CD," he said.
NOFX, whose members are no strangers to speaking their political minds, started off its set with a rant by lead singer Fat Mike blasting the LDS Church, accusing it of being responsible for the passage of Proposition 8 in California.
By 5 o'clock, after hours of walking around and standing, many fans sought whatever shade was available or grass to sit on. The clouds also gave way by late afternoon to heavy sunlight.
Utah based Meg & Dia received a warm reception as did Cobra Starship, making its lone showing on this year's Warped Tour. Rap-poppers 3OH!3 and punk veterans Bad Religion finished out the evening on another successful day.
e-mail: preavy@desnews.com