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Thus far this summer my hobbies have consisted of neglecting this blog, watching entire seasons of “30 Rock” and “Entourage” in a day and working my ass off so I could afford to go to music festivals.  In June, a couple of my friends and I made the long trek from Massachunnecticut to Tennesee for four magical days of Bonnaroo.  Needless to say it was one of the most epic, unbelievable experiences of my life.  After that I was in no rush to flock to any concerts in the area but I was quietly awaiting both the Gathering of the Vibes in Bridgeport, CT and the Newport Folk Festival.  Understandably, since I am older than 13, the Hartford leg of the Warped Tour would have passed me by completely unnoticed had my friend’s band not been invited to play.

At first I was leery of spending $45 on something like the Warped Tour but I figured it would be fun even if my friends and I weren’t really into the music.  So I met up with my friends in a parking lot in a less murderous part of Hartford and we walked over to the Meadows Music Center.  As we approached we could hear the music and smell the puberty and big white sunglasses getting close.  Almost immediately we were accosted by the festival leeching pseudo-buddhists trying to sell us their yoga DVDs and awkward high schoolers in skinny jeans with headphones trying to get people to listen to their band.  Fortunately we made it through the fray and headed over to the big board with the schedule.

The first band we saw that day was Dear and the Headlights, a commendably good band that I had missed at Bonnaroo so I was excited to see that they were here.  Unfortunately, before Dear came onstage we had to suffer through part of the set of a band called I Set My Friends On Fire.  Let me preface this by saying that I think the best part of music is that there really is no absolute bad music, and if people connect with and in some way it enriches their lives then it is all inherently good.  This theory went out the door with this band.  There is plenty of music that I find stupid (Britney Spears, Chris Daughtry, every post-Coldplay band with a sensitive, piano playing lead singer) but I have never experienced something so gut wrenchingly awful passed off as music.  This band’s claim to fame was their cover of “Crank Dat Soulja Boy” on myspace.  I’m serious.  I set My Friends on Fire is the kind of band you listen to if all of your clothes are 3 sizes too small and your haircut is fucking retarded.  I guess it goes without saying that the 15 minutes we saw of this band were spent laughing and staring incredulously.  Luckily, however Dear and the Headlights came to save us shortly afterwards.

The rest of the day was filled with surprisingly great music.  The best part of Bonnaroo was the diversity of the lineup, which has improved drastically since its inception in the early 2000’s.  Now Bonnaroo is much more than a jam band festival.  Similarly, Warped Tour’s lineup did not cater exclusively to the latest evolution of high school punk music.  In it’s 15th year, Warped Tour brought back veteran punk acts like NOFX, Bad Religion and Flogging Molly.  Coupled with “indie” rock acts like Dear and the Headlights and the cutest band in existance, Meg & Dia, and alternative hip hop acts like Shad.  Warped Tour seems to be, if only slightly, expanding its typical lineup to include different areas of music.

These acts really made the day for me.  Flogging Molly was absolutely awesome.  The mosh pit wasn’t as brutal and fun to watch as the Devil Wears Prada’s but there was definitely something rewarding about watching a mosh/riverdance.  Shad was also excellent.  We showed up early to hear him and maybe ten people were standing around near the stage, after five minutes of performing he had drawn a crowd and had people laughing and entranced with his rhymes.  Meg & Dia were a cute diversion to sit down and rest our feet to and finally, Instrument rocked their set despite playing to a crowd that didn’t necessarily appreciate their genre of music.  From this I’ve learned not to discriminate against festivals just because my little sister’s friends would enjoy them.  If it comes by your town, give Vans Warped Tour a chance, even if it’s not your bag.  I mean c’mon, its only 40 bucks.

And on that note I leave you with a painfully horrible Postal Service cover by a band that was probably at the Warped Tour…

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