Hundreds of screaming fans gathered around six different stages, waiting to hear the sound of their favorite bands play right before their eyes. This experience was so new to me, considering I had only ever been to one concert in my life, and Warped Tour was more than just one concert, but a music festival with almost sixty bands. With a lineup of that many bands, it was hard just to decide which ones I wanted to see, and which ones I had to miss out on. The feeling of being there is unexplainable. The music, the people, all the merchandise tents set up, was all part of the whole experience.
The date was July 26, 2007. The location: Scranton, Pennsylvania. Me, my little sister Chelsey, my friends Rachel and Nicole, and her little sister Kayla began our day with a breakfast at Perkins, and a two hour long car ride to Scranton. We arrived at Warped Tour about two hours before the concerts started, because we knew that we would have to wait in line for a while, which was definitely an understatement. We stood in line for over two hours, as the temperature rapidly began to rise; talking to each other about different bands that we liked, and how pumped we were for the rest of the day. None of us had ever been to a Warped Tour before, so we really didn’t know what to expect out of it besides the music.
As we entered through the gates, we didn’t even know where to go. There were six stages, tons of food stands, and even more merchandise tents spread across a very large parking lot. And even though not everybody was through the gates yet, there were so many people that it was hard to just get around. As we began to walk around, Chelsey and I heard a band that we knew, but couldn’t think of the name. We followed the sound the whole way across the parking lot to one of the main stages, and finally realized that it was Amber Pacific. We excitedly watched the rest of their show, and then went to the lineup board to decide what bands we wanted to see throughout the day. We ended up seeing Amber Pacific, Bayside, The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, Paramore, Chiodos, Mayday Parade, Escape The Fate, Coheed and Cambria, and Hawthorne Heights. The energy of the crowds while watching the bands were insane. Some crowds were fun and energetic, while others were violent and basically ruined the show. When Chelsey, Rachel, and I saw Escape The Fate, the singer had to stop his show twice because kids were fighting and getting hurt. One fan even had to be taken away in an ambulance because he got a concussion while he was in the pit (a circle formed by the fans, which is then filled by “moshing” enthusiasts.) The two bands that I was most excited to see were Bayside and The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus. Rachel, Chelsey, and I waited for over half an hour for Bayside to begin their set. Finally seeing them play live was one of the most thrilling experiences. I could tell that they really loved what they were doing and that the other kids around me loved their music just as much as me.
After seeing Bayside, we made our way to one of the main stages to see The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus. We got to the stage about an hour before the band was to start to play, because we knew that there would be so many fans, especially because they were chosen to play ten minutes longer than the others. My sister, Rachel, and I ended up being in the 2nd row, center stage when the band came out to play. This was the most ridiculous show out of all that I had seen that day. The crowd was enormous, the body surfers traveled to the front of the crowd in huge groups, and the sweat just poured off of everybody. As they began to play everybody began to jump around and recite the words to the songs that they were playing. Just being there in front of them and hearing them play my favorite song was thrilling beyond belief. This was the last show we saw that day, and it was definitely a wonderful way to end it.
Going to Warped Tour was definitely one of the best things I have ever experienced in my life, and I wouldn’t have wanted to be there with anybody else either. Everybody that I went with has such a love for the same type of music; it wasn’t at all difficult for us to decide what bands we wanted to see. At the end of the day, we all had horrible sunburns, bruises all over our bodies, and aching feet. We were completely exhausted from the eventful day we had just experienced, but it was all totally and completely worth it.
