RozeHarding
07/07/03, 09:30 PM
July 6, 2003 - Columbia Meadows
My four friends and I arrived at Warped in Portland dressed in our customized Andrew W.K. t-shirts that read "GET READY TO DIE" on the back of them. Since "Ready To Die" by AWK is our theme song, it's only appropriate we made t-shirts to pay homage to our musical God, Mr. WK.
Walking into Warped, I had only intended to really watch two bands: Damone and Andrew WK. I ended up not spending a spare minute away from the stage. I watched bands from 12 pm to 9 pm and caught some really great live shows.
As we walked in, Vaux was playing. They always put on a really intense live show, and it was a good way to kick off the day by watching them.
Anatomy of a Ghost was scheduled to play after them, but due to some miscommunication, they missed their scheduled time and were not able to play. So I watched Matchbook Romance instead and thought they were fantastic.
Then I was able to catch a couple songs by the Ataris. I'm not a big fan of them musically or live, so I wasn't very impressed.
At around 1:30 pm, I walked on stage to catch Damone play their last show on Warped Tour. It was my first time seeing them, and I wasn't left disappointed. Noelle's voice is just as beautiful live as on CD, and she is one great guitar player. The band sounded really excellent live and they even played Weezer's "You Gave Your Love To Me Softly." Although I was disappointed they didn't play "Up To You" they did impress me with "Frustrated Unnoticed" and "Your Girlfriends."
Andrew WK wasn't scheduled to play until 3:30... so I had a bit of time to kill. I spent that time running between the mainstage and the Maurice stage to watch S.T.U.N. (who actually don't suck that bad), Talib Kweli, and a few others. I also took some of that time to look around at the various booths. Although I wasn't as impressed with this year's booth selection, I was happy to see the Button booth in operation again this year.
So 3:30 rolled around and I went up on stage to watch Mr. WK perform. I wore my "GET READY TO DIE" t-shirt with pride and stood with my best girl friends on the right of the stage. Andrew WK opened with "Ready To Die" which really got the crowd, and me, pumped for the rest of the set. He played "She Is Beautiful" as a nice dedication to my friend Michelle. And then for the last two songs he called me and my four friends on stage to dance with him. As if I wasn't already incredibly nervous dancing on stage with Andrew WK, he grabbed my hand... and the next thing I knew, I was on Mr. WK's shoulders! I was scared out of my mind, but it was definitely crazy and fun at the same time.
The next band I watched was Glassjaw and they performed the best I've ever seen them. They ended with one of my favorite songs, "Siberian Kiss" which I've only heard live one other time by them.
Throughout the day I caught partial sets by: Thrice, Less Than Jake, Slick Shoes, Dropkick Murphy's, Tsunami Bomb, Avenged Sevenfold, and Rancid.
Towards the end of the evening, I made my way to the Local Bands stage where I caught one of my favorite local bands, Crosstide, performing. I layed on the grass and relaxed to their melodic beautiful songs. It was a nice way to unwind and get ready for the mayhem of The Used.
I trekked back to the mainstage in time to catch Simple Plan, for comedic relief. I stood on the stage behind the drum kit and pretended to rock out... but I spent most of the time dodging bottles, cans, and even sticks that were being thrown at them. And during the set, I saw a sign in the crowd that said "GO BACK HOME DIRTY CANADIANS, EH!" And even though I wanted to laugh, I felt really bad for Simple Plan. They kept playing and pretended their feelings weren't hurt. Afterwards I had a chance to talk to them, and although their music is absolutely horrid, they are such nice guys and it made me feel even worse about the bottles and cans being thrown at them. One of the guys said "It's gotten worse since Mest left the tour". That made me laugh for a long time.
The Used were the last band I saw that night. I can't say I'm a big fan of this band. I don't hate their music, but it's not something I can really listen to for more than about 15 minutes. Their live show gets pretty intense at times but I think Bert is a better performer than a musician. He climbed a rafter on the side of the stage and I was hoping he'd jump to make things even more interesting, but alas, he chose to climb back down. They played crowd favorites like "Buried Myself Alive" and "Taste Of Ink" but chose to leave out "Box Full Of Sharp Objects" which surprised me and disappointed me, since it's really the only Used song I like a lot.
On my walk out to my car after the show, I ran into Daryl from Glassjaw and talked to him briefly about his side project with Vinnie from the Movielife, called Head Automatica. He said we can hear some of the music in about three months and when I asked him what it sounded like, he said "It's dance music. Do you like to dance?" Yes, Daryl, I like to dance. :)
However, no AWK show is complete without a deep conversation with Andrew W.K. himself. After waiting for him to sign autographs for hundreds of fans, I had a chance to talk to the man himself. He is really inspirational and I'm happy to have been able to talk to him. He definitely made my Warped experience complete.
After walking into Warped only intending on watching two bands, I left with a sunburn, great memories with my friends, and seeing a lot of bands I don't give enough credit to.
--Roze
My four friends and I arrived at Warped in Portland dressed in our customized Andrew W.K. t-shirts that read "GET READY TO DIE" on the back of them. Since "Ready To Die" by AWK is our theme song, it's only appropriate we made t-shirts to pay homage to our musical God, Mr. WK.
Walking into Warped, I had only intended to really watch two bands: Damone and Andrew WK. I ended up not spending a spare minute away from the stage. I watched bands from 12 pm to 9 pm and caught some really great live shows.
As we walked in, Vaux was playing. They always put on a really intense live show, and it was a good way to kick off the day by watching them.
Anatomy of a Ghost was scheduled to play after them, but due to some miscommunication, they missed their scheduled time and were not able to play. So I watched Matchbook Romance instead and thought they were fantastic.
Then I was able to catch a couple songs by the Ataris. I'm not a big fan of them musically or live, so I wasn't very impressed.
At around 1:30 pm, I walked on stage to catch Damone play their last show on Warped Tour. It was my first time seeing them, and I wasn't left disappointed. Noelle's voice is just as beautiful live as on CD, and she is one great guitar player. The band sounded really excellent live and they even played Weezer's "You Gave Your Love To Me Softly." Although I was disappointed they didn't play "Up To You" they did impress me with "Frustrated Unnoticed" and "Your Girlfriends."
Andrew WK wasn't scheduled to play until 3:30... so I had a bit of time to kill. I spent that time running between the mainstage and the Maurice stage to watch S.T.U.N. (who actually don't suck that bad), Talib Kweli, and a few others. I also took some of that time to look around at the various booths. Although I wasn't as impressed with this year's booth selection, I was happy to see the Button booth in operation again this year.
So 3:30 rolled around and I went up on stage to watch Mr. WK perform. I wore my "GET READY TO DIE" t-shirt with pride and stood with my best girl friends on the right of the stage. Andrew WK opened with "Ready To Die" which really got the crowd, and me, pumped for the rest of the set. He played "She Is Beautiful" as a nice dedication to my friend Michelle. And then for the last two songs he called me and my four friends on stage to dance with him. As if I wasn't already incredibly nervous dancing on stage with Andrew WK, he grabbed my hand... and the next thing I knew, I was on Mr. WK's shoulders! I was scared out of my mind, but it was definitely crazy and fun at the same time.
The next band I watched was Glassjaw and they performed the best I've ever seen them. They ended with one of my favorite songs, "Siberian Kiss" which I've only heard live one other time by them.
Throughout the day I caught partial sets by: Thrice, Less Than Jake, Slick Shoes, Dropkick Murphy's, Tsunami Bomb, Avenged Sevenfold, and Rancid.
Towards the end of the evening, I made my way to the Local Bands stage where I caught one of my favorite local bands, Crosstide, performing. I layed on the grass and relaxed to their melodic beautiful songs. It was a nice way to unwind and get ready for the mayhem of The Used.
I trekked back to the mainstage in time to catch Simple Plan, for comedic relief. I stood on the stage behind the drum kit and pretended to rock out... but I spent most of the time dodging bottles, cans, and even sticks that were being thrown at them. And during the set, I saw a sign in the crowd that said "GO BACK HOME DIRTY CANADIANS, EH!" And even though I wanted to laugh, I felt really bad for Simple Plan. They kept playing and pretended their feelings weren't hurt. Afterwards I had a chance to talk to them, and although their music is absolutely horrid, they are such nice guys and it made me feel even worse about the bottles and cans being thrown at them. One of the guys said "It's gotten worse since Mest left the tour". That made me laugh for a long time.
The Used were the last band I saw that night. I can't say I'm a big fan of this band. I don't hate their music, but it's not something I can really listen to for more than about 15 minutes. Their live show gets pretty intense at times but I think Bert is a better performer than a musician. He climbed a rafter on the side of the stage and I was hoping he'd jump to make things even more interesting, but alas, he chose to climb back down. They played crowd favorites like "Buried Myself Alive" and "Taste Of Ink" but chose to leave out "Box Full Of Sharp Objects" which surprised me and disappointed me, since it's really the only Used song I like a lot.
On my walk out to my car after the show, I ran into Daryl from Glassjaw and talked to him briefly about his side project with Vinnie from the Movielife, called Head Automatica. He said we can hear some of the music in about three months and when I asked him what it sounded like, he said "It's dance music. Do you like to dance?" Yes, Daryl, I like to dance. :)
However, no AWK show is complete without a deep conversation with Andrew W.K. himself. After waiting for him to sign autographs for hundreds of fans, I had a chance to talk to the man himself. He is really inspirational and I'm happy to have been able to talk to him. He definitely made my Warped experience complete.
After walking into Warped only intending on watching two bands, I left with a sunburn, great memories with my friends, and seeing a lot of bands I don't give enough credit to.
--Roze