Arts & Entertainment
 

Hard to beat the heat at Warped

By Jason Gagnon
The Daily Cougar

Even though the venue for the Warped Tour was changed to Reliant Park at the last minute, it didn't stop hordes of kids from waiting in a massive line to enter the music festival Sunday.

Rather than provide a bloated account of performances, it would seem to be more appropriate to focus on the tour itself, since that is what made the day so horrible. But for those of you who only care about the bands, here is a brief rundown.

Tsunami Bomb impressed a lot of new fans and was pretty solid. It was the only group of the day that could be labeled as "pop-punk" that was worth watching.

The Dropkick Murphys delivered a wild and energetic set that included many crowd favorites such as "Barroom Hero" and tracks from the group's latest release Blackout.

Poison The Well went over great with the crowd, which was chanting songs from the band's sophomore effort, The Opposite of December. But when the group was first touring in support of that album it didn't have nearly as many fans.

Andrew W.K.'s set was a religious experience. Despite the sweltering heat and over-zealous security, the group caused the most insanity out of any band that day. Imagine crowd surfing on stage, the group pulling kids up to rock out with it and even an impressive stage dive from one fan. Nothing else seemed worth watching after that performance.

Lastly, Face to Face was off to a good start until it started playing songs from its albums after Big Choice.

Alright, with that out of the way, the focus now turns to why the tour was so lame this year. For starters, the event was supposed to take place at the Reliant Center, which would have boasted stages indoors and outdoors. Instead, the Warped Tour was abruptly moved to the parking lot of Reliant Park because of a dog show. That's right -- a dog show.

So, take 100-plus degree heat, no shade whatsoever and only two stands selling water and beverages. Frustrated concert-goers expressed their outrage on the Warped Tour message boards describing heat strokes and uncaring staff members.

There was no place to escape the heat, and it seemed unfair that kids should have to pay $3.25 for a 20-ounce bottle of water just to avoid passing out. 

Aside from that, there wasn't much to look at aside from the bands. Few people were skating, the booths didn't have anything cool and Troma Studios wasn't there.

Let's face it, the tour has been going downhill for years, and if this is any indication of what to expect next year, then boycott the tour until it provides more diversity in its artists, safer conditions and finds bands that aren't on the tour every year.

Warped Tour

Reliant Park

The verdict: It's all downhill from here.

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