Less Than Jake
Less Than Jake is another Warped Tour band of veterans. I've seen them here more times than I can remember, but their sets are always fun and full of positive energy. They came out on stage wearing matching "Team Fat Ass" T-shirts, and announced that whoever was on "Team Smart Punk", the band playing on the small smart punk stage opposite them, was two minutes over on their set.
Once that was taken care of, they started the set by bringing a girl up on stage they had declared had "the best hair of the tour" (an impressive mohawk), and instructed her to stay there and "dance like you can't dance."
Their set was made up of tons of old and new songs, and goofy banter filled with juvenile banter not fit for print. They blasted the crowd with Super Soakers and blasted through tunes like "Look What Happened (Last Time)", "Sugar In Your Gas Tank ", "Overrated" and "Johnny Quest (Thinks We're Sellouts)". They closed with "My Very Own Flag", inciting the crowd to the requisite circle pit around the sound booth while they fired rolls of toilet paper high in the air over the masses. It was all about music, dancing and fun.
There's Just Way Too Much
Deciding to wander a bit, we caught a fun acoustic set by Jay Tea, where he kept breaking into the chorus from "The Beer Song" by Mustard Plug, and joking with the audience. He played a song called "I've been 16 since 1996", and offered to take requests, but never played any. He informed on person that "the Beatles aren't that popular, so I never learned any of their songs," so instead he played some acoustic ska.
We also caught the Vincent Black Shadow on the Shiragirl/Gritty in Pink stage. The stage was in rough shape, looking like it was about to collapse, and the sound equipment was blasting loud static and feedback. It wasn't the best place to catch them, but they're very talented and they prevailed.
The middle of the day was occupied with press meetings. We met Joan Jett on her bus, and while it was "not an interview", I can reveal a few details of our meeting with Joan Jett and her long-time producer Kenny Laguna. Joan Jett is incredibly sweet and nice, with an infectious smile. She and Kenny love Cadillacs, and they were very accommodating when it came to sharing beverages and allowing us to sit in the air conditioning of their bus. Other than that, as it was a meeting and not an interview, I am sworn to secrecy.
NOFX
We did interviews with Vincent Black Shadow and Brit Black, missing most of the Bouncing Souls and Valient Thorr as well. Like I said, it's impossible to catch all of Warped in a day.
The day was turning into a death march by now - a struggle to stay hydrated. My count by this time consisted of a soda, two energy drinks and four bottles of water and the crowd was also getting pretty wilted.
NOFX were the last Warped Tour veterans of the day. They began their set by announcing their drummer's birthday. In a typical display NOFX's style of humor, his birthday celebration involved making him swing at a pinata onstage while Fat Mike sang a song intended on embarrassing him with lines like "Happy Birthday you fat junkie".
If you're familiar with NOFX, you know that Fat Mike is the ultimate funny man in punk rock. He also makes you think. Mixed in with the music in their set were comments about politics, and attacks on religion. If Anti-Flag are the motivators of the Warped Tour, Fat Mike is the philosopher. By the time the band closed with "I Wanna Be An Alcoholic", there were people cheering as well as yelling angrily. Either way, he accomplished what he was going for.
Joan Jett Closes The Day
Joan Jett was the perfect headliner to close the day. As she strode out on the stage in leather pants and a bikini top, all rock and roll posture, the crowd got its third wind (or was it the fourth, I'd lost count).
She was all about the rock, and the crowd was all about rocking. There were no more pits, everyone was just jumping, cheering and singing along as she tore through classic songs like "Bad Reputation" and "Cherry Bomb". She mixed in new songs, like "Change the World" from Sinner, her cover of "AC/DC", "Riddles" and "Five". A pair of old school punks started up a mini two-man pit, and everyone was simply having a great time. This was truly what summer was about, just being out and enjoying the music.
I got chills when she powered through "Crimson and Clover", and by the time she closed with "I Love Rock and Roll", I don't think their was a single person in the crowd who questioned her status of queen of punk or queen of the Warped Tour. It was the perfect close to a sweltering day.
Epilogue: Later that night, we ran into the guys from Anti-Flag outside a restaurant in Greektown. Offstage, they're soft-spoken and friendly. If they ever quit the rock business, these guys really should consider running for office.
