Music Review: Warped Tour all about punk

Friday, July 28, 2006

By the time they sent everyone home, around 8:40 p.m., there were 85 bands, 54 circle pits, 968 plastic bottles or cups flung through the air, 175 perfect mohawks, 220 girls in line to hug the singer for The Academy Is and 113 people who looked like they might have wanted more goth bands.

OK, so those numbers are all estimates, except for the first one, but who even knows about that for sure, as it's humanly impossible to see every band at the Vans Warped Tour.

As usual, if you stood at a certain spot on the grassy hill at the Post-Gazette Pavilion Thursday you could actually hear five or six bands playing at once. It's the ultimate in noise rock -- but this is more about punk.

The band that the most people seemed to see at one time, was AFI, down on one of the main stages in the parking lot. The band, which the singer from Less Than Jake described as being from "Team Eyeliner," covered the bases between pop-punk and screamo, and, in a way, it was the one set screamed out for a full-blown stage show.

Two of the day's best sets came from bands with local connections, Joan Jett & the Blackhearts and Anti-Flag. The legendary Jett hit the stage with "Bad Reputation," looking as young and punk as the day she started in black bra and leather pants. Flashing quick cute smiles and generating plenty from the people below, Jett greeted us with "How yinz doin'?" and reminded fans of punk's bubblegum roots with new songs and classics like "Cherry Bomb" and "I Love Rock 'n' Roll."

It was a rousing homecoming for Anti-Flag, who raged against the machine with the purest set of '77 punk. With their parents lined up behind them, Justin Sane and Chris #2 pulled no punches, trading off vocals and screams in a high energy rally that attacked the White House on songs like "Turncoat" and "Die for the Government."

The like-minded Rise Against mixed passion and politics into a glorious hardcore roar. For pure crunch, it was hard to top the veteran band Helmet, which sounded like construction guys going at it with drills and hammers. The biggest headbangers of the day -- and the band you'd least want to get into a fight with -- was Every Time I Die, bringing a page from Ozzfest. Same goes for Christian hardcore metal band Underoath.

The Living End changed the pace with a high-spirited rock 'n' roll complete with stand-up bass. The Casualties delivered a wild set of mohawk punk, capped by an awesome cover of "Blitzkrieg Bop."

William Beckett, the long-haired heartthrob who fronts The Academy Is, had his mostly female contingent in the palm of his hand with sensitive songs and sing-along emo hooks. The gothed-out Aiden took emo into thrashier territory with fright makeup, horror vocals and whirlwind of action on stage.

For pure fun, no one tops the cartoon punk of NOFX, led by vaudevillian frontman Fat Mike. They spent most of their half-hour just goofing off (after the first, 1-minute song, Fat Mike declared "We have one more song!!!"), but did get down to business with "Murder the Government," a dubby cover of Rancid's "Radio," and a little ditty called "The Crystal Meth Lasts Longer in Burgettstown."

Less Than Jake was almost as wacky, making fun of itself for being the only band still willing to play skapunk. They offered a fun burst of outdated punk and engineered the biggest thrill of the day when singer Chris Demakes sent hundreds of fans off to run a circle pit around the Rise Against tent.

I happened to be standing right at the Rise Against tent and found myself face to face with the running of the bulls.

For another Warped year, punk rock was alive and well.

(Scott Mervis can be reached at smervis@post-gazette.com or 412-263-2576.

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