Live show preview
Vans Warped Tour
with Green Day + Long Beach Dub Allstars + NOFX + Jurassic 5 + Dilated Peoples + Papa Roach + Mighty Mighty Bosstones + Dillinger Escape Plan + more
Saturday July 15, 2000, Randall's Island, New York City
All the mega-package tours that have come and gone (and are still going) since Lollapalloza first rampaged across the USA must be judged against it, and Van’s Warped Tour, perhaps the least hyped of all, remains truest to the spirit of ‘palooza, while offering the most bang for the buck.
Key factors in Warped’s success are the reasonable ticket price, a huge number of bands and more a non-musical diversions than a concert-goer could hope to absorb in one day. At the Washington, D.C. stop last year, there were five music stages, two “extreme” sports rings, countless booths, giveaways and autographs sessions, as well as people eager to pierce and tattoo your flesh.
The 2000 edition’s headlining acts won’t be quite as blistering as last year’s Emeniem/Blink 182 finale, but Green Day is a solid live band and the Dilated Peoples are highly entertaining. The standout performances should come from a pair of inventive metallers--- California’s extra-heavy Papa Roach and New Jersey’s impossibly complicated Dillinger Escape Plan. Both put simps like Metallica in proper perspective. Also watch the side stages for the inspired Dick Dale-isms of Stingray.
Warped Tour founder Kevin Lyman wisely aped the marketing skills of NASCAR (the number-one spectator sport in the USA) and now keeps a dizzying roster of sponsors front and center. If you can handle logo-overload, there are myriad free offers which a savvy attendee can turn into an armful of free discs, posters and stickers in exchange for a little info.
Warped is essentially a California-bred event, and no matter how New Yorkers feel about skateboarding and bike trickery, watching these “athletes” soar into the sky on a tiny slab of wood while live bands thrash away around them does bring a certain gut-level thrill. Wisely, the fest is alcohol free, and some of the largest crowds of the day usually turn out to be at the water stands. Indeed, water will probably be the only thing you will leave Warped feeling like there wasn’t enough of.
Time Out New York, 2000
