Picture & Review by Codi Glancy
It was a beautiful day for Warped tour, especially since we’ve had so much constant rain. A full day of amazing music spread across nine stages began with sets from The Early November, Man Overboard, and I See Stars. Unfortunately, I was unable to catch those three, but I could hear them in the background while I was picking up the daily schedule and planning who to photograph and where. I later spoke with Ace Enders of The Early November who played a range of songs from their entire discography, including “Decoration,” “Baby Blue,” and “Ever So Sweet.”
My day officially started by catching Atlanta’s own Look Alive as they played the Ernie Ball stage. Coming right off a tour and a brand new full-length record, the guys in Look Alive captured the crowd with their energetic pop-punk songs and intense stage performance. Afterwards, I headed over to Hawthorne Heights as they began their set in the Amphitheater. I haven’t seen them perform since the unfortunate death of the guitarist, Casey, a few years ago. With that being said, HH played an amazing set filled with songs off their new album “Zero” and favorite songs like “We Are So Last Year,” “Niki FM,” and “Silver Bullet.” As they ended, I headed over to catch local favorites Woe, Is Me. Even though I’m not familiar with their music, I’ve heard a lot about the band as they’ve grown in popularity and the last part of their set was extremely impressive.
As Woe, Is Me finished up on the Kia Soul stage, a long time favorite of mine, Motion City Soundtrack, began next door on the Kia Forte stage. I had never seen MCS before this year’s Warped, but they were even better than I expected them to be. Their 30-minute set was filled with favorites including “Broken Heart,” “Everything Is Alright,” and “The Future Freaks Me Out.” As I left, I was able to catch sets from Anarbor, and I, Assailant before heading over to watch a very crowded and rowdy set from The Chariot. While I haven’t kept up with their discography, the Chariot played one of the best live sets that I’ve ever seen.
As the day continued, I was able to catch sets from Action Item, Allstar Weekend, Chiodos, The Black Dahlia Murder, Upon a Burning Body, and August Burns Red. Unfortunately during an awesome set by Defeater, a mosh-pitter ran into me breaking my camera, which put a bit of a damper on the day until I was able to watch I Can Make A Mess (Ace Enders) over at the Acoustic Basement stage. He’s been a long time favorite of mine and after missing TEN’s set, it was a nice mid-day picker upper.
In-between 3 and 4, I was able to catch sets from Big D and the Kids Table, Sleeping with Sirens, Never Shout Never, Black Veil Brides, Citizen, Vinnie Caruana, William Beckett, Forever the Sickest Kids, and Like Moths or Flames. My favorite set of the day was from the Wonder Years. It’s been a few years and an album or two since I had last seen them, but as always, it was a fantastic set filled with classic favorites and songs from their newest album “The Greatest Generation.”
Before ending my day, I caught sets from festival headliners Memphis May Fire, The Used, Silverstein and Bring Me the Horizon. This year was my first Warped since I was in high school. While a good bit in my life has changed since then, it was amazing to relive that one of a kind experience again while also seeing some of today’s hottest alternative bands.
