Hello everyone!
Last Sunday, my sister, a good friend of mine and myself were in Eindhoven at the first edition of Warped Tour in 15 years. We've seen lots and lots of amazing bands and here's my review.
The first bands started playing at 12:00, and the doors opened on 11:00. We were there from about 10:00, and there already was a gigantic queue like nothing I've ever seen before. The Klokgebouw is an old factory and it's massive! There were three stages where bands played throughout the day, two of which were the size of a large Dutch venue like 013 or the Melkweg. There was also a halfpipe, where professional skaters and BMX-riders did stunts every now and then, which looked pretty awesome.
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18 Miles
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At first, we checked out 18 Miles, a Dutch metalcore band. They were really good, though I'm not a huge metalcore fan I enjoyed their songs. However, it was 12:00 and everyone was still a bit sleepy, so it wasn't a very smart idea to have them kick off the day. The singer tried to start a pit a couple of times, but it didn't really work out. If their show had been later on the day, I'm sure there would have been a more enthousicatic audience.
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| Skinny Lister |
Skinny Lister, a British modern folk band, was announced in the programme book we got as 'the missing link between Mumford & Sons and Flogging Molly', which seemed pretty strange to us. Since 18 Miles was a bit too much for us so early in the day, we decided to check Skinny Lister out and see what they played. And it was awesome! They are exactly the missing link between Mumford & Sons and Flogging Molly, and I can't really explain why. Their music is uplifting and happy, with similar instruments as Mumfold & Sons use, but with a cool edge to it which indeed reminded me of Flogging Molly. You should just listen to them to understand what I mean. There were people dancing, clapping, smiling and at some point the bass-player even jumped into the crowd with his huge standing bass and started dancing with it, which was hilarious. I'm very glad we listened to Skinny Lister, and I hope to hear more of them soon.
After Skinny Lister, The Charm The Fury played. They're a Dutch metalband, but unlike 18 Miles, their singer is female. My sister, friend and I had already listened to them the evening before, and even though it was, well, metalcore so a lot of screaming going on, the female singer is amazing at it. She actually sounds more like a man doing it, and I don't understand how she's even capable of doing so at all. I didn't really like their music because I just don't really like metalcore, but they were really good at what they were doing and again, lots of respect for Caroline Westendorp for being so awesome.
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| We Are The Ocean |
We then looked at a couple of skaters who weren't really doing much besides going up and down the halfpipe (which looks cool enough because I don't know how they're able to control a skateboard so well, seriously) so we also checked out We Are The Ocean. Chiodos would be playing after them, and we wanted to be at the front, so about halfway though We Are The Ocean we walked in there. None of us knew their music, but I had read about them in Kerrang! magazine, which is always positive about them. Of course a band is always more fun when you can actually sing along with their songs, and we were standing at the back of the room so they were good, but not amazingly so. Until they were playing their final song and we moved our way to the front, and we catched some lines from the song which were so beautiful my friend and I just looked at each other litteraly almost in tears because it was so beautiful. And we had never heard the song before! I can't find the song on youtube, but if I come across it I'll post it immediately because everyone should hear it. If a band is able to do that to a person, I think they're doing the right thing. We Are The Ocean, you rock!
Then my friend and I waited for Chiodos to start playing, while my mother and sister went to see John Coffey, a 'loud rock & roll' band, as they call themselves. I wasn't there in person, but my sister and mother were very enthausiastic about them.
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| Chiodos |
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| Chiodos |
Chiodos is a metalcore band with Craig Owens from D.R.U.G.S, who my friend and I love since the Black Veil Brides gig we went to in Amsterdam two years ago. And Chiodos is awesome too! Their songs are loud and energetic, with Craig as the perfect frontman. I honestly have to say I haven't heard much of their music because I got caught in a wall of death during the second song and spent most of the gig looking for my glasses (which I then found at the lost and found stand without a scratch! Many thanks to whoever took them there from the bottom of my heart) but what I did hear was great. And my friend was completely at the front and about two metres away from Craig the whole time! At 16:00, they did a signing at their merch stand where we got their autographs, and apart from good performers Chiodos are just really nice and funny guys. My friend got a pic with Craig and he signed her shoe and my sister got a hug :) he's an awesome dude and so are his bandmates. They'll be releasing an album in March, with a tour coming up as well. Without a doubt to be continued.
It took us to about 15:00 to find my glasses, so we missed the Dirty Heads and the Maine. But I got my glasses back so that's something.
Then we checked out Crossfaith, a Japanese band, but we didn't really like them. I don't actually know why, their music just wasn't 'it'. After that we went to see Memphis May Fire, who we also didn't know but had heard of. Their music was also metalcore, and though I liked them more than 18 Miles and The Charm The Fury, because they mixed it more with melodic singing. Those moments were really good.
Billy Talent was the next band we saw. My sister is in love with their Dead Silence album, so I was very curious to see them live, though I didn't know them. And they're good! Their rock-ish songs were played perfectly, with perfect guitar solos and perfect singing, and it was obvious that they were great musicians. We were standing at the back of the room so I didn't get to see them play up close, which also means you're not really part of the show. All the jumping and singing along happens in the front. However, I liked their music and I really need to sit down and listen to their albums one day.
We Came As Romans were another metalcore band, but them I did know a bit. Live, they were pretty cool! I recognised some songs from the album Understanding What We've Grown To Be, I think they played Hope? Anyway, we were standing on the balcony along with quite a few other people and had a really pretty overview of the venue, with WCAR playing on the stage, and on the left the halfpipe where skaters were doing some pretty sick stunts. The halfpipe and the stage were light and the rest of the room was dark which looked really cool from where we were standing. Unfortunately, it was too dark for my camera to take a proper picture of it so I can't show you how it looked. Just like with Billy Talent, because we were so far away from the stage, we were a bit disconnected from the actual show. But we had a better view from above than with Billy Talent. I'd love to see WCAR live again.
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| Enter Shikari |
Yellowcard was originally sceduled to play at 17:15, followed by Enter Shikari, but the two gigs were swapped. Earlier that day, Enter Shikari was annouced to be playing as Shikari Sound System because one of the band members had 'family cicumstances', so we were glad they were playing as Enter Shikari anyway, be it before Yellowcard. We were pretty close to the front of the stage, to the right side, but during the gig we were pushed further to the right because a second moshpit started right where we were standing and we weren't very keen on being in one. I'd listened to their album A Flash Flood Of Colour before the gig, and my sister and I could sing along to System/Meltdown. They're nothing like any band I've heard before, combining post-hardcore with electronic effects.
At Warped, they kicked off with System/Meltdown, thank God, so my sister and I happily sang along. The rest of their show, though I couldn't sing along any other songs, was hands down my favourite show of the evening. Their music is just so awesome, and live it really gives it another dimension. Halfway through their show, the singer held a speech on how he was so happy to 'be in a room with people who understand music' and went on to say that 'music is supposed to make you uncomfortable' and that music is needed to change the future. I can't find the speech on YouTube, but it was really inspirational and beautiful.
Enter Shikari. One of the best bands I've ever heard with a fantastic show and I really want to see them live again.
Yellowcard was the last band we saw that evening. My friend and sister were at the front, I was a couple of people behind them. My sister knew Yellowcard pretty well, my friend knew the drummer from the Adam Lambert concert she went to a couple of years ago and I knew two songs because of Guitar Hero.
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| Yellowcard |
Their show was good, but in my opinion, not great. My friend and sister disagree and call it the best show of the day, but I really think Enter Shikari and Chiodos were. I didn't know any of the songs they were playing and, though I really didn't care for this with the other bands we'd seen, the songs Yellowcard played were sometimes even a bit boring to me because of it. This might have also been influenced by the fact I was surrounded by crazy fans singing along to everything which made me feel like 'um i don't know who Yellowcard are lol' pretty much the whole show, causing me to feel a bit out of place there. I did know their song Ocean Avenue, which I did really like because I like the punk rock Blink-182-ish sound it has. Another song I liked was something with an A but I don't recall the name, they made the crowd sing along and it was just a good song. But, like with the rest of their performance, not great.
Throughout the day, my friend, sister, mother and I visited the merch stands of the bands, that were placed in another hall almost like a market. They had lots of T-shirts, writsbands, hoodies, caps, pins and albums from the bands playing, and most bands had signing sessions there as well. My sister is now in posession of a signed Yellowcard album, which she is very happy with :)
Summary of the day: Warped Tour rocks. The music is awesome, the overall vibe is awesome and I really, really, really hope it'll come back next year. On the Dutch website,
vanswarpedtour.nl, better photo's than mine and an aftermovie will be posted soon.
Thank you for reading!
xoxo
Gasoline Diamond
(All pictures in this post are taken by me, unless stated otherwise)
