Warped Tour 2008

July 24, 2008
Darien Lake, NY
By: Shanna

The weather was unpredictable at the 2008 Darien Lake Vans Warped Tour, but that didn't stop the kids from having a long day of running around seeing their favorite bands on all the different stages. Kids were lined up very early in the morning and started piling into the Darien Lake Performing Arts Center at 11am.

The day started with several lesser known bands such as Syracuse natives Honor Bright. The first headliner to hit the main stage on the 66 Stage, which was actually split into two main stages for the headliners, was Cobra Starship. The band performed many fan-favorite songs such as "Guilty Pleasure," "The City Is At War," and the infamous song that gave them their big break "Snakes on A Plane (Bring It)."

Another headliner for the day was Story of the Year, who had a large crowd of moshing and screaming fans. The band played songs from all three of their albums "Page Avenue," "In the Wake of Determination," and their latest CD that was released this year titled "The Black Swan."

The main stages were packed all day and luckily there weren't many injuries because of the great crowd control that was set up. Against Me!, Say Anything, Angels and Airwaves, Relient K, Gym Class Heroes, and the winners of the 10 more minutes of playing time, Anberlin, were other notable headliners for the day.

Up on the other side of the Performing Arts Center were the other stages. The Ernie Ball stage had a big showing for the band Forever the Sickest Kids. This pop-punk band had many kids jumping up and down singing along to their favorite songs. Up and coming band Charlotte Sometimes had a decent showing of kids singing along to their single "How I Could Just Kill A Man," the band played cohesively and Charlotte had a very sweet and soothing voice to go along with the music.

Three of the most notable bands on the Stop Sign Hurley stage were 3Oh!3, Shwayze, and Katy Perry. All three of these performers have amazing stage presence and a large crowd to go along with their performance. 3Oh!3 are great rap artists with good dances moves to go along with their rapping. During the last song of their set, Shwayze came on stage to dance with them. Shwayze made good interactions with the crowd. Katy Perry is the cutest girl in the world, coming out like a rag doll over her boyfriend, frontman Travis from Gym Class Heroes' back. Katy Perry is definitely an artist to look out for, she has a beautiful voice and her lyrics are witty. Fans sang along loudly to songs such as "Ur So Gay" and her big hit "I Kissed a Girl."

Next to the Hurley stage was the Smart Punk Stage. Madina Lake were the openers for this stage and were arguably the best band that performed on it. Opening up with their song"Adalia" along with confetti rockets, fans screamed and jumped around with the band. There was not one song that did not go unsung by the crowd. Lead singer Nathan made sure to interact with the crowd often, whether it was jumping off the stage to crowd surf, or giving fans high fives. The band played a little instrumental snippet of a song that will be featured off their new CD to be released next year, it sounds a lot more complex and mature than any previous song the band has written, which means fans can only look for the best to come out of Madina Lake.

The other Hurley stage featured fan favorites such as The Color Fred, We The Kings, and All Time Low, all of which had a large audience.

Despite the hectic weather conditions where one minute it would rain and look like it was about to storm, then the next it would be sunny, kids stayed the entire time at Warped Tour and no one walked away disappointed.