Warped Tour

Damn, has Vans done their job or what? I went on Saturday with the family and peeped a good 1 out of 3 people rocking Vans. Impressive marketing that obviously translated into sales to say the least. I haven’t been to one of these things in a few years and man how they’ve changed. It’s like a flea market these days with all the donkeys out there selling anything and everything. You could buy pocketbooks, rack sun glasses, bandana’s, lamb kabob’s, rock tee’s, graffiti New Era’s from some home boy, no name skateboards all while listening to a host of up and coming bands. Last time I went they actually had a bunch of their skate and BMX pro’s throwing down on a legit half pipe, this weekend had a steel 6 foot mini ramp with a bunch of dudes from the local skate park. The closest a pro skater came to the ramp was Mike V on the stage next to it with his band Revolution Mother. It was rad too, cause I pointed him out to my 7 year old and said, “Hey Milo, check it out. It’s Mike V, from Fuel TV. It’s that guy that drives around in a Jeep and skates all the local skate spots with everyone.” Right then and there, nice guy Mike V goes on a tirade dropping a F-bomb every 3 words about how fucking gay emo bands are and that all the people that like them are fucking gay and when the little 14 year old girls grow up Mike V and Revolution Mother will be there for them. Yea, that was sweet to subject my 7 year old too. Thanks Mike, we appreciate it.

From that little scene we rolled down to the backstage area. Found Pennywise’s bus and brought the family on. Rock stars and family, you’d never think they’d mix but as soon as we get the hello’s out of the way, Fletchers grabbing me a Heineken and the kids Gatorade.

The rest of the band comes out, says hello, throw’s hi5’s to the kids and Jimmy even signs one of his new books for us. 2 more beers and it’s time for the Wise to hit the stage.

Randy lets Milo carry his bass thru the pits all the way to the stage. The kid was in heaven and either people were tripping their socks off back there or they were genuinely smiling seeing little guy rolling down pit row with the man.

On stage there was no shortage of F-Bombs, but it somehow seemed fine coming from them as the crowds frenzy took the boys attention away from the ‘bad words’ and focused them on the pit and all the action that was happening. The show ends, we roll off stage back to the car and let the band act like the adults that they are for the after party, while we act like the family that we’re supposed to be. This was the little guys first time seeing live music. I had to explain that when you go to a concert you don’t get the treatment that we got that day. Milo responds with a “that was the best day of my life! Thanks Dad. Do you know anyone in Green Day?”

FUCK!