Vans Warped Tour at Barangaroo 1/12/13 - Live Review

The sun was shining, punk rockers were singing and a sea of fangirls in “Defend Pop Punk” t-shirts filled the beautiful harbourside venue of Barangaroo for the first Australian Vans Warped Tour since 2001. As an avid Soundwave goer and dedicated AJ Maddah fangirl, I do not mean it lightly when I say that the returning Warped Tour had the most badass mixture of punk and hardcore acts that I’ve ever seen in a Sydney festival.

I kicked off my day at stage 1, blending into the flock of fervent fangirls to catch Arizona pop punk band The Summer Set. Frontman Brian Dales not only sounded excellent and looked gorgeous, but also kept the crowd excited (a rare occurrence in a festival opener), telling them to be “freakier than a Miley Cyrus music video”. The crowd favourites were Boomerang – from their latest album ‘Legendary’ – and their most successful single, Chelsea.

Man Overboard came to the main stage next, keeping the energy alive. Vocalists Zac Eisenstin and Nik Bruzzese were highly entertaining, reminding me of Blink-182’s Mark Hoppus and Tom DeLonge as they encouraged the entire crowd to direct rude hand gestures toward the passing cruise ships. Despite their merch covering the bodies of approximately 97.8% of the women in the venue (possible exaggeration), they were a wonderfully humble and humorous bunch, and played a refreshingly mixed set of old and new Man Overboard tunes. The 2013 album ‘Heart Attack’ has been out since May, and is total pop punk perfection.

Western Sydney siders Tonight Alive followed. Vocalist Jenna McDougall absolutely rocked the stage in her new bright green hair, and developed a really strong connection with the crowd in the 40-minute set. None of us wanted to see her go. The band played old favourite Wasting Away, along with a mix of songs from the 2010 album ‘What Are You So Scared Of?’ and the new 2013 release, ‘The Other Side’. Brand new song No Different was a particular standout in a live setting, Jenna calling it the “heaviest song they’ve ever written”. They finished off the set with the 2013 single Lonely Girl, and the crowd went absolutely wild. Tonight Alive have always been a band to watch, and their stage presence and atmosphere is becoming more and more incredible every time I see them – I cannot recommend their shows enough.

At this point during the day, it felt like the sun was slowly consuming Sydney within its flames, with red faces and shoulders everywhere I turned. My slowly burning skin couldn’t keep me from ska punk Californians Reel Big Fish, however, who were perfect in every imaginable way. Opening with oldie Everything Sucks and making their way to their famous cover of A-Ha’s Take On Me, the six man band were dressed beautifully in bright colours, Hawaiian print and brass instruments. It was impossible not to dance during their performance, their songs inducing everything from booty shaking to head banging to line dancing all throughout the crowd. The whole band was hilarious, highlights being their cover of Call Me Maybe and Aaron Barrett playing his guitar behind his head while Johnny Christmas mocked him using his trumpet. The new album, ‘Candy Coated Fury’, was well received by the crowd, with brilliant performances of Everyone Else Is An Asshole, I Dare You To Break My Heart and I Know You Too Well To Like You Anymore along with an array of long time favourites like Sell Out, Where Have You Been? and Beer.

The Used were on stage next to announce a name change, with lead singer Bert McCracken addressing his band only as “The F**king Used”. Despite the douche vibes from McCracken, the set was well played and the crowd had a great energy, The band, like almost every other band there, also had a release from this year to plug – their new EP ‘The Ocean Of The Sky’, from which my personal preference is the song ‘Iddy Biddy’.

After a first aid incident with one of the people in the group I was with and a lunch break, an hour and a half had passed and it was time for Swedish Millencolin to hit the stage. These guys are total punk veterans who deserve to be bowed down to by all. All hail Millencolin. They invited pro skater Steve Caballero on stage to play bass. It was cute. They played No Cigar. Everyone freaked out. I left early for The Amity Affliction. I felt bad for about three seconds and then I saw Joel Birch’s face. No regrets.

The Amity set was my favourite all day by about seventeen hundred fangirl points. They opened with Greens Avenue, and went on to play an remarkable assortment of songs, including Fruity Lexia from their 2008 release ‘Severed Ties’ and their super badass cover of Lana Del Rey’s Born To Die. The crowd dynamic was absolutely incredible, Ahren Stringer’s clean vocals were as clear as the sky above us and Joel Birch was ridiculously good at simultaneously screaming, hyping the crowd and looking gorgeous. Did our three seconds of eye contact count as a marriage proposal? I’m sure they did. Crowd highpoints were I Hate Hartley, Anchors and the closing song, Open Letter. Perfection.

My next (and last) band to see was The Offspring. Their clash with Parkway Drive was expected yet disappointing, though I chose not to catch the first twenty minutes of Parkway’s set, instead securing my position as close to the front of stage 1 as possible. It was well worth it when the four band members came on stage, opening with the immediately recognisable All I Want, and playing an energetic live set that surpassed all my hopes and dreams. The band played a great mix of new and old, the single Days Go By from the 2013 album (also called ‘Days Go By’) driving the crowd just as crazy (well, almost) as classic Offspring jams like Want You Bad, Hit That and You’re Gonna Go Far Kid. A hit filled ending of Pretty Fly (For A White Guy), The Kids Aren’t Alright and Self Esteem sent the crowd insane, for an incredibly enjoyable way to end the day. Dexter Britain, Greg K and Noodles are all just as animated as they were in the 80s, and drummer Peter Parade (joined in 2007) fits in perfectly with the group. An incredible band with an incredible set for an incredible way to end the day.

Bring on 2014.

Review by Maddy Abbott

#vanswarpedtour