Vans Warped Tour at Canterbury Park, 7/8/12

Photo by Erik Hess

See Also:
Vans Warped Tour 2012: The People slideshow
Vans Warped Tour 2012: The Music slideshow
Vans Warped Tour 2011 at Canterbury Park, 7/10/2011

Vans Warped Tour
Canterbury Park, Shakopee
Sunday, July 8, 2012

The best way to describe Warped Tour would be to borrow a derivative of Matthew McConaughey's quote from Dazed and Confused: "That's what I love about Warped. I get older, and it stays the same age. Yes, it does. Yes, it does."

The tools to survive a day at Canterbury Park includes lots of water, sunblock, and the energy of a fifteen year old. This year the festival provided seven stages for a hundred bands, most national touring acts and some locals, on the dusty grounds in Shakopee.

With so many bands to see, it's easy to get lost in the big names on the roster, but many of the smaller acts used the tour to gain a wider audience to the younger generation. Moi, the lead singer of Tomorrow's Bad Seed said, "We do Warped to get a younger fanbase, our fanbase is a little older demographic. We like to get them influenced on a new style of music. Warped is punk-rock and hardcore right now, and we're from Hermosa Beach, so we're like Black Flag and Pennywise. We bring a little back to the table too, but we fuse it with reggae and easy listening stuff."

I Fight Dragons bring a different concept to the music integrating Nintendo controllers into their set, but what's more impressive about the band is the work ethic that drives them to be on a tour that often is money-draining on a low profile act. Lead singer Brian Mazzaferri shared, "A band is not something that is sustainable; it's not something that's built up, it's gonna be something you push and pour money into, and a lot of times, there's not an element of natural growth. If, we as a band, can do the work and make it, we're building something that can grow in itself, cause let me tell you, Warped would be a lot easier on a bus and not the van that we're driving."

Photo by Erik Hess

I Fight Dragons

The tongue-in-cheek theme of this year's tour is "Music Makes the World New," which is an adjusted version of the Mayan phrase "Make the World New" and the end of the world in 2012. Warped throwbacks New Found Glory directed to the crowd, "This year is the end of the world, so if this is your last Warped, you better have the best time." The big difference in the main stage this year was that there were two, allowing for the schedule to run tight and orderly with tear down and set up time for bands to occur while the other stage was utilized. This allowed for more bigger names on the tour like Breathe Carolina, Of Mice & Men, and Taking Back Sunday.

Photo by Erik Hess

New Found Glory

Photo by Erik Hess

Mod Sun

Local acts were given a stage to showcase their talents including the winner of the Battle of the Bands, All the Right Moves. Another local from Bloomington, though we may not be able to call him local for much longer, Mod Sun brought his positive energy in the form of hippy hop for an acoustic set and full set to a huge hometown crowd. On why he is so happy all of the time, the singer claims, "Positivity changed my life 100%, and that didn't happen until I was 18. I had a bad temper growing up, and that will never get you anywhere." The artist was recently nominated to be first unsigned artist on the cover of Rolling Stone, and gave a little background on the process behind it. "It put me in a place of learning how to do press, and be the best at it that I can. The best press comes from putting it out there so people can understand you as an artist, but you still have to be 100% real." Mod includes another local artist Good Problems, aka Pat Brown formerly of Sing it Loud into his set. He declares that Brown is one of the most talented musicians and people out there today, "With me, I'm constantly working to be the best person I can be. I wake up a student and go to sleep a teacher, but I'm constantly working on it. With a person like Pat, he's 100% pure; he doesn't have to work to be that beautiful person."

2012 featured a lot more pop-punk bands than the previous year that highlighted the screamo genre. Yellowcard segued the way with their set made up of their older hits mixed with pieces from their newest album. We the Kings and All Time Low may be considered more pop than punk, but the two bands certainly contributed to the mosh pit and circle of death that kicked up clouds of dirt in front the of Kia Soul and Kia Rio stages. The two former bands draw a parallel to each other as members of both bands are childhood friends and have charismatic lead singers that have exceptional control with their vocal range.

Photo by Erik Hess

Yellowcard