The Specifics

The “Vans’ Warped Tour” is a two-month-long touring punk troupe that will have set up camp in more than 45 cities by its conclusion. The day-long, outdoor festival showcases punk, pop, pop-punk and hardcore bands, providing its attendees a chance to hear both familiar and unknown bands.

It’s not all about the music, however. There is a huge half-pipe, as well as a smaller one set up for demonstrations from athletes such as skateboarders, BMXers, MotoXers, inliners and mountain bikers.

The “Warped Tour” blew into Harriet Island in St. Paul, Minn. Sunday. The island – located downtown – is on the Mississippi River, providing a backdrop of both skyscrapers and boaters who paused by the island to catch a glimpse of the musical event.

Besides the music and athletes, merchandise booths were set up for bands, record labels and businesses catering to the punk and hardcore scenes.

There were numerous booths selling hemp necklaces, beanies and large flags with marijuana leaves on them – catering to at least the two young men sneaking puffs of a small weed pipe under one of the trees.

Tickets for the event were about $27 plus Ticketmaster convenience charges – which aren’t very convenient at all – for more than 60 bands. The seven stages were spread across the park, with two sets of stages that alternated bands after every set. On these alternating stages, each band had about a half-hour to play, and as one ended, the band on the adjacent stage would begin.

Rarely more than two or three minutes passed before the other band would launch into its musical ramblings. However, the crowd appreciated having a few minutes between to collect itself between mosh pits and crowd surfers.

The three other stages ran on their own timetables.

The conflict came when two or more bands concert-goers wanted to see were playing at the same time on stages at the opposite ends of the park from each other. However, since sets were only 25 to 30 minutes long, attendees were able to see a lot of bands in just a few hours.

Once inside, you could only purchase food or drink with special tickets, which were only available in $5 increments. After a little bit of math, a 20-ounce water bottle was $3, a plastic cup full of beer was $4 and a hamburger was $5. Quite a hefty sum, considering punk-rock artists generally try to keep it cheap for the fans.

The Tour-goers

From preps to punks, from Abercrombie to Volcom, from Chuck Taylors to Nikes, the tour garnered a diverse crowd, both in appearance and age.

Of course, there were the kids who had the punker-than-thou attitude, trying to be more punk than their mohawked, silver-studded counterparts. There was even a teenage male in a full, black pinstriped suit.

Because some of the kids were too young to drive themselves, there were also a handful of parents along for the ride – with moms in cut-off jean shorts and hot pink bikini tops, and dads playing hacky-sack in a circle with their sons.

The crowd of about 15,000 all came together for the same purpose – an excuse to spend the day listening to music and soaking up the rays.

Not only did they share music for a day, but they also shared another commonality – sweat. At times it wasn’t clear whether the dripping sweat was your own or not. And with crowds of people desperately trying to catch a glimpse of whatever band was playing, sweat was sure to rub off as people passed through the crowd, or pushed their way to the front of the pit.

The Music

Bands with the highest-grossing crowds included New Found Glory, Mighty Mighty Bosstones, MxPx and Flogging Molly.

Maintenance Shop darlings Ultimate Fakebook played the Volcom Stage, garnering a decent crowd of about 100 people. Bill McShane and crew blew through about eight songs from their three albums in the allotted 30 minutes.

Metal signs, rockstar poses and the infamous “rock box” – a light box inundated with fog as UFB members pose on top of it for bass or guitar solos. Crowd favorites included “Soaked in Cinnamon” and “Wrestling Leap Year.”

Earlier in the day, Something Corporate, a Drive-Thru Records’ band deemed ready for a main stage instead of Drive-Thru’s, brought an energy that set the tone for the rest of the day. The Ben Folds-meets-New Found Glory-described band had many of its crowd members yelling back the words to Something Corporate’s anthemic rousings just as loud as Andrew McMahon, vocalist and pianist, could sing them. McMahon ended the set by jumping onto his piano and stomping on the keys vehemently at the end of “If U C Jordan.”

Labelmates Homegrown, however, graced the Drive-Thru stage, and did it with a lot of humor. With stupid comments, funny faces and the lead vocalist putting his guitar between his legs and trotting around on stage as if his guitar were a horse, Homegrown kept the crowd entertained while singing its playful laments about girls to a pop-punk backdrop.

Second Best, a band with Ames ties, also got to play the Drive-Thru Stage at the “Warped Tour.”

All in all, the festival was a success until about 5:45 when it started sprinkling at the end of Ozma, and then poured as Flogging Molly took the stage. Die-hard fans of the Irish-influenced punk band – that includes an accordion and violin – remained unfazed by the rain, while others left, or took shelter in the portable toilets – yes, port-a-potties.

Some people will do anything for music.