Commentary

I spent this past summer perpetuating the aimlessness of my life by working on the Vans Warped Tour. It is a large-scale festival tour that spends 8 weeks traveling around the entire country and Canada. Some headlining bands included Reel Big Fish, The Street Dogs, Cobra Starship, Motion City Soundtrack, The Academy Is, and several others. I worked out in “Merch World,” selling merchandise for Less Than Jake’s new indie label, Sleep it Off Records. It was my first time on tour, and I had no idea what to expect, except that it would be pretty rough, and most likely the best summer of my life.

The first day felt like I was thrown sheer chaos. I had no idea what I was doing and how everything worked, and everyone else was crazy busy and concerned with far more important things than how I would find my merchandise and set up my pop up tent. Luckily it only took a day or two to get into the swing of things and have my routine down. A typical day went something like this:

• Wake up at 7:30am and shuffle around in an attempt to get dressed on a tour bus that I shared with 16 of my closest friends
• Stumble off the bus in a groggy haze at a brand new venue that somehow looked exactly like the last 5 venues, and ask everyone and their mother where things were being set up for the day until I could find it
• Get to the truck that held my merch and my tent and help unload the entire thing. (This was usually done in about a half an hour. I was usually so tired and zoned out that I never registered that I was doing heavy lifting- I just sort of floated through the process. So it was a nice surprise when I magically had super toned biceps by the end of the summer).
• Set up my tent in the best spot I could procure.
• Eat some breakfast at catering (and have at least 2 cups of coffee), and hang out until doors opened.
• Sell sell sell!
• Break down at about 8pm and reload the truck (this lifting I was aware of).
• Get in line for a shower and be done with my day by about 9:30pm.

There is something to be said for sitting in a tent for 12 straight hours everyday. Boredom breeds creativity, and anything from spontaneous dance parties to Scrabble to ice fights get you through the day. There was a definite camaraderie in it though, and it served as a catalyst for bonding with my fellow merch kids.

An unexpected bonus was when you were set up near one of the stages, and could watch shows from the comfort of your tent all day. I discovered some great bands this summer. 3OH!3 had to be a personal favorite, as well as Gil Mantera’s Party Dream. If you have never seen them play you should try to make that happen. Thank me later. Another band that I loved was an all-girl, Japanese ska band called Oreskaband. They wear matching checkerboard shirts and exude positive energy. There is no conceivable way to dislike them. None. Then of course there were the old school favorites such as The Vandals, The Bouncing Souls, Reel Big Fish, and The Street Dogs.

Fourteen hour days aside, my favorite part of Warped was the after hours aspect. Once the venue cleared out, the barbecue would start up. Some nights, bands from the tour would play. The Aggrolites played a couple of times, and a very drunken Reel Big Fish played an astonishing 25 songs at the BBQ in Scranton. It was so cool to have a band I grew up listening to play a private barbecue just for me (and few dozen other Warped folks).

Another evening pastime were the dance parties hosted by some of the bands. They would set up their tent out in front of their bus and someone would DJ, usually Gabe Saporta from Cobra Starship, while another few people would set up a bar.

It was kind of hilarious walking through a city of tour buses and stumbling onto a couple tents with people crammed in underneath dancing their hearts out. If you looked around you would typically see beer pong tables set up, people playing poker, and at least of handful of people riding around on bikes or scooters. It was our own little community within the confines of whatever venue we were at. The set up was always the same but the city changed every single day.

I think that is the most mind-boggling part of the Warped Tour. Everyday about a thousand people wake up in a new place and set up an entire festival in one morning, only to take it all down and move it that same day. The two mainstages were massive in and of themselves, not to mention the 6 or 7 other stages that were constructed. These people were all fed backstage at catering, and most used the onsite showers. The scale was huge, but it all somehow flowed together and worked.

Needless to say the summer flew by. I left with new friends, great stories, and the sense that I needed to get back out on the road as soon as possible. My foray into Punk Rock Summer Camp was a success- fourteen-hour days, brutal heat, heavy lifting, sleeping on a bus, great music, and great people- I wouldn’t change any of it.

Comments (2)