The sweltering 93-degree heat that plagued Central Florida last Saturday didn’t stop the tattooed and pieced youth of Orlando from lining up outside the Central Florida Fairgrounds early that morning.

Beat up cars with angsty bumper stickers, loud tunes and cigarettes hanging loosely from the driver’s fingers pushed traffic back for miles along Colonial Drive; the young and the restless anxious to get inside the fences that would would create the boundaries of the 2010 Warped Tour in Orlando.

There was no escape from the sun at the fairgrounds, which beat down relentlessly on Warped goers from all stages. Dark clouds in the early afternoon gave hope for a brief summer shower, but it never came.

Aside from the heat and lack of shade anywhere across the fairgrounds, I was disappointed in the size of the venue. I’ve only ever attended Warped Tour in St. Pete, but forced to attend the Orlando date this year due to personal scheduling conflicts. Vinoy Park in St. Pete is far superior to the Central Florida Fairgrounds - not only does the park offer a cool sea breeze and shady areas to rest, but there’s a hell of a lot more room. Everything about the venue seemed cramped - from the stages to the merch setup.

But I guess I shouldn’t complain since as of a week before the show, Warped Tour 2010 was supposed to be held at the indoor venue, Firestone, in downtown Orlando. To my understanding, the main stage would be inside the venue, with all other side stages set up outside in the parking lot behind the venue. Talk about a hot mess - there’s no way that would have worked out.

Part of the Orlando set up at the fairgrounds was on old asphalt roads, which thankfully did not cover areas (for the most part) where crowds gathered at each stage, but it certainly was not ideal for hosting mosh pits and death walls.

And I can’t help but feel out of place at tour like this at 22 years old. The average age of the concert goers around me was 17, tops. I mean, I felt as though I was grouped in the small percentage of Warped goers who could actually buy a beer. I remember being that kid, when mom would drop me off for the day in my Chuck Taylor’s and three-layered stud belt, but that time has come and gone. The crowds stay at that same age while the veteran Warped Tour bands, like Reel Big Fish and Pennywise, just get older.

But onto the highlights of the day.

Attack Attack: This metalcore band was the first thing I caught as I walked through the gates early Saturday. As one of the first bands to play during the day, the crowd was thin and scattered, but there were plenty of dedicated kids there to chant along with every song. I’m not very familiar with this hardcore act from Westerville, Ohio and just sort of stumbled upon them. They played a mediocore set and seemed to care very little about the small group of kids who watched them play. It was too early in the day for a band to play with such little energy, and their complacent attitudes on stage made for relatively boring performance. It’s understandable that they’ve been on a long tour - but Attack Attack needs to remember they’re playing for fresh faces everyday. Get your shit together, guys.

Streetlight Manifesto: I’m happy to report that this group of Warped veterans didn’t disappoint. Although it’s been quite some time since my ska hey days, it was nice to see these guys still following the tour and giving it their all on stage. They kept to their usual routine of encouraging kids to download their music for free online and giving Victory Records a hard time in between playing a mix of new and old tunes. The crowd that surrounded the main stage was quite large and it was fun to see a giant circle pit of happy-go-lucky kids skanking around the dusty field.

The Dillinger Escape Plan: These guys easily played the best set of the day by far. I’ve been a fan since the Miss Machine days back in ’04, and was stoked to see Dillinger really throw down in the midday heat on the main stage. To be honest, I wouldn’t have pinned these guys for ideal Warped Tour material. But they took to the stage and really gave it their all. Whether the the crowd was familiar with Dillinger tunes or not, singer Greg Puciato wasn’t going to let anyone just stand to the wayside. Puciato inspired pit after pit, and jumped off of monitors and speakers while the guitarists did backbends and leaped into the audience.

Andrew W.K.: Andrew W.K. wins the best party set of Warped Tour. Come on, it’s a no brainer. The crowd chanted “party! party!” as his support began to play, and W.K. eventually stormed on stage in his traditional getup: dirty white tee, dirty white pants, some sort of nike high tops and his long filthy hair dangling in his face. Cheryl, a woman dressed in a leotard, helped keep the party going as WK sang all of his party hard lyrics and even dabbled a bit on the piano. If there was one thing to take away rom WK’s set is that “Wish is to water as Andrew W.K. is to party.”

Bring Me the Horizon: By the time the this hardcore getup from the United Kingdom took the stage, the constant heat had really begun to wear down what remained of the Warped crowd. Bring Me the Horizon was nearing the end of the list of bands to play the main stage in the late afternoon, but then against they easily had the largest crowd of the day. As soon as the band took the stage, the crowd erupted into a frenzy. It was obvious to me then, that this was one of the most highly anticipated bands to see this year. Front man Oliver Sykes took the lead and climbed the guard rail in between the stage and the crowd, followed by two guitarists, and the band played the first song of their set hovering over their sweaty fans below them. The crowd didn’t need any encouragement from Sykes to stay alive - it was the rowdiest crowd of the day by far. But pits that extended around the sound booth and death walls continued, all while the band played a heart felt throw down performance on stage.


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