The Cruzan Amphitheatre in West Palm Beach was jam-packed for the 15th anniversary of the Warped Tour on Saturday, July 25. When the gates first opened at 11 a.m., hundreds of concert-goers were lined up ready to deal with the South Florida heat and rain to see over 50 bands.
It was interesting to see how they would lay out the five stages around the Cruzan Amphitheatre. With three stages set up in the parking lot and the main amphitheater turned into two stages, a lot of running around was necessary to catch all of the bands. This isn’t including the several smaller, trailer-like stages for the lesser-known bands.
“It was like herding cattle through an open gate; you could barely move or breath,” says Lindsey Dunham, an FAU hospitality management major. “I chose to skip a few bands just because I didn’t want to have to go back through there.”
The overhang of the actual amphitheater came in super-handy when the sky expectedly opened up, and it not just rained, but downright poured. The rain held up the outdoor stages while the crowd rushed for cover. It was hard to catch the beginning of each band’s performance because the weather caused the schedule to run late.
“Warped Tour had too many stages and was a little chaotic, not to mention the excruciating heat and pouring rain,” says Chloe Kepler, a 22-year-old from Boca. “Come to think of it, though, what’s Warped Tour without a downpour and the large group of screaming 13-year-olds?”
It’s been years since the Warped Tour was in the Palm Beach County area, but Pompano Beach and Miami seemed to be favored over this venue.
“Any time you change a venue from one city to another, you are going to have a different crowd and experience,” says Daniel Polimeni, an FAU senior and business management / information systems major. “At times the layout and sheer number of stages at the venue [were] annoying, [and it] was difficult to get from one stage to another.”
Kepler agrees: “I wasn’t a huge fan of Cruzan. Too many stages and I did find the layout very confusing. I would most likely [still] go for the music, but I would hope that they would rethink some of their decisions as to how the setup would be.”
Anti-Flag — the anti-government, heavy punk band — Bouncing Souls — the fun punk rockers — and 3OH!3 — the humorous pop band — seemed to bring in the biggest crowds. 3OH!3 had the young girls screaming like at an *NSYNC concert, while Anti-Flag’s bassist, Christopher “Chris 2” Barker, jumped in the crowd to get some help singing along, and Bouncing Souls lead singer Greg Attonito did the same.
“They were still awesome and playing just as hard and fast as I remembered, proving that real punk will never die,” says Dunham about seeing Anti-Flag and her other favorite bands, including Alexisonfire, Bad Religion and Less Than Jake.
“I love hearing new music, so it was definitely fun to experience a lot of the ‘no-name’ bands,” Kepler says. “I definitely got turned on to some more good bands.”
Concert-goers’ grades
Chloe Kepler gave Warped Tour 2009 a “B.” “I wasn’t a huge fan of the venue, and all the well-known bands seemed to play very early in the morning. I think Pompano would be a good place for it next year. Can you put that request in for me?”
Lindsey Dunham gave Warped Tour 2009 a “B-.” “The lineup this year was one of the worst I’ve seen. I’m not used to going to Warped Tour and only knowing maybe six of the bands. It was once a concert filled with kids dancing to ska and punk music in a crowd of mohawks as far as the eye can see, and now it’s all 12- to 16-year-olds getting dropped off by Mom and Dad in the minivan, making myself and my friends really feel like those ‘old people.’ It was still fun, and I’ll probably be back next year.”
Dan Polimeni gave Warped Tour 2009 a solid “B+.” “Problems with the layout, getting from one stage to another and band selection bring this ‘A+’ event down to the ‘B+.’ However, it is very hard to outdo yourself every year, and they still did a great job. On a side note, it was great to not see a repeat of Katy Perry’s wreck surprise performance from last year come back to South Florida on tour this year.”
