Warped

So I'm back from the Vans Warped Tour stop in Barrie, Ontario. My muscles ache, my ears still ring, and I'm burnt so badly you could lose a tomato against my skin. And it was a fresh change.

A fresh change for me, perhaps, since I'm not much of a concert goer. And there, set up in Barrie's Park Place (formerly Molson Park) was a very busy scene with 6 stages and no shortage of music to go around them. I'll admit I'm fairly behind in musical diversity, so I went in recognizing a handful of the sampling - but there was some good exposure to what could surely be up and coming groups in years to come.

Personal highlights?

Anti-Flag for sure, whose stage presence (in my opinion anyway) was unmatched even by the huge crowd-drawings of Billy Talent. I mean, there's methods to performing to a crowd, and they definately took hold and got the audience going, despite the standard 30-minute set.

Joan Jett and the Blackhearts brought some definate rock experience to the scene, and although they're getting old for the gig, she's no worse for the wear and can still bring out the good beats.

Then, of course, I have to give credit to NOFX, whose stage banter was so far tongue-in-cheek and off-the-wall that I ended up walking out closer to a fan than the mild interest I had walking in. The poorly strung together (and possibly ad-lib) "Everything is better in Canada, but California has better cocaine" had charm in itself.

Then there was Billy Talent, who drew in such a large crowd that the dust kicked up from the moshing pit completely obscured the entire stage performance. They were clearly the act many were looking forward to, and it was great to experience a live performance.

I skipped up Rise Against, which definately had the bearings to rival BT for attendence - I'm still not big on them yet, so weighing the option of sitting them out or jetting before traffic got into full swing, I went for the early exit.

All in all, a rocking good time. Not sure if I'm prepared to swing it next year when Vans runs through Ontario, but I've certainly picked up some new artists to check out.