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Ventura, California is a beautiful beach county just north of the hustle and bustle of L.A. However one day, every summer, this sleepy side of the coast is charged upon and invaded like Normandy by a liberation forced referred to as "punk-rock summer camp" by a countless number of people on Sunday at Seaside Park, which happened to be where the 3rd official date of this summer's Vans Warped Tour took place. With temperatures reaching well-over 100 degrees, most of the bands seemed to survive long enough to make it to San Francisco and back down to Ventura. The beach weather was a nice change of pace, and the punk-rock campers seemed to be fully ready to experience whatever their counselors were going to throw their way.

Although I had attended previous Warped Tours, I was still unsure of what to expect. This unfamiliarity stemmed from seeing how the nature of the tour has changed over the years, for example: the ticket prices have almost tripled since the last time I attended. Business aside, walking through the gates of the park at 11:30 AM gave me a little punk-rock nostalgia-buzz, as I looked across the same familiar stage set-up and the benches and fences plastered with posters and stickers of all of the bands that were playing. Then I realized, it couldn't have changed that dramatically.


The Bronx | Every Time I Die | Photo: Alexis Roberts

The Warped Tour is still your one-stop-shop for the kids (and grown ups) to get their fill of the bands that they love. I spoke to various band members, fans, and other members of the press throughout the day, and everyone seemed to have the same take on things. Warped Tour has become an emo-alt-punk-post-hardcore outreach program; it's great for kids is places like rural Kansas who may never get to see these bands otherwise—and it's not just the music. Fans can stock up on their entire lifestyle at these day-long fests and gobble up music, stock up on merch, go nuts, meet like-minded music aficionados and go home happy. Unlike other large festivals, like Coachella, Lollapalooza, SXSW, etc., which are pricey—and often times great measures must be taken to get there—Warped Tour has the fans in mind, especially if you are on a high school student's budget.

Los Angeles natives, The Bronx were one of the first bands to play the main stage in Ventura. Even in late morning they mustered up the energy to set the pace for an entire day of moshing, screaming, sweating and making fashion statements, as their singer Matt Caughtran wore his bright blue mesh tank with pride while he wailed away on stage. A high point in their set was when they played one of their most notably popular songs, "Shitty Future," which conjured up the rowdiness of the morning crowd. They are a band to keep an eye on in the future as they have both a rock album and a, um, mariachi album currently in the works.


Cobra Starship's Gabe sends teenage hearts aflutter | Photo: Alexis Roberts

On the second stage they were followed up by teen-girl favorites, Cobra Starship, which is the only successful thing to come out of the ashes of Snakes on a Plane. Though the lineup has changed from when they dropped the film's "theme song" (both Maja from The Sounds and Travis from Gym Class Heroes where in the original "band"), the band has maintained a big following. Today's fan following was made up of a bevy of pink-shirted girls lining the stage's barricade, screaming "I LOVE YOU!" at singer Gabe Saporta the entire set. Things really got crazy when he began gyrating his hips in his tight white jeans on stage. Gym Class Heroes brought forth another wave of girls in pink shirts, and also seemed to have the same effect on them. Front man Travis McCoy flowed through their set effortlessly and pleased the crowd with their first big single, "Cupid's Chokehold" [watch video], off of their 2004 release, The Papercut Chronicles. The Gym Class Heroes are undeniably catchy and their live performance only solidifies that.

Later in the day, Every Time I Die brought the mosh, Buffalo NY style by opening their set with "Ebolarama," a song off of the full length debut album Hot Damn!. Every Time I Die are one of the many veteran bands on the tour that have worked their way up the ladder from one of the side stages to the main stage over the past couple of the years. Truly troopers, and truly deserving of the fan base that they've gained; they are entertaining, funny and throw their hearts down in front of you to prove themselves to the crowd. Every Time I Die make the security guards actually earn their pay with the reaction the crowd-surfing audience members give back to the band.


Gym Class Heroes' Travis pumps up the crowd | Photo: Alexis Roberts

Another highlight of the day, and veteran band was Say Anything, lead by their fearless leader Max Bemis. Despite line-up changes and personal trauma over the past few years Bemis and Say Anything have grown and evolved into a real force to be reckoned with. This was made obvious by the way that everyone knew the words to their opening song "Alive With The Glory" of love off of their first album, …Is A Real Boy.


Say Anything shout their minds | Katy Perry charms both boys... and girls | Photo: Alexis Roberts

As the sun began to set, the pace stayed the same as acts like Against Me!, Pennywise and Angeles and Airwaves (somebody give Tom DeLonge a guitar—he looks so awkward without an instrument up there) rattled the crowds with their sets, but in the meantime I was checking out up and comer, girl kissing, pop-rock singer, Katy Perry perform music off of her current release, One Of The Boys. Perry is by far the prettiest girl on the tour, and was incredibly enthusiastic to be playing in Ventura. As a Santa Barbara native (she told the crowd "I will be married there and buried there!") playing to Ventura is like playing in your own backyard. She played her pink guitar with matching effects board and really showed Ventura what she's all about. Playing tracks like "UR So Gay," "One of The Boys" and, of course, the infamously catchy (and Madonna favorite) tune "I Kissed A Girl" [watch video]. The soon to be pop-rock princess put on a great show to a crowd that was more than willing to watch.


Katy Perry soaks up some sun and adoration | Photo: Alexis Roberts

As the day winded down and finally came to a close after the final band The Academy Is… wrapped up their set the kids slowly dwindled out of the venue and went home, dirty, sunburned, bruised and happy. However when the crowd goes home and the sun goes down is when the real party seems to start. The backstage area suddenly becomes the hot spot for the bands as they partake in nightly BBQs, beer drinking, poker tournaments, setting up their slip-and-slides and other types of fun. All in all the warped tour is a great way to spend a day whether you're 15 , 25, or 50. The only key to survival is: stay hydrated and bring cash (as most of the vendors don't accept credit and ATM lines are unruly). I predict that the Vans Warped tour will only continue to grow in the years to come, and keep up the theme of bringing music to fans… and fans to music in the same sense, and that is a beautiful and admirable thing. You don't necessarily have to like it, but you have to respect it.

—Alexis Roberts
06.24.08