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Not being a big fan of New Jersey (ranking up there with Maine as my mortal enemy, in fact), this tour had a lot to live up to. We left from Worcester directly after the Gorilla Biscuits show, arriving at our Jersey hotel at about 3:30 in the morning. I wanted to get up relatively early because I forgot my voice recorder at home and needed to buy another one (giving me a grand total of three), but we didn't end up leaving the hotel until about 10:30 (half hour before doors).
Because of an accident that occured within five miles of the venue, the 15 mile drive turned into two hours of suck, even though it was funny watching the car in front of us let a kid out to use the bathroom right before traffic started moving (a little). We got into the all mostly pavement raceway as Against Me! was playing "From Her Lips to God's Ears (The Energizer)," which had me extremely excited. They played an awesome set that featured a decent amount of songs from Is Reinventing Axl Rose, which is always a plus. Their live show is one that never disappoints (for proof of that, pick up Americans Abroad when it comes out on August 22), making them a great way to start the day.
I made my way to the press tent after Against Me!, catching about a half a song of The Bled along the way. The sounded alright, but the funniest part of their set came when a guy in a Black My Heart shirt was freaked out by kids skanking in the pit.
I saw probably half of Every Time I Die's set, which was pretty impressive. Keith Buckley became upset with a circle pit that wasn't up to his liking, causing him to stop the song and give the crowd another go at it. Buckley was pretty funny between songs and their music kept me entertained for about 15 minutes before rushing over to see The Lordz. I've become a huge fan of this band, as The Brooklyn Way is a killer album, and their set was nothing short of awesome. They somehow fit seven dudes of a pretty small stage, but they still had enough room to jump around. We got there as they were playing Jim Carroll's "People Who Died," which had the modest crowd singing along. Their energy was great, making me very eager to catch a full set of them when they play with Rancid later this month.
I watched about a half a song from The Sounds before conducting an interview, rushing over to catch Saves the Day when the interview was over. They played some new songs (I knew one or two of them even though I don't have the album), and "At Your Funeral." I didn't catch a full set, but hearing "At Your Funeral" made me pretty damn happy.
Cartel had a pretty huge crowd waiting to see them at the Ernie Ball stage. There were at least 500 kids waiting to see these pop punk princes, and Cartel delivered with a good set full of sugar and sweets. I watched a little more than half their set before conducting another interview, which prevented me from watching all of Thursday's set. I only saw three songs ("Autobiography of a Nation," "Counting 5 4 3 2 1," and another one) out of their 40 minute set before heading out to do another interview. On my way to the press tent, an LA band called Eight Fingers Down stopped me in my tracks with their awesome melodic hardcore blend. I wanted a CD, but they were out of them.
To backtrack slightly, working at a camp with kids, and being one of the people who has to pick up the trash at the end of the day, finding trash on the ground has really become a pet peeve of mine, and I was very peeved at this show, as the crowd seemed to have no respect for the environment around them. Sure, crews would clean up the mess at the end of the day, but the place looked disgusting at the present time, and I would have thought that people who follow "punk rock ethos" (I know that a case can be made against that) would care a little bit more about the space around them. I could almost forgive the crowd (even though they should know better), but I was pretty upset when Thursday (a band with some outspoken views) not only encouraged, but pretty much demanded that the crowd start throwing trash at each other during one of their songs. Sure, it looked cool while it was happening, but its just sad watching people not caring about litter.
I got to the stage moments before Bouncing Souls started playing, and I was in complete bliss during the full half hour of their set. They played great, with more enthusiasm than the majority of the bands playing that day. Their songs were all so much fun to listen to, and it looked like the band was having fun on stage. They played a good mixture of songs from their discography, and I was still stoked to see them, even if a half hour set wasn't nearly enough (the crowd was chanting for an encore).
I headed right over to the Volcom Stage after the Souls to catch Valient Thorr. I saw them once before (my first taste of them), and their live set blew me away. This set was no different. Vocalist Valient was very preachy with his politics, but did so in a very creative way that fit well with their being from Venus backstory. He was a nut during the songs, going absolutely crazy and doing things like drinking the sweat from his shirt (and sharing some with the crowd) and stage diving off of one of the speakers. The songs were tight and super rocking, playing that hard rock and roll with a punk rock edge, and doing a damn fine job of it. Valient Thorr played one of, if not the best set of night, and anyone that missed them on this tour should really regret it.
After Greg bought a Valient Thorr CD, we headed over to the beer tent. While sipping on a Red Headed Slut (a drink, unfortunately), I head Patent Pending playing on the Ernie Ball stage. They sounded like a good time, playing not much thought pop punk songs, and I enjoyed being able to hear them.
It was during my second shot of Jägermeister that I heard the faint sound of Rise Against playing on the Jack-in-the-Box stage. Greg and I pounded our drinks and headed over there as quickly as we could, missing as little as possible. They played a good set, but I couldn't stay still, and spent most of the time walking around, people watching the crowd, while listening to them play material from their past three albums. Again, I would have liked a longer set, but I couldn't complain about the performance they put on.
Still not being able to stay still, I made my way to catch Saves the Day play some acoustic songs on the Vagrant stage. I was thinking that it was just going to be Chris Conley, but it was the full band playing acoustic versions of their songs. I enjoyed myself watching them, although they didn't seem to take requests as I thought they would.
More walking around brought me to catch Pryde play "Walk This Way" with (I think) a member of Run DMC. It was awesome, but it was the only song of theirs I watched before heading over to watch Vaux tear up the stage. They played a really good and energetic set, but I still could not stand still and focus on one thing, which led me to the East Coast Indie Stage, where I saw Stranded on Third. I kept walking back and forth, watching a little bit of each band, and I really like the contrast that came from watching chaotic indie hardcore of Vaux next to the melodic technical pop punk of Stranded on Third.
I was finally able to somewhat stand still during NOFX, which is pretty much a no brainer. They didn't seem as drunk as they normally play, but they were mean as hell, making fun of everything that they could think of. A girl flashed them, and El Hefe made fun of her breasts and told her that her mom probably didn't love her. They also attacked Christians (saying they haven't been attacking it enough) and Motion City ("shitty") Soundtrack, the band playing after them.
The songs they played were typical for a NOFX set, playing some favorites, and even bringing back the classic "Lori Myers," which was awesome. Due to the talking, they were only able to play nine songs (the talking is a very entertaining part of their set, however), but I was very happy with the song choices they made, making them an excellent last band to see.
I heard a little bit of Motion City Soundtrack as we bought some last minute merch and headed for the car. We sat by the car for about an hour waiting for Warped traffic to die down, which it didn't, instead taking us two hours to reach the highway. I was pretty damn tired by this time, and the traffic on the George Washington bridge going home didn't help; neither did falling asleep every time the car stopped. The ride home was probably the scariest drive of my life (except for Connecticut, which I slept through), but it was well worth it to be able to have seen five of my favorite bands in the course of a weekend. Things like that don't happen very often.