Every Avenue

Detroit Welcomes the Warped Tour

by Paul Kitti 

photos by Kristin Slater

It was a hot day in Detroit when dozens of tour buses pulled in front of Comerica Park–the ideal location for an all-day rock fest. Six stages, nearly seventy bands, over 130 security personnel and thousands of very vocal fans were scattered in and around the stadium, which brought Detroit’s noise level to the highest it’s been since, well, last year’s Warped Tour.

The Warped Tour has always been a pretty special event. It’s like the Superbowl of alternative rock or some bizarre musical all-star game. From old favorites like Simple Plan and Less Than Jake to new bands on the rise, it’s almost overwhelming to look at the lineup and try to plan out what stages you’re going to rush to and when. But being overwhelmed is a part of the experience. So is getting doused with bottled water by the stage security, wading through Monster cans while trying to find a restroom and finding yourself suddenly hoisted up onto a massive bed of screaming head-bangers and carried towards the stage by a thousand arms bearing spike-studded bracelets.

The actual performances were just as expected: wild, rampant and loud 30-minute sets from musicians with enough energy to power the whole city. There were singers leaping into the crowd without warning, often bearing

hellogoodbye

microphones and guitars, band members spewing mouthfuls of beer onto lucky front row fans, guitars breaking, drum sticks snapping and young emo couples seeking shelter behind fences, amplifiers and other young emo couples. Personally, I was delightfully out of my element.

It was cool to see Simple Plan still kicking it. Their set seemed to attract the largest crowd, up until HelloGoodbye’s performance, which was the last of the night. When they were done playing I went to their stand to find at least two-hundred people in line to meet them. The Devil Wears Prada were also impressive, delivering the manic energy that fans have come to expect from one of their live shows. Relient K and August Burns Red were other highlights, but really, you couldn’t go wrong no matter what stage you directed your attention towards. Every band came to play, and play hard.

I’ll be honest, people-watching is nearly as entertaining as watching the bands themselves. The Warped Tour is a stage on which thousands of distinct personalities can represent themselves to their music world–fans and musicians alike. Many people wore the name of their favorite band across their shirt, and many people decided that shirts weren’t really necessary. I saw spiked hair that could have been considered a legitimate weapon, piercings in painfully imaginative places and tattoos that seemed to tell the stories of past Warped Tour experiences.

Despite the diversity of appearances, everyone was there for the same reasons, including myself. I saw more

August Burns Red

bands play in one day than I usually do in a whole summer. I experienced the crazy parts of touring that bands like Blink-182 write songs about. I saw Detroit very much alive, with sunshine blanketing Comerica Park and the thousands of fans and hundreds of musicians that came from all over the country to party in Detroit Rock City.

For more photos from this year’s Warped Tour, click here.

 To read our interview with the Devil Wears Prada, click here.