After all the hype I've always heard about Warped tour, I was expecting one of the best days of my life. I knew it'd be hotter than Hell, and I knew there'd be conflicts, but it feels like that's mostly all I got.
Not five minutes after getting to the venue, we were sweating our asses off, along with thousands of other music lovers. That was tolerable, clothing got stripped off, handheld fans got pulled out, and water bottles got poured onto heads. I had some nice conversations with some really awesome people -I felt at home just like I do at every concert. That's when the problems started. I knew I needed to go to one certain tent to get my press and photo pass, and I had no idea where to go. I talked to several people, and the only semi helpful answer I recieved was that there was a meeting currently being held about where to put the tent, and it would be up shortly. That seemed fair, it was only 9:30AM. So, we went over to the Feed The Children tent, turned in our old cell phones, and cans of food so we could get our 'skip the line' passes, and then rejoined the crowd. I checked back several times, with various people about the press tent, as well as when the official announcement about where the line for the "skip the line" area would begin. That was never announced, but luckily I happened to ask someone about it right as it opened. We were in, and thought it was so cool for about five minutes. It looked either like a theme park when it first opened, or a carnival. Crowds everywhere, various tents with merchandise, food, and drinks, and of course the stages. We knew we had to get me checked in, so I could be all set for my interviews, so we borrowed a friend's map, looked at it, and tried to figure out where we had to be. We still had no idea, and since I had to be at the Vans Guest List tent, it only made sense to ask the people at the Vans tent. The guy tried to help, and explained where he thought we were supposed to go. We did get lost, but with that set up, it wasn't surprising that we ended up making a big circle back to the Vans tent. We asked him again if he could possibly explain to us where it was, because clearly we missed something the first time. He did, and we went where he told us to. That's where the wild goose chase began. From there, we were told to go to the other side of Warped tour, and of course we did. We went back and forth, across the entire place at least seven times. We were hot, and I was getting seriously frustrated, to the point that I actually started bawling, just from sheer frustration. After about an hour and a half of this bullshit, and getting sent back up to the will call center for the second time, a very nice lady was able to tell me where the tent was. For some reason, nobody was smart enough to tell me that it was set up just outside the gate to the venue, and apparently had been since the doors opened. I finally got that done and over with, and got nearly instant access to the press area. I was relieved, and actually fighting tears of relief at this point. (I was very emotional, in case you couldn't guess.) I thought everything was all good, until I got to the press trailer. Come to find out, I actually wasn't guarenteed interviews like I was led to believe, or at least not with anyone I wanted. I had to have pre-approval for bands like Mayday Parade, and Pierce The Veil, and even though I had tried to get that, I was told to only talk to the Warped tour people. Obviously, I didn't get those and I was not surprised when I was told that Falling In Reverse was not doing interviews. They're one of the biggest bands on Warped, and I know at least Ronnie doesn't venture into the crowds of Warped tour much. What I was very disappointed, and upset about was the fact that I was told the only band that I might be able to get an interview with that I had asked for, was We Are The In Crowd. Even they were filling up fast. I was told Blood On The Dance Floor, Blessthefall, Sleeping With Sirens never wanted to do interviews today, AND All Time Low came into her office this morning apologizing and saying that they wanted to decline all interviews for today. Myself, and several other people were very disapppointed, and wanted to know why. Come to find out, ATL took part in the infamous Warped tour parties that we all know happen last night, and now all had hang overs. I was kind of angry and upset, but I brushed it off, even though I was highly displeased. I was debating on just saying, "Thank you, but no thank you." to all interview then, since I was not going to be getting anyone I really wanted, but after I said that all the ones I wanted were not doing interviews today, Bethany (the publist) asked if I'd be willing to interview smaller bands. I didn't want to pass up interviews, so I said I would. That's when this guy that was standing by the door spoke up and said he and his friend were part of a smaller band. He told me that they were part of Mighty Mongo, and were from St. Pete, FL, and would love to do an interview with me, if I wanted. I agreed, and we actually did the interview moments later. They were honestly, the highlight of my day, and their interview is the first one I ever got to film. The set times were stupid, too. None of the bands we wanted to see were playing until after one o'clock. With the exception of We Are The In Crowd, we managed to catch a song and a half of theirs, but only because we were lost and happened to stop near their stage to figure out where to go next. We decided to wander, and look at a few merch tents, and ended looking only at the tents for Falling In Reverse, Mayday Parade and All Time Low, as they were all three together. We sat down and debated on whether or not to stay until bands we liked started playing. It was only going to be one more hour, but the heat was really getting to us, there was no cold water in the refill stations (even though they claimed their would be), and we honestly didn't know how much longer we'd survive. It just seemed smarter to call it quits, so I bought a Mayday Parade poster, and we left. I'm not sure if it was Warped tour itself that is crap, or if its the venue, but regardless something needs to be re-examined and fixed. This is actually the first concert I've ever been to that I had more fun talking to people outside than I did inside the actual show.
2 Comments
9/12/2012 01:52:13 pm
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