Stacey Sometimes

I"m not a huge fan of buzznet blogging.  In fact, up until recently, I forgot this site even existed.  If you wanna chat, you have a better chance of doing so at http://twitter.com/youvandalx899x OR http://youvandalx899x.tumblr.com !

But here's an anecdote for you.  This anecdote has no rhetorical purpose, no moral or persuasion, just an insight into how ridiculous my life can be sometimes.  I'm just learning to drive.  I used to be terrified of it, but I sucked it up and now I'm getting the hang of it pretty quickly.  I was running errands with my mom on Saturday, who was giving me directions to this place.  Of course, my genius of a mother didn't really know where she was going.  She ended up telling me to exit a traffic circle at the first exit when I really needed to go to the second one.  So last minute, she had me cross the road markers that separate the off-ramp from the rest of the circle and I turned to her and was like "That was illegal, wasn't it?"

It was.  What an amazing influence.

Check out my tumblr to see my playlist for the month of May.

-Stacey Sometimes

This year's Warped Tour was blend of the known and unknown, an awesome fushion of rap and rock, and the occasional oddball or two.

My ride came about 15 minutes later than expected, but luckily, we didn't get caught exceeding the speed limit and managed to make it to Darien before doors opened. While waiting in line some guys from the band Karrigan stopped and had us give a listen to their EP. I ended up buying it and it's pretty awesome. One of their songs ends with the lyric "This is not an exit" which instantly made me think of the band Saves the Day. Now I'm totally curious as to whether or not the Karrigans listen to Saves the Day or not. You can check out Karrigan at http://myspace.com/karriganrocks . My favorite track off their EP is Love Triangles Are Fun but the Corners Can Be So Sharp.

The Boy and His Machine was one of the first bands playing. They're fairly local for me, but I never actually checked out their show before. Their live show turned out to be very clean and crisp, which I guess is a weird description, but everything just sounded album-quality almost and I loved it. Check them out at http://myspace.com/theboyandhismachine

The Boy and His Machine

Marissa and I then went to see Honor Bright, a band from my hometown. I've seen this band at least 13 times already, and nothing will ever top the first few shows I've seen them play, so I'm way too biased to give a decent review of how they played. I was surprised to see how much their fanbase had grown over the past few months. So many people came out for them, and there must be good reason for it. Check them out at http://honorbright.net

After Honor Bright, we went to see Cobra Starship. I hadn't seen them since Honda Civic Tour 2007 and it was cool to hear some songs off of "Viva La Cobra" which is my personal favorite album, but nothing has ever really stood out about their sets except for their overly zealous fans and the parents in the seats doing the Guilty Pleasure dance.

The Academy Is... was one of the bands I was actually dreading seeing. I had seen so many videos online where William Beckett's voice had been pitchy, and I heard so much crap about the new songs. Their set proved to me that the kids over at fbr_trash at livejournal really do have nothing better to do than whine and moan. Beckett's voice was dead on the entire time and he had great interaction with the crowd, rapidly moving from one side of the stage to the other and throwing the mic stand in the air and catching it with one arm. It was actually Sisky and Mike Carden who seemed the most disconnected from the fans. The new songs are being hated on solely because it's a slightly different sound for The Academy Is... I don't know what it will take to get people to understand that bands can't continually churn out the same type of music from album to album.

The Academy Is...

Relient K was on after that. I hadn't seen this band since 2005 since they had opened for Good Charlotte's show in Utica, New York, and I was really glad I had the chance to see them again. Matt Thiessen's voice is always great live. Despite the whole "Christian rock" stereotype, there was a bit of moshing in the pit, which I didn't expect. They also "covered" a bit of a Kanye song, which was nice.

Relient K

I didn't actually go to Shwayze's set, but could hear them as I stood waiting for Dr Manhattan to come on and I saw how into it the crowd was. It looked like the most fun set at Warped and I really regret not going. But alright... Dr Manhattan. first heard about this band at last year's Warped Tour on the Vagrant Records summer sampler disc. Then I saw them open for Saves the Day's acoustic show in Rochester and bought the EP. When their full length came out, I was all over it.. It's kind of sad when the band has more energy than the crowd though. I feel like they were gyped too. Their sound wasn't as good as some of the other bands', even though they were on a fairly big stage (Smartpunk stage).

Dr Manhattan

We left Dr Manhattan early to go see Family Force 5. They're not my thing. I could never fully get into that CD but Marissa had a blast so it was all good. It was the most alive I had seen a crowd all day that day.

Family Force 5

After FF5 we rushed to see Katy Perry. Honestly, her performance fell kind of flat for me (and a lot of people I talked to).She had on really cute sunglasses at the beginning of the set, and I was hoping that when she took them off there would be more connection with the crowd. There wasn't. She seemed more into herself than the music or the fans. I was also really distracted by how short her skirt was and how you saw all this leg fat constantly. She's not even a big woman, she just jiggled and it was really distracting. At Katy's set there was a girl who didn't want to lose her spot in the pit but really had to go to the bathroom. She basically turned to me and was like "Do you mind if I go to the bathroom right here?" And I was like "Uhhhhh." Luckily, we got away from that girl. It's amazing what lengths people will go to to see their favorite bands.

Katy Perry

We left Katy early to see Charlotte Sometimes. She is PHENOMENAL live. Best performance of the day, hands down. I don't understand why she was on such a small stage either (Ernie Ball stage). If you've seen the commercials on VH1, Charlotte (real name Jessica) jokes about how their music is a blend of Fiona Apple and Timbaland. Honestly, those aren't the two artists that come to mind when I listen to her, but it definitely is a refreshing combination of sound. I've been listening to her album non stop.

Charlotte Sometimes

Marissa really wanted to see All Time Low. I really wanted to go to Charlotte Sometimes' signing, especially since I've seen All Time Low before. We ended up going to All Time Low to see one of the biggest crowds of the day. After hearing about 20 seconds of their first song, This Is How We Do, Marissa realized how much their live performance is lacking and we went to the Charlotte sometimes signing. Only Colby and Charlotte were there, but it was nice, especially since the line wasn't too long.

It might surprise you to find out this is NOT the worst picture I've ever had at a signing.

After grabbing food, Marissa and I went back to the main stage to wait for Say Anything, Anberlin, and Against Me! Say Anything's pit was the second most intense pit I was in all day. I hate Say Anything though, at least on the albums. Their songs are all so pointless. But their energy made up for what their lyrics lacked. They opened with Alive With the Glory of Love and ended with Belt. I didn't get ANY pictures of their set because I couldn't get my camera out of my bag. Then I think Reel Big Fish came on. Or maybe they were on before Say Anything. I really can't remember the order at all. But anyway, I managed to get a nice shot of these Warped legends.

Reel Big Fish

Anberlin was on sometime after that. Marissa was pretty much sleeping on the barricade they were so godawful live. I missed a show of theirs this winter and was kicking myself for it until I saw this performance. And they had been voted to play an extra 10 minutes. Awful.

Against Me! was the last bands playing and another one of the best performances of the day. The one thing I didn't like was how the singer was standing far stage right rather than on center.

What were your favorite performances?