Writer wishes for music that brings people together again
By: Veronica Ivey
Issue date: 4/30/09 Section: Opinion
It's been five years since the very first time I went to the Warped Tour. I still remember it like it was yesterday even though I've been to every Warped Tour except one since then. I was 16 and had been begging my parents to let me go for a few years until they finally decided that I was old enough. Me and three of my friends from school loaded in a Suburban and headed to the Warped Tour. We found ways to hide permanent markers and cameras in places even the security of a punk rock festival geared toward teenagers never thought to look, and then we were in.
That summer was the 10th year anniversary, and it was the summer of '04. A lot of big headliners were there, and almost every band had a "summer anthem." From the best of my memory, it was My Chemical Romance with "I'm Not Okay", Story of the Year with "Anthem of your Dying Day", Yellowcard with "Ocean Avenue", New Found Glory with "Catalyst", Senses Fail with "Buried a Lie" and Hawthorne Heights with "Ohio is for Lovers." I am most certainly leaving some amazing songs and bands out, but that year may never be out done in my opinion. It was amazing, the experience and the connectedness with everyone at the show.
That year we got there and every one walked around with their programs that got more and more tattered with every mosh pit it survived with them. It was almost like dividing your soul when you had to choose between two of your favorite bands, and even then you still got to experience them. I remember standing in line for lemonade when Yellowcard was playing their set across the Reliant Stadium parking lot in Houston. Everyone, and I mean everyone, joined in on one song even if they were in the mosh pit of another band. I am sure you could have heard the chorus from Highway 59. And every band there had that moment at one point during the show.
People took care of people there; if you fell down in the mosh, they picked you up, dusted you off, checked for blood and then pushed you right back in. Every hit each band played touched everyone there and brought everyone together in a chorus. To this day if I hear one of those songs, all I can think about is summer.
That summer was the 10th year anniversary, and it was the summer of '04. A lot of big headliners were there, and almost every band had a "summer anthem." From the best of my memory, it was My Chemical Romance with "I'm Not Okay", Story of the Year with "Anthem of your Dying Day", Yellowcard with "Ocean Avenue", New Found Glory with "Catalyst", Senses Fail with "Buried a Lie" and Hawthorne Heights with "Ohio is for Lovers." I am most certainly leaving some amazing songs and bands out, but that year may never be out done in my opinion. It was amazing, the experience and the connectedness with everyone at the show.
That year we got there and every one walked around with their programs that got more and more tattered with every mosh pit it survived with them. It was almost like dividing your soul when you had to choose between two of your favorite bands, and even then you still got to experience them. I remember standing in line for lemonade when Yellowcard was playing their set across the Reliant Stadium parking lot in Houston. Everyone, and I mean everyone, joined in on one song even if they were in the mosh pit of another band. I am sure you could have heard the chorus from Highway 59. And every band there had that moment at one point during the show.
People took care of people there; if you fell down in the mosh, they picked you up, dusted you off, checked for blood and then pushed you right back in. Every hit each band played touched everyone there and brought everyone together in a chorus. To this day if I hear one of those songs, all I can think about is summer.
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grumpy old giant
posted 4/30/09 @ 9:02 AM CST
Kids these days...
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