On the Road Again
Live Reviews:

The Vans Warped Tour
July 24, 1999
The Docks, Toronto

Rock 'n' Roll Summer Camp '99

The Vans Warped Tour rolled into Toronto on Saturday, July 24 at The Docks — 366 days after the '98 edition. Sean K. Robb was there to tell you all about it.

Whoever decided to hold this event on a paved parking lot is a dumbass.

Eminem

Eminem does an abbreviated version of the set he did at The Opera House a few months ago that's kind of weak. He's needing a lot more help from sidekick MC Proof these days. He gets a decent reception from a large crowd that seems to be regarding him as a bit of a freak show. At least here he's not pelted with lemons as he was a few weeks ago when the tour hit Vancouver.

The Living End is this power-pop-punk outfit from Australia that combine elements of The Clash, Green Day and Reverend Horton Heat. They scored a huge at home last year with "Prisoner of Society", which gets an enthusiastic response from the crowd, and I just can't figure it out... Why aren't these guys huge already?

The Living End covers AC/DC's "Back in Black" (well, at least the opening few bars), and it goes over just as well as when Moist did the same thing at EdgeFest.

What is it about teenage guys that makes them think they've got some kind of license to be an asshole just because they're wearing a NOFX T-shirt?

Sevendust

Sevendust announce they're playing Woodstock tomorrow... Christ, who isn't? They must be going on sometime after Men Without Hats.

Clouds briefly provide refuge from the awful, sweltering heat of the sun. People cheer.

Temporary tattoos are sooooooooo NOT punk. Sleeves of real tattoos however, are so punk they make anyone that has them look like a bike courier.

H2o

When exactly did skateboarding, snowboarding and BMX biking become part of "punk" culture? Probably at the exact same time punk moved to the suburbs. All the so-called "extreme" (read: cool looking and relatively dangerous) sports on display here today are more than just entertainment, they're presented as a part of the culture. In an interview in the tour's official program guide (produced, interestingly, by the good people at Alternative Press Magazine), Cypress Hill's B-Real is questioned about "punk fans, new plans, and the BMX bikes in his past". Now maybe it's me, but I just don't see Sid, Iggy, or Joey giving a fuck about "pulling an ollie", when there were plenty of better things to do. Like score.

Second year in a row, Most Oft Sighted Band Shirt Award goes to: Operation Ivy!

Well, Vans definitely has at least the feel of being a less corporate, less restrained, less controlled event than "EdgeFest". There's so much more going on, seemingly without most people having a sense of exactly where or when. The industrial location helps give the occasion a sort of renegade, underground ambiance.

Dropkick Murphys

So what does it mean to be punk in 1999? Do you actually have to be against anything, or is it enough just to be rude, arrogant, loud and a little misunderstood?

There is an alarming lack of anything obviously political taking place here. It's almost as though the political aspect of punk has been liposuctioned out. Stage banter is more about beer and weed than raging against conformity or the plight of some South American Freedom Fighters. Maybe this means that punk's matured and grown beyond needing to do that, assuming that the rebellion is now implicit in the music. More likely, it means that punk's lost a large part of its soul. The Ladies Lounge, where a girl DJ is spinning gangsta rap, and guys hog the plastic chairs, has a small section with information on breast cancer. I ask the folks at the Anti Racist Action booth how things are going, and told that while the bands and the promoter are "great", they're having the slowest day they've ever had at the festival.

Bouncing Souls

Black Eyed Peas, Eminem, Molotov, Orange 9mm, Sevendust, Ice T. Hip-hop act or not, rap music is everywhere.

So what kind of guy comes to Vans in T-dot? Well, two out of every three guys here look like they'd slap their sister to get to be Fred Durst (Limp Bizkit) for a day. The other third is made up of long-haired metal guys, Argos fans, grunge holdouts, bald black guys, and a small pocket of real punks (mohawks, safety pins through the nose, ratty, torn up Exploited t-shirts that were probably once used as tourniquets).

I'm surprised by how much I like Molotov. Funky, Latin flavoured "Lowrider"-like hip-hop influenced punk. Bonus: All stage banter is in Spanish!

Royal Crown Revue

All these white kids appropriating hip-hop styles are all biting from a look that's 5-10 years old already. Kangol hats, boxers hanging out from over top the baggy pants. White boys look like they all went and saw Jodeci open up for L.L.Cool J last night.

I've never had Yoo-Hoo before, but I've always thought I'd like it. There's a trailer giving away free cups of it, and it tastes like crap...Too watery.

Grinspoon does a cover of the "Cheers" theme that sounds an awful lot like the version Felix Frump did on the "Show and Tell" compilation a couple years ago. "Back in Black", "Nothin' But a G Thang", "Sweet Home Alabama", "Tainted Love", "No Scrubs", "Bohemian Rhapsody"... Does everyone have to do one requisite "wacky" cover song?

Orange 9mm play the local stage, and they're very cool. Frontman Chaka is great, but they could afford 2 jazz up their riffage... A little more Sabbath or even early Chilli Peppers would make these guys a lot catchier... And there's nothing wrong with being catchy! I wonder how much of this audience has even heard of The Urban Dance Squad? Now there was a band ahead of its time. Those poor bastards were doing this rap/metal thing ten years ago.

Blink 182

Blink 182 aren't a real punk band, they just play one on TV. If Green Day were still doing what the kids want Green Day to be doing, nobody would give a damn about Blink 182. They've stolen Mike, Tré and Billie Joe's shtick, and they do it with half the charm, cleverness or skill. Bad, bad, bad.

Beautiful MuchMusic VJ Rachel Perry climbs a bike ramp to do a live report, and is promptly pelted with a heavy barrage of water bottles. A lame attempt by the crowd to lash out against the mainstream, made all the more ironic by the fact that it occurs as Blink 182 play their new single "What's My Age Again", a song that wouldn't be a hit were it not for the video.

Toronto's own The Legendary Klopeks hit the local stage minus their lead guitarist, CHART's own Keith "The Punk Rawk Intern" Carman. Where the hell is he? Who knows? The last time I saw him he was trying to borrow a guitar from one of The Lunachicks. Half way through their set, Keith runs up on stage and grabs an axe. The audience of about twenty-five goes wild, sort of. Well... a girl near the front pulls her top down and shows the band a boob.

Ice T

Ice-T, a veteran, and a professional in fine form this afternoon, on what punk is: "Punk is an attitude that says 'Fuck you' to everything, except what I, myself, happen to believe in. So what could be more punk than a white kid in Toronto saying to his homies, 'Yeah, I listen to Too Short, suck my dick!' Punk is me walking into my neighborhood wearing a Black Flag T-shirt."

When Ice-T mentions Body Count, the audience roars back in appreciation. After leading the kids in a chant of "Fuck the Police", Ice tears through "There Goes The Neighborhood", whipping up a fierce mosh pit. That's pretty punk all right — way to go Ice.

Less Than Jake

At the front of the stage during Less Than Jake's set, bodies are passed over the security gate at an increasing rate. Many young people stagger about, pushed from meter to meter by security guards with rubber gloves and headsets. A twelve-year-old is carried like a sleeping child and laid out on a spinal board, a blonde teenage girl stumbles about, disoriented and gasping for air until a burly paramedic sits her down. Meanwhile, dark, ominous clouds have gathered in the sky over this pocket of land beside the lake, while Wizard of Oz-like winds create a dust storm. Hundreds of L.T.J. fans run violently around a huge imaginary circle in front of the stage, and things are beginning to look apocalyptic. The rain is coming — it will be long, and it will be cold.

Suicidal Tendencies

Suicidal Tendencies are boring. Lead singer Mike Muir preaches and moralizes to the crowd. He certainly doesn't sound very suicidal anymore; perhaps someone finally got him that Pepsi he's been after. Protracted fits of self-esteem building, Anthony Robbins-esque banter slow the show down, and the band ultimately get a restrained reception.

Lightning rips across the sky over the lake, the winds pick up again. Pennywise is all that's left.

Still, I admire the way that punk, even de-politicized, continues to reject fashion-conscious consumerism. It's still more about looking odd than looking wealthy. Then again, who's sponsoring this whole thing? A shoe company.

Maybe I'm thinking too much about what is punk, and what does this all mean, but then again maybe I'm not. We do live in an age where Woodstock is held every five years (on an Air-Force base no less), Taco Bell satirizes Che Guevera to sell MexiMelts, and neo-conservative economic policies are called "common sense". I think it is important that we clarify our terms. We really don't want to lose what punk was about. I disagree with Ice-T that the punk attitude is about giving a fuck you to anything you don't like. Diversity and tolerance are good things, and things I think punk used to be about.

Pennywise

Pennywise sound like old-skool Bad Religion, which is still a good sound, but it begins to rain, and I'm ready to leave. As I'm heading out, I notice a huge rainbow, careening from one end of the sky to the other. It's a beautiful sight, and I smile. From the stage, one of the Pennywise boys yells "Hey, look at that hippie shit! Everyone see that fuckin' rainbow? I think it's time to play a punk song!"