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Warped Tour sizzles in 103 degrees and a smashing Billy
Idol comeback
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By Jeremy Wilkins
July 18, 2005 | Despite the
sun, sweat, limited-to-no shade and the hellish
103 degrees of heat, thousands of people young
and old gathered at the Utah State Fairgrounds
on Saturday for this year's Warped Tour.
(Click for more
Warped Tour photos.)
And so it is every year when the popular traveling
all-day music/extreme sports festival stops in
Salt Lake City to release its energy and prove
its growing appeal.
"We don't mess around too much. People know
what to expect," said Kevin Lyman, the creator
of the tour that made its first stop in Utah by
drawing about 800 to the Saltair Pavilion in 1995.
First and foremost the tour is well-known for
the many bands that perform throughout the day,
along with skate contests and other extreme sport
performances, and next for the dozens upon dozens
of booths selling band and record label merchandise,
booths with political information that encourage
young people to vote and several other additions
each year to keep things interesting.
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DON'T
BURY HIM 'CAUSE HE'S NOT DEAD:
Billy Idol chews up the set list during
a high-energy performance at the
Warped Tour. / Photo by Jeremy Wilkins
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This year was no exception. This latest Warped Tour
included a booth for a traveling photo exhibit of images
from the Las Vegas-based Punk Rock Museum, which is
also a part of the 500 Greatest Shots of Rock ‘n'
Roll Photography, taken by several of the world's top
music photographers. Also included was the Take Action!
at Warped tent, which was a combination of a music stage
and information booth, the music portion being dedicated
to spoken-word performances and the information portion
dedicated to voter registration and information for
the National Hopeline Network, which runs a teen suicide
hotline.
As for the main attraction, the music, there were 93
bands on the Salt Lake City schedule for the show. The
Transplants, Offspring, My Chemical Romance, Thrice,
Strung Out, Atreyu and of course the comeback performance
from rock legend Billy Idol drew some of the biggest
crowds and gave some of the most hard-hitting shows.
The Transplants, with members Tim Armstrong (Rancid),
Travis Barker (Blink-182, MTV's Meet The Barkers) and
newcomer Rob Aston tore up the stage with their eight-song
set as they played several of their old songs coupled
with a few new songs including Gangsters and Thugs,
which has received national radio play. The crowd was
awed with the drum beats of Barker, the stage antics
of Aston rushing back and forth as he spewed his raspy
vocals into the mic and the ever so calm and cool presence
of greatness and leadership Armstrong brings to the
group as he took middle stage, most of the time playing
while standing on top of a monitor or Barker's drums
with an occasional jump.
There was a constant buzz in the air about Idol's pending
performance near the end of the day's festivities. Idol,
known for his huge success in the '80s, recently released
his first studio album, Devil's Playground,
since 1993's poorly received Cyberpunk. Since
Idol's release of Playground, many music critics
have deemed his comeback as rather impressive and successful
-- and judging by the crowd's response to him on Saturday,
the Warped Tour fans agreed.
Anyone who thought he was too old or that he was a
washed-up rocker was eating their words as Idol, now
49, ripped through Super Overdrive, the first
track on his new album. As Idol pleased the crowds with
new and old material, he also posed and worked the cameras
down in front beneath the stage. After running through
his first three songs, which included White Wedding,
Idol took a minute to breathe.
He spoke briefly to the crowd about his longevity in
the music industry, mentioning his prior band from the
1970's, Generation X, which participated in the early
punk movement in England, before singing Ready,
Steady, Go, from the Generation X catalog. By the
time Idol came to the end of his set list and began
singing Rebel Yell, he had the crowd in a frenzy,
proving that some things only get better with time.
Some people might call packing that much into one day
too much, but then there's those who were there to experience
it who would say it was just enough.
HOT AND SWEATY: Tim Armstrong
of the Transplants tears into a song. / Photo by Jeremy
Wilkins
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