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Vans Warped Tour
Downing Stadium, Randall’s Island, NY
1 August 1998

It’s perhaps one of the worst places for a concert, especially when there’s lots of people tramping on the bare, almost grassless ground. The memories of the dust storm raised by KORN at last year’s Lollapalooza where not only audience members but band members required oxygen is still too fresh, clothes worn that day are still covered with dust. But this is Warped, and dustbowl or no… IPO braves the sun and heat… and dust… to see what this year had to offer.

The Vans Warped Tour has something that the other summer festivals lack: variety and line up! This tour carries punk, psychobilly, swing… and bands that fall somewhere in between. The four stages were set up in side-by-side pairs, something which makes perfect sense, yet most festivals blatantly ignore this option. The bands alternate and there’s no waiting and watching the road crew for 20 minutes whilst equipment is set in place… and there are always two bands playing. If you don’t like what you see on one stage, a few moments walk might find you something far more appealing.

There’s something almost incestuous about this tour… sort of like the royal blood lines of punk. All the bands seem to be related by some common thread. Greg Graffin of BAD RELIGION, the tour’s headliners, produced an album for UNWRITTEN LAW, for example...

Speaking of which... Southern California’s UNWRITTEN LAW were one of the first acts to take the stage (however, due to problems at the front gate with press passes, they were the first band we were able to catch). The band mixes its heavy sound with Egyptian orphism and almost appears to be music’s answer to James Frazier’s The Golden Bough. The band’s sound evokes thoughts of GREEN DAY with a few metal guitar rifts tossed in for good measure.		Punk meets metal meets a Goth-like sound and gives the audience New York’s noise band, UNSANE. This three-man group performed for a small, but appreciative crowd who obviously came early to catch their set. They are, by no means, a new band, having formed in the late 80s and came from the same fabric that gave the world HELMET and SURGERY, but UNSANE’s intonation is all their own, clean and pounding. They don’t sound like anyone… and no one sounds like them…
Now here is a punk/ska band well worth seeing on their own. The VOODOO GLOW SKULLS incorporate an excellent horn section that sets them apart from other bands that also straddle the punk/ska fence. Their sound causes the audience to become nothing but a mass of bodies bopping to the tempo. They produce a great energy, even if you don’t feel like moving… you can’t help it. It’s by no means mindless (like some danceable music can be) and what they offer is not only good, it’s unique.		The SWINGING UTTERS… we first heard them described as San Francisco’s politi-punk cum ska band. Are they? We think that may be stretching it. Their influences sound a though they are firmly established in 70s British/American rock as well as punk. Granted, their set was short, but the songs seemed a little repetitive even after 20 minutes.
Providence, RI’s The AMAZING ROYAL CROWNS could have been Morrissey’s back up band in the early 90s as he flirted with the harder side of rockabilly. There is a definite movement toward the REVEREND HORTON HEAT’s style of psychobilly as they mix elements of THE CLASH with Jerry Lee Lewis… and they are far better at this than the STRAY CATS ever hoped to be. The stage apparel of matching "bowling" shirts was a nice touch… an effective step back in time to how bands in the late 50s, both in attire and stage presence.		One thing, if nothing else, can be said for the CHERRY POPPIN’ DADDIES. They are rockin' swing done the right way! Even if you’re not a huge fan of this musical genre, the excitement generated by the band is contagious. It’s more than apparent they enjoy what they’re doing AND pleasing their audience. The band’s lead signer, Steve Perry (no, not the guy from JOURNEY) is a consummate showman!
SAVE FERRIS and ALL served to be the festival’s low point. Neither band was "bad" per se, but they lacked a spark of originality that many of the other bands had in large supply. There was nothing truly unprecedented about either set.   They are good, just not anything to write home about . . . yet.  Perhaps with more exposure and an opportunity to perform in similar festivals will give them the experience they need to break the plateau of the ordinary.		REVEREND HORTON HEAT… by far the greatest psychobilly band of all time. Of the band in their genre, their three-piece outfit produces one the tightest and freshest sounds that is accompanied by the sometimes serious/sometimes humorous rantings of Reverend Jim Heath. Drummer Scott, replacement for the now-departed Taz, gives the band a harder rhythm sound that accentuates but does not bury Jimbo’s upright bass. "Girls w/tattoos will go to hell!" espouses the Reverend during their set. Well, if Reverend Horton Heat is on the bill, I and my tattoos will be making reservations post haste.
NOFX is arguably one of the best punk bands to come out of SoCal, their aggressive aversion to radio and MTV airplay have increased their following where the likes of Pearl Jam have failed miserably.  Their participation in Warped is both a pleasant surprise and a long awaited reward.		RANCID take the stage to Wagner’s "Ride of the Valkeries." They make no bones about being a high-energy punk band. Their audience is clearly into the rawness of their music.
The headliner, Southern California’s BAD RELIGION, produced one of the best sets (to date) from their extensive catalog that reaches back to the early 80s… not an easy task! No, they are not a new band, though some countries try to pass them off as such… Unlike many punk bands, BAD RELIGION have stayed true to themselves and no succumbed to "glitz punk." Their sound is solid (we dare ANYONE to call it fluffy) and well married to the complex rhythms. They are a definite crowd pleaser… and their audience can be quite demonstrative. Shouting, throwing objects at the stage, violent crowd surfing. This is taken it stride, as it should be. After all, this IS punk.