Warped Tour 2001 - Virginia Beach
August 01, 2001 - Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre - Virginia Beach, VA

Did you see the lineup for this thing? Talk about flaunting Epitaph's dominance over the punk rock scene over the last ten years. Throughout the day, the biggest performances came from punk rock veterans such as H2O, The Bouncing Souls, The Dropkick Murphys, Pennywise, The Vandals and Rancid, all of whom are, or have been on Epitaph at some point. Beyond that, seeing other legendary groups such as Henry Rollins, AFI and, Me First And The Gimme Gimmes made this one hell of a lineup. It sucks I missed Less Than Jake, but I'm hardly crying. I was rather glad to arrive and find out that 311 and Sum 41 had bailed on this date. One thing's for sure - no one came to Warped to see Kool Keith and D12.

"Hi, we're Jimmy Eat World, a professional rock band," vocalist Jim Adkins explained as Jimmy Eat World took the stage, pounding through their radio sensation "Bleed American." Maybe the band has improved, maybe my tastes have changed, but I used to really hate this band, and now I find myself really into their new music. They were pretty entertaining on stage - they liked to mock their "professional" status a lot in particular. At one point, the guitarist played a little Hendrix riff and Jim responded with "wow dude, that's so pro." Maybe I was the only one who found that funny. Jimmy Eat World have an extremely polished sound, and definitely play like pros (and have a contract like pros too). Although I was a little disappointed to hear no vocal harmonies on "Sweetness," the rest of their songs had pretty awesome vocal work, both from Jim and the rest of the group doing backups. I hope these guys do well on the radio, they could definitely open up radio crowds to a newer sound.

Within seconds of Jimmy Eat World striking their last chord, H2O began rumbling through their anthem "Everready" (still my favorite H2O song). I only watched them for about 15 minutes, and I was able to hear them hit some of their big tunes such as "I See It In Us," "Guilty By Association" and "Role Model." I can't say I was floored like I am when I see them in a club, but they still had that flair and energy even with the 7-foot stage and giant barrier. The crowd response was excellent for so early in the day, and I was happy to see H2O doing well. Yeah, their new album was a bit of a let down, but they still kick ass live.

I missed Less Than Jake and the Ataris to chat with Davey Havok, but I made it back in time to see Flogging Molly play a few songs. They were the highlight of Warped for me last year, and I was happy to see that far more people were into their sound this year. In the past year they've taken enormous strides, and are now recognized as one of the best live bands around, scoring tours with bands the likes of The Bosstones, and an upcoming stint with the Bouncing Souls. I really don't know what to say about them - they are just so much fun live, far beyond anything you could get out of their album. Dave King has a very unique command of the audience, influenced both by years of practice and a hefty amount of Guinness. I'm just waiting for Flogging Molly and the Dropkick Murphys to tour together - it's cool to be Irish.

Once again, I had to bolt early to go chat with No Motiv, this time missing the Vandals back on the main stage. As I arrived back, AFI had just begun their set with "The Prayer Position" from Black Sails In The Sunset. I honestly still hadn't seen AFI, so I was stoked by the prospects of finally seeing them, but I worried that I'd get the wrong impression by seeing them standing 150 feet away from the stage. My worries were wiped away faster than you could say "Danzig" as Davey seized control of the audience with his whirlwind vocal stylings, while the rest of the band roamed the stage, jumping around, screaming out the words and just having fun. AFI has so many "whoa-oh" parts in their music that after a couple songs, even the people who'd never heard them before were singing along. They'll probably be a lot better in a club, but I thought they were pretty awesome at Warped too - there's a reason so many people love this band.

D-12 went on next, and I honestly had no interest in them, so I wandered off to the various booths after AFI. I thought it was cool to see Fueled By Ramen selling 3 cds and a shirt for 17 bucks, and the FAT booth was selling water for about half the price of the venue's concession stands. Be sure you check the FAT booth before to go to the concession stands when you go for water.

I killed about 20 minutes and then went back to get a prime spot for the Bouncing Souls. I saw them back in '99 with H2O and really wasn't impressed, but their new album, How I Spent My Summer Vacation, really impressed me, so I was really excited to see them. Without question, they were better than last time - in fact, they were the most impressive set of the day up to that point. They played through some of their big old tunes, such as "Quick Check Girl," "The Ballad Of Johnny X," "Hopeless Romantic' and "East Coast Fuck You," and also hit some of the best tunes from their new album, including "Private Radio," "That Record" and my personal favorite, "True Believers." The band seems to have been rejunvenated since the drummer switch, and I fully expect them to continue with this for many years now. I wanted to hear "Cracked" and "Manthem," so that was a little disappointing, but overall they played a really fun set, and I can't wait to see them on tour this fall with Flogging Molly.

Immediately after the Souls, the unmistakable snarls of Henry Rollins erupted from the neighboring stage. I never knew what to make of the Rollins band - I feel like they're still living in 1992 and they still think Kurt Cobain is alive. I think the Henry Rollins spoken word stuff is really cool (if you get the chance, try to catch his Comedy Central special - it's hilarious), but I get nothing from the Rollins Band. Rollins is a good songwriter, and the music is fairly original, it's just pretty bland. I can't say I was a fan of Black Flag though either. For a man that's been through so much in the punk rock scene, it was cool to see him participating in Warped, but the crowd was so indifferent that it probably would have taken a Black Flag reunion for people to recognize him.

It sucked to see No Motiv having to compete for viewers with Rancid playing on the main stage at the same time. The choice for me to see No Motiv was easy, and I was extremely glad I took the time. They played through about ten tunes, mostly from their newest release, Diagram For Healing. They opened with "Celebrate" and "Going Numb," probably the two best tunes on the album. Although the only guy that got moving around on stage was the guitarist, their compsure didn't affect my enjoyment of their set. Although the music can get a little slow in places, their performace is tight and powerful - and they don't need to play the old stuff to come across that way.

Lars: Do you guys want to hear a new song, or "Ruby Soho?" Crowd: "Ruby Soho!"

Rancid was pretty good, and you could probably predict their whole set list. The coolest part was hearing Matt shred on bass - he's pretty incredible. Other than that, I gotta admit I'm not a monster Rancid fan. If you like their cds, you'll love them live.

I pushed up to the front of the other stage as Kool Keith got on his stage. Honestly, like maybe 15 people cared about him. I felt bad that he was up there getting booed, and more people were watching the empty stage next to his, but after hearing how ridiculously awful his music was, I was just as ready to send out those boo's. I think people should have an open mind, but I'm sorry, Kool Keith was lame.

From the minute Me First and the Gimme Gimmes set up the portable bar on their stage, the mayhem almost hard to handle. When I look back on this in 20 years, and I supposed to tell my kids that the biggest band at Warped was a cover band? Oh well, who cares, at least I finally got to see guys like Joey Cape and Fat Mike on stage, even if it wasn't with their famous bands. The one noticable difference about the band was the absence of Chris Shifflett (Jake Jackson?) on guitar, replaced by Warren from the Vandals. Fat Mike made a point to explain that Me First were the best band because they had the most friends (and they did - the stage was overflowing with backstage guests), but Spike pointed out that it was simply because they had a bar. Their set was a great time - they played about three tunes from each of their three albums, and even brought out Davey Havok to sing on "Science Fiction Double Feature." While I loved seeing Fat Mike work the crowd, I just wish for once that Joey Cape would bring his real band to my hometown, JUST ONCE. Not since '97....... Spike Slawson was a great performer on stage, and has a brilliant singing voice. Me First are showing kids that it's okay to listen to other types of music. As Joey said at one point, "Don't act like you don't know the words!"

The final band of the day for me was the Dropkick Murphys, and it turned out to be an excellent closer. They played mostly tunes from their new album Sing Loud, Sing Proud to being with, and whipped the crowd into a flailing frenzy, especially with "Good Rats," but the kicker was their performances of "Barroom Hero," "Boys On The Docks," "Far Away Coast" and "Skinhead On The MBTA" in near succession. I miss Mike McColgan's voice on those songs, but Al Barr is no slouch on stage either. As expected, my favorite tune was the "Spicy McHaggis Jig," where Al invited all the women in the audience up on stage to dance with Spicy as he rocked out on the bagpipes. It was a shame they weren't able to do the entire tour (they just joined a couple days ago), because they were an awesome headliner. The music is hard not to love, and they have a great presence ons tage, even if none of them have very good singing voices. Like I said - them and Flogging Molly. I want that tour.

Pennywise was the last set of the day, but I was too tired to hang around. As I reached the parking lot I'm pretty sure I heard them covering "Blitzkrieg Bop." I'm glad I didn't hang around.