Warped Tour's Finest

Until my seventeenth birthday, I had never heard of the little band of adorable Ocala boys that is A Day To Remember. Upon being asked what I wanted for my birthday, I did what every kid tries to do and wrote out a list. This list just so happened to be illegible and I live three hours from mum so she was on her own for shopping. Uh oh. Every kiddo’s worst nightmare, right? Well, it was mine anyway. I had asked plane tickets and an Adema album. I received the tickets, no problem. Even I can’t screw up a Berlin. However, in lieu of Adema, I received the Old Record. A Day to Remember. I don’t have the heart to be ungrateful or mean to my mum, and she had just bestowed upon me my dream vacation, so I graciously accepted the well wishes and album, sans receipt, much to my dismay. In spite of my own better judgement I pulled off the cellophane and decided to give it a try. It was insta-love. My ears nearly melted, as did my heart with “You Had Me at Hello”. I’m not going to waste time telling you how much I love this band, or this album. I’ll just get to the point. This band MADE July sixth for me. So let’s fast forward, shall we?

Present Day.
July sixth.
New Daisy Theater, Memphis, TN.
The Blackout, VersaEmerge, Millionaires, Breathe Carolina, Attack Attack, Emmure, Saosin, and A Day To Remember, I mean REALLY, is it humanly possibly to think of a more fitting lineup?

Duh. Of course it is. One ‘band’, I think we ALL know who they are, served as the sore thumb in the middle of a hand model convention. Hardcore fans, Electronica fans, indie metal fans, rock fans: they all flocked to the Daisy. What’s missing here? Millionaires fans. Yea. That’s right. These three... ladies were mercilessly booed from the stage. In spite of all of the shit talking, however, they clearly cared and thankfully DID NOT take off their underwear. In my opinion, their presence was somewhat of an insult to the other performers of the evening. Lip-syncing is so Avril, but they’re not above it. Let’s quit roasting though, shall we?

Want commendations? Well here they come.

The Blackout: Well, they weren’t MY type of music, but I’m not here to tell you all what to listen to. For what they did, they were good. And their performance/stage presence? I dare say that as far as opening bands go, they were second to none. It’s hard to open a show. If you’ve never been there, take my word for it. Everyone is ALWAYS skeptical about the first band to play, and these UK fellas took this with a grain of salt and played one of the most energetic, and humorous, opening sets that I’ve ever seen. You should definitely look into them.

I feel that everyone else in the lineup speaks for themselves. VersaEmerge: you can tell these guys, and girl, worked to get where they are, and they’ll keep heading up. BC? WOW. Attack Attack, Saosin and Emmure? This is at least the second time that I’ve seen these guys (third for Emmure) and it’s been a worthwhile investment every time. Last but not least, A Day to Remember. Simply put, from the very first chord to the last beat of the encore, they lived up to their name, and then some.

Written by: Kaytee