We Are Warped

Myself and Belinda watching August Burns Red-the first show of the day.

Okay, to begin this post, you should know that I’ve been waiting since I was in 7^th grade for the summer I could finally go to Warped Tour, and this summer on July 7^th, at 19 years old, I joined the freshman class of the Vans Warped Tour and had the time of my life. I saw 13 bands play, was in the middle of tons thrashing crowds and mosh pits, threw many elbows, lifted countless crowd surfers, ran a lap around some merch tents with Joe Ragosta (of Patent Pending) and a bunch of fellow Patent Pending fans, agreed to do a “favor” for the AP guy and ended up handing out 80+ Warped Programs, I was on my feet for ten hours, I came home exhausted, sunburned, thrilled, and already pumped for Warped 2012. I saw some of my favorite bands and got introduced to a few new ones.

At Warped you are tossed into the throes of one collective, pulsing organism. You are skin on skin on teeshirt on body paint with 10,000 of your best friends. People will hold your drink or help you with sunscreen; shout out a question and someone will answer. When you start to fall in a mosh pit, there is someone behind you who will push you back up. Schedules, sunscreen, and memories are all shared. By lunchtime you’ve sweated all your makeup off, you’re dripping on the pavement, and you’ve lost any semblance of being “put together,” but you don’t care and neither does anyone else. Everyone at Warped is friends because everyone has one thing in common: we all live and breathe music.

By the time I got home from I was sunburned, exhausted, and so so happy. Basically, Warped Tour, I’ll see you next year.

Several thousand of my new friends.