If you like music and you have a favorite band, chances are you want to see them in concert, right? But most people like more than one band or artist, so going to concerts can be expensive.So, what can you do? Well, if you’re a fan of rock music, you can go to Warped Tour. Warped Tour showcases punk rock, metalcore, alternative rock, and punk pop, with bands like like Pierce the Veil or Sleeping With Sirens. On June 20, 2015, I went to Warped Tour, an event I never pictured myself going to because I thought that a majority of the audience would be scary and intimidating, but that was not the case at all. Warped Tour turned out to be one of the best days of my life.

Warped Tour is one of the largest music festivals in the United States with 37 stops, including a stop in London. The tour features popular bands like Asking Alexandria, Black Veil Brides, blessthefall, Motion City Soundtrack, Never Shout Never, Simple Plan, Pierce the Veil, We Came as Romans, Escape the Fate, Metro Station, and Youth in Revolt – just to name a few. It also is a place for new bands to present their music to the rock scene.

I usually don’t listen to the types of bands that play at Warped and I only know a few songs from those bands, but I was able to go our local stop at Mountain View for free thanks to my journalism class and Moxie, our music service. I was also able to bring one other person and brought by cousin, Dariz, who has wanted to go to Warped Tour for years now. While Dariz, was extremely excited, I wasn’t sure how the day would turn out since I knew little about those rock bands. But by the end of the day, Dariz and I did not want to leave.

Our day started at 12, although the doors opened at 11. We expected Shoreline to be pretty packed, but a lot of people were still coming in. The venue was separated into seven stages – Shark Stage, Unicorn Unicorn, Monster Energy Stage, Journeys Left Foot Stage, Journeys Right Foot Stage, Hard Rock Kevin Says Stage, and the Ernie Ball Stage. The most famous bands performed at the Shark and Unicorn stages and the bands that won Battle of the Bands performed at the Ernie Ball Stage. Through Battle of the Bands, bands uploaded their music to the Battle of the Bands website and earn ratings through fan interaction. The bands that earn the highest exposure levels won and performed at Warped.

The first band we saw was Silent Pilot at 12:30, who performed at the Ernie Ball Stage. After their set, we bought merchandise, got them signed, and took pictures with them. We were even able to interview them after their signing time. Silent Pilot was the only band we planned on watching so we spent the next 30 minutes walking around the whole venue. Although Dariz was a big fan of blessthefall and Pierce the Veil, we knew they would attract crowds too large for our liking. We generally stayed near the Ernie Ball stage the whole day. The Ernie Ball stage generally attracted the smallest crowds because it showcased newer bands.   

We enjoyed all of the bands at the Ernie Ball stage, but one that caught our attention at was Night Argent. The first song they played immediately reminded us of the Script and OneRepublic, two bands we had seen at the same venue last year. The lead singer even resembled Ryan Tedder, OneRepublic’s lead singer. The best part of their performance was when all of the members played one drum set together. Night Argent drew in one of the largest crowds at the Ernie stage. At the end of the set, Dariz and I could hear a lot of the people saying that they would get their CD. Night Argent gave a free CD to those who used #NightArgent on any social media site at their merchandise tent. Their new fans were even happier with free CDs.

We watched a few more bands like A+ Dropouts, and The High Voltage Band play at the Ernie Ball stage until 3 and returned to Silent Pilot’s tent to interview them. Dariz and I were surprised and ecstatic when they agreed to an interview – we weren’t sure if any band was willing to be interviewed at all. Of course, we were thrilled that we were going to interview the band we looked forward to seeing the most. Dariz and I were also worried that the interview would be awkward and leave Silent Pilot with a bad memory of their first in person interview. We were only able to interview three out of the five members but it turned out to be our favorite part of the day. According to Dariz, the only awkward moments of the interview were pauses when I took notes. I myself did not find them awkward, probably because I became accustomed to awkward pauses during interviews. The interview ended up lasting about an hour, with questions ranging from band life to their favorite shows on Netflix. We took a picture at the end of the interview and continued wandering around the venue.

Our next stop was Youth In Revolt’s tent. We were at their tent around 1 but wanted to buy food before we spent any more on merchandise. The members actually remembered us when we approached their tent. We were still giddy from our interview with Silent Pilot, so when the guitarist approached us and said, “You guys actually came back! We thought you wouldn’t so we were sad,” and engulfed us in a hug, we couldn’t stop smiling. We each bought a shirt and got them signed by three out of five members. We also promised to watch them on the Ernie Stage at 7.

To our surprise, rock music wasn’t the only type of music played at Warped. As we headed to the shark and unicorn stages, we heard a song from the Backstreet Boys playing. Dariz and I looked at each other and said, “Why would this be playing here?” We followed the music and found that it was coming from a DJ booth. The booth initiated a Battle of the Boybands between two groups of five guys – The Backstreet Boys and NSYNC. Both groups had to lip sync and dance to songs by the boy band they were named after. Both groups knew all of the words to “I Want it That Way” by the Backstreet Boys, but they only knew the choruses to the other NSYNC and Backstreet songs. NSYNC turned out to be the better boy band, based on the crowd’s cheers. Dariz and I cheered for both, but what probably sold the crowd overall were the back flips and stunts by one NSYNC member during the Boyband Dance Battle. Watching both groups lip synching the wrong words and dancing without coordination was one of the funniest moments of the day, especially since it happened at Warped Tour.

The last band we watched was Youth in Revolt. Dariz and I kept another promise that day and watched them from the front row. Youth in Revolt has been around for over a year now, and already had a strong fan base. In the middle of the set, they asked the crowd to raise their hand if they had heard of them before. Dariz and I turned around and saw the largest crowd at the Ernie Ball stage that day – and almost everyone’s hand was raised. At the end of their set, they earned loud cheers from the crowd, and everyone headed to their merchandise tent. The remaining two members signed our shirts – the last thing on our list at Warped.

We reluctantly began exiting the venue and took pictures with the marquee. On the drive home, we were hit with post-concert depression and planned to return to Warped Tour next year. I learned to appreciate rock music a lot more, even songs with screamo. Other than learning to like rock music, I realized I there were aspects to that day that could directly impact my life. Listening to the lyrics and actually seeing the musicians’ faces while performing really proved to me that putting hard work and your emotions into anything you do can impact a vast audience, even if the way it’s being carried out isn’t exactly that person’s cup of tea.

At the end of the day I learned a few things – trying to make the most of a seemingly uncomfortable situation can make it better, and getting closer to reaching a goal always feels worthwhile.