Warped '08

Okay so I originally wrote this and... it disappeared.
Anyway...
I'll try to put as many details as I can in this for Julie's sake, though right now I am so fucking tired.
One thing to know; Warped. Was. Awesome.
So my friend Liz was taking me, or well her brother who REALLY didn't want to go, but we kind of ignored him.
I'm saying it now for those of you who are going later this summer, slap on like three coats of sunscreen, cause even with the bit I put on this morning I still got one fucked up looking burn.
Anyway so it took like half an hour to get there (it was at a race track which wasn't technically even IN Houston).
We got in line since we got there around eleven, waited a bit, had the guy throw my water I was drinking away, and then... it began.
I don't really remember much of the beginning except there was talk about the merch tents, and then we saw the master list.
I swear we were whores to that master list until some guy handed us a free set list (which was really just a picture of the master list).
Anyway after we figured out the bands we were gonna see, we started wandering around the venue, mainly for me to find the AP Warped program (I have four of them by the way, for gifts.)
After we got that and saw all the other shit, it was on to the merch tents, and of course TAI was first.
The thing you need to know is, Ziggy is awesome (Ziggy their merch guy, check 'em out on FoE.)
I remember the first thing I told him was he looked hot, to which he replied, he was. (okay he was shirtless and sweaty, though has awesome tattoos.)
After that I checked out the merch and fuck... TAI has some seriously sexy shit.
I pretty much spent all my money at their merch booth on two very sexy shirts, and the most amazing buttons EVER.
It was pictures of all the boys, but it was the William pic I put up where he's against a brickwall, but the rest of the guys were in the same positions.
Plus I got something for Emily but I'm not telling what it is...
Muwahahahahahahahahaha.
In retrospect I think I probably should've bought a Cobra shirt but really, if you saw TAI's shirts you'd understand.
I now own five.
So after that we wandered around some more looking for Liz's friend (I found one of mine too, I loves me some Ellie) and ended up back by the master list.
Of course it was right next to the main stage to the right and Against Me! was playing, who I now love.
Seriously those guys are great live, I highly suggest seeing them.
It wasn't long after Against Me! that we ditched Liz's brother and waited for Cobra Starship to go on.
Though in between that we checked up with good ol' Ziggy to see if TAI had showed up since their sign said 'showing up randomly blah blah blah'.
Ziggy remembered me though cause really, how many chicks pay you with money they take out of their bra?
Liz likes to call me a whore with that but when you've got seventy five bucks for merch you really don't trust pockets.
While we were over there you could kind of see through the gaps in the tents to the one on the other side and out of the corner of my eye I saw a very familiar figure.
Yes, it was none other than Danny (lead singer) from The Audition (who I like and just so happened to be watching videos of i.e. their bus breaking down and their guitarist going crazy.)
He was really really really adorable cause I kinda dragged Liz away from the tent cause I was afraid he'd leave and when we got up he was just sitting on the ground below the table singing to Reel Big Fish (who were playing not too far away).
I went up to him and said, "Can I bother you for a moment?"
He was really cool too cause I handed him my program, almost lost the page too, and he signed it.
Though the sweetest thing was he handed it back and said, "Here you go my love."
Yes, I am his love.
Be jealous bitches.
So after that we went to go see Cobra Starship and waited... and waited...
Though while we did we saw past the stage to backstage where there were a few people.
And then Liz saw The Butcher.
Little did we know that was only the start of the most badass show ever.

Not long after seeing him we started seeing other more familiar figures i.e Sisky, Ryland, Nate.
Though it was really hard to miss Gabe in his neon green hat.
After a while we saw pretty much all TAI, minus Will and Mike, and then all of Cobra Starship, or so it seemed.
As they all took stage we couldn't help but notice instead of Alex... Sisky walked out with his bass on.
Now, according to Gabe, Alex's dad was getting remarried and he had to go to the wedding, so a couple friends were going to fill in for him, like Sisky.
And then they went into The City Is At War, completely unedited thank god.
Both Liz and I still can't remember what the second song was (though if you were there and know it'd be greatly appreciated).
Though during the second song, Sisky disappeared and the Butcher came out with the bass.
According to Gabe, The Butcher is a man of many talents.
Then after the second song I believe it was The Church of Hot Addiction, one of my personal favorites.
Sisky came back of course and pretty much played bass for the rest of the songs.
Liz assures me Smile For The Paparazzi was after that, which if anything tops Hot Addiction it is Paparazzi since the night I got Viva La Cobra I listened to that song four hundred times over all the others.
(We now have reason to believe Send My Love To The Dancefloor was the second song.)
And then... the glory of all glories started when Liz started screaming 'Oh my god, there's William Beckett!'
Yes, the next song was Snakes On A Plane (the song that introduced me to all of them).
Oh apparently during Dancefloor Sisky started saying Paul Wall to Gabe, and Paul Wall is from Houston so he started talking about how Paul Wall asked him if he was saying 'put it in Beyonce' (also from Houston) to which Gabe replied, I will now.
And he did.
But anyway so Snakes On A Plane, Will came running out and.. my heart stopped.
It was... it was William Beckett, there's no other way to put it.
So he's singing and slowly melting my heart when Travie's part came up.
But instead of Travie... it was Paul Wall.
In your face suckers! How many of you would get Paul Wall to sing Travie's part?
None of you, because Paul Wall is ours.
Sorry, I'm feeling special.
Anyway, eventually William went away and in between songs Gabe started singing Hollaback Boy.
I felt just like I did at Paramore when they played Decoy cause I was pretty much the only person who knew what the hell Gabe was doing.
Oh! And it was adorable I was watching Ryland after he was headbanging and he threw the pick he had into the audience... and his face slowly went horrified.
Yeah, he hit a chick in the eye with the pick; it was hysterical.
Anyway so after that my mind kind of jumps to Guilty Pleasure, where Gabe started singing in Spanish, very sexily I might add.
And during the song he shot out very bright gorgeous confetti.
By the way I now collect confetti and if you were there I was the idiot picking up confetti off the ground.
And then of course I was one of the awesome people doing the Guilty Pleasure dance like Gabe did later on; we kicked ass.
So, their show ended and right after them on the stage next to it was From First To Last, coincidentally convenient.
We stayed to watch them for a while but I was exhausted and we went to check up on TAI like we did over and over again that day.
Eventually we went back to FFTL but it was also during Family Force 5 and there was much debating but in the end we went back to FFTL.
I don't really remember what happened but they ended and Say Anything was back on Cobra Starship's stage, once again fantastically convenient.
Now we had been listening to Alive With The Glory Of Love on the way there since that was pretty much the only decent song on her brother's iPod.
But how it ended up being their first song amazed me.
Anyway, we watched them (well I listened cause I was sitting down with ice in my hat looking like a retard but damn proud of it) through Baby Girl I'm A Blur and Shiksa before we left.
By this point I was exhausted, so we crashed in Girlz Garage where lo and behold Gym Class Heroes were doing an acoustic set in the Myspace tent next to us.
It was glorious till I felt like I was gonna pass out.
So I managed to drag myself back to the merch area with Liz and while she was checking on TAI and getting Cobra shit I got distracted by the line that only forms when there's a signing.
This line happened to be in front of Family Force 5 (insert squeal).
I got in line despite wanting to faint, grabbed my program and decided to be selfish and not get Emily's diamond edition signed.
But halfway through nice Katlyn kicked in and I grabbed it for her.
First I met Chap Stique (my favorite) and he asked me how I was.
I told him I was ready to pass out and was sad I missed them play, he was super sweet about it.
Plus I loved his spandexy blue pants.
The other guys just kinda signed the shit until we got to the one and only Soul Glow Activatur, shirtless with the exception of a scarf.
He signed both of them and then I asked for a hug, we were both sweaty and it was glorious.
After that we wandered around just a little bit more trying to find the nonexistent shade or non graveled ground; we ended up back in Girlz Garage with everyone else.
Things went as a blur, I tried really hard not to pass out and shit, we wandered around a little more till we ended up on the ground next to the porta potties (but upwind from them.)
And then... I reached my limit and the words I never thought I'd utter came out of my mouth.
Can we go?
Yeah, I, the William Beckett lover threw in the towel at 3:20, three hours before The Academy Is and five from Paramore.
Now, before you start calling me a wuss think of this.
It was 98 degrees when we left and one of the guys said it was the hottest it'd been all Warped, not to mention this is Houston, it was heat combined with our infamous humidity.
And I suck in the heat.
Literally my vision was splotchy and I was ready to pass out or throw up at any moment.
And I'm writing this here to hold me to it but when TAI come here in the fall I am buying Liz a ticket to the show because I made her miss TAI.
Seriously I've never felt so guilty.
But it was a great learning experience that I will bring a shitload of frozen water next year and am seriously considering having a Warped Warm-Up a month before next year.
So anyway we left and I pretty much passed out on Liz's floor when we got in.
I'm not lying when I say everything hurts.
But the thought of all the shit in my bag dragged me up from the floor.
There were a lot of stickers, free shit, buttons, and of course my glorious two new TAI shirts.
One was black and AMAZING and the other was so gorgeous I didn't care it was white.
So now, here I am in my sunburned exhaustion, still sticky from sweat and sunscreen, but very satisfied.
Because even though we left early, seeing Cobra Starship playing with TAI was enough to last me the rest of the year.
And of course... there was William Beckett.

A few things I forgot to mention, Gabe was saying his moves were off at our show and it was apparently because he and a couple of guys after the show the day before got into some sumo costumes and fucked each other up.
His foot was one of the casualties.
And also when Sisky was playing one of the last songs The Butcher came out and played the maraca.
Note maraca, singular, it was hysterical.
And with the new TAI TV, that was NOT my show but it was still cool, even though there was no Butcher on maraca.
Also, I did have an umbrella but they don't come with central cooling and is it just me or does Sisky playing bass have an eerily similar resemblance to Mikey Way when he's playing?
And by the way, if you think your sore when you get back, the day after Warped is horrible, not to mention my sunburn.
(But to make Liz happy I'll say it ws worth it to see them, though it goes unsaid.)