Warped Tour 2008

Yeah, i got bored and decided to post this, plus i promised bellz she'd hear all about it.
~ Sunday, 6 July 2008
I woke up very early, then fell asleep again and woke up to 7 missed calls from my friend Katlyn trying to wake me up, which she eventually did. we had to wait for my brother to get 'ready to leave' because he [for some terribly odd reason] hated the thought of going, but was payed off by my dad [haha] to take us.
Oh the sun was a bitch the whole time, i even got sunburned slightly on my face, which like never happens. ever.
anyway it took us like half an hour to get there. it was at this race track [not technically IN houston, but whatever]
anyway once we got there we waited for a bit, they checked my bag, and suddenly... there i was. Vans Warped Tour.
Im not exactly sure as to what happened at the beginning, we said a word or two about merch tents and then checked the master list. and to quote Kate, 'we were whores to that list until some guy handed us a paper copy of it' which is beyond true.
anyways, we planned out our day based on the bands we wanted to see, and then we wandered a bit, attempting to find the very hidden AP tent to find the programs, which we eventually came across by some miracle.
on the way back we got some free shit, like stickers and stuff. my brother was wearing and England soccer jersey, and this guy asked him if he was from england, and he said no, and the guy said 'oh well im from manchester, and at least youre supporting' i actually have a pretty good mental picture of what he looked like, cause we passed him a million times.
anyway we then headed to the merch tents, stopping [of course] at TAI's first. Ziggy, their merch guy [if more info is needed check out FoE], was really cool. the first thing kate said to him was 'you look hot' because he was shirtless and sweating. his reply was 'i am.'
i still laugh at her about it, it was funny. she tried covering for herself but gave up. anyway their stuff is the sex. seriously, i can hardly describe the amazingness of it. i ended up buying a black TAI shirt and a black cobra starship shirt.
So after that, we wandered around as i attempted to locate one of the coolest guys ever aka my friend alec, who i hadn't seen since april, and we ended up near the master list again, near mainstage right where Against Me! was playing. i gotta admit, i don't really listen to them, i just never looked 'em up when i heard of them, but they kicked some serious ass, it was amazing. and i found alec and we chatted for a bit before heading our separate ways, for the time being since we knew we'd see each other later in the day.
It wasn't very long after that when my brother FINALLY decided to leave us, and we decided to check on Ziggy before going to wait for Cobra Starship to start.
Anyway when we were talking [and kate payed ziggy out of her bra which i still call her a whore for] she saw a familiar head of hair through the gap between the tents. Yeah, it turned out to be Danny from The Audition. i only recognized him from the video where he has a super soaker and William Beckett was his victim, but we went over and Katlyn was like 'can we bother you for a moment' because he was sitting on the ground peacefully. he said sure and we got him to sign our AP programs, before heading to mainstage right.
We waited.....for a long time...
and then some people began walking around behind the stage, kinda visibly, and suddenly i saw a familiar skinny shirtless guy. he had on his signature red bandana and hate, and i suddenly like almost yelled in katlyn's ear 'oh my god, its the butcher!'
and as the mintues passed, we saw some others like Nate, Ryland, and Sisky, and Gabe in a neon green hat. it was funny, katlyn was like 'wow theres gabe!' and a girl next to me was like 'where?' and kate said 'its kinda hard to miss him, he's in the neon green hat'
anyway before long we saw all of TAI minus will and mike [somehow my favourites were gone. no offense to all the others but i like their hair more!!] and what APPEARED to be all of Cobra.
They finally took the stage, and everything seemed normal, until we saw SISKY with alex's bass. the first thing i thought was that they'd kidnapped him, but Gabe claimed that Alex's dad was getting remarried so some friends would help them out. i still don't really believe it, but hey its not like im complaining!!
Anyway they opened with The City Is At War, which was pretty bad ass.
After that, i think, was Send My Love To The Dancefloor, but sisky was gone and the guy supporting the bass was.... The Butcher. Gabe claimed 'The Butcher is a man of many talents' and he was right it was really cool.
After that, Gabe said that he was sorry his dancing was off, but the night before him and a bunch of other guys dressed in sumo outfits and 'fucked each other up' and his foot was one of many injuries.
After send my love to the dancefloor, sisky reappeared for The Church of Hot Addiction, which was AMAZING. everytime i sing it, during the 'hey, hey, hey' part i keep accidentally putting my fist in the air. if you were there you know what i mean.
I'm pretty sure that after that was Smile For The Paparazzi. at the beginning of the song, the Butcher came out... with a MARACA. it was red and yellow, and he only had one. the entire song he was rocking out like the insane drummer he is... WITH A MARACA. the maraca reminded me of when i was in peter pan, and on opening night i accidentally threw a maraca into the pit and hit the oboe player on the shoulder. i still feel bad about that because our hook almost screwed up his line.
And Then, during the song, i saw the top of a brown haired head and some sunglasses, and i screamed very loudly in kate's ear 'OH MY GOD, ITS WILLIAM BECKETT!!!!'
Yup, Snakes On A Plane.
So, during Dancefloor Sisky apparently started whispering 'Paul Wall' and stuff 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.
Blah, Anyway, snakes on a plane. i swear, when william beckett came out, i felt like i was in a dream. i'd seen many MANY live videos and videos and pics of him, but never before had i seen the real thing. and i must say, he is one saucy godly-voiced angel.
I've seen William Beckett perform live. I can die now.
So, i was totally prepared to see Travie come out and do his bit, but instead, Paul Wall himself came out and did it. Gave looked like he was ready to piss his pants, it was hysterical. William and Ryland even looked shocked, and after the rap bit will shook paul's hand.
anyway, after that, sadly, william went away with a salute to the crowd, and Gabe started singing Hollaback Boy. Nobody seemed to recognize it but Katlyn, but after a bit i recognized it. it was kinda sad that everybody seemed clueless, though.
Randomly, ryland threw a pic into the audience... and shock appeared on his face. he hit some girl in the eye with it. he was like, 'and everyone, i just threw a pic and hit a girl in the eye; i am SO sorry!' him and Gabe spent a good five minutes trying to find her, thinking it was 'the girl in aviators' but ryland clarifyed that 'shes wearing aviators, how could we hit her in the eye?'
Then, Guilty Pleasure began, with Gabe singing some spanish to start it out, and some brightly coloured confetti to end the song with. During the song, i proudly did the dance along with about 1/5 of the fans. seriously it was sad. houston fans need more enthusiasm, i swear.
Yeah, so they went away [sadly] and katlyn and i savaged some AMAZING confetti from the ground, and drifted to mainstage left where i heard a familiar tune.
Yup, From First To Last. I was singing with this huge dorky grin on my face and when they started playing older songs, Katlyn was getting really tired as i was and we went to find some shade. we ended up at the Girls Rock tent, mostly because it was shaded. We heard music coming from a side, and i looked over to see Travie, and gym class heroes doing an acoustic set at the myspace tent.
so i think we went to the TAI tent to check if they were there because the board there said 'appearing randomly throughout the day' sadly, they weren't there, and we headed to Say Anything at mainstage right.
i heard my name, and spun in a circle, confused. then, i saw alec sitting down, leaning against the side of the tent that had the AMAZING mainstage soundboard hidden in it. i stole some red gatorade from alec, to learn it was hot and gross, so i stole some cold water from him and we saw my brother as Alive With The Glory of Love played. which was funny, because we'd heard it on the way there as it was on my brother's iPod.
Oh and i'm pretty sure Kate had already gotten ice to put in her hat during Say Anything. but we eventually left my brother and alec again as we went to check on TAI and i wanted to get my cobra shirt. Kate got in line for the family force 5 signing, and i went on to TAI and cobra. at the TAI tent, i grabbed the sharpie on the table, very sneakily, and he said i needed to make a 50 cent donation to write on the table, to which i replied we'd given him a fiver earlier that day, so he said it was fine. on the table, i wrote 'Houston <3s TAI' because, well we do. haha.
anyway, we went to chill on a patch of grass, when i decided to go talk to the guy from Manchester. he eventually lured me to listen to this super screamo band Colide. yeah, needless to say i ended up buying the CD for like ten bucks. [and i got FREE STICKERS!!!] plus the guys selling the crap were hillarious and adorable.
im pretty sure by this point, i had already memorably dropped my phone on the dirty gravel, to scream loudly and have people look at me like i was crazy. not my fault, my poor phone has a dent and many scratches on it from that.
so then we went over to this patch of grass by a fence.
I knew katlyn was getting like dehydrated and stuff, and i kept urging her to go to the first aid tent or something, but to no avail.
then, she said the words i didn't think possible to come out of her, which were 'can we go?' i knew that she felt horrible, and i immediatly agreed and tried to get my brother to meet us at the TAI tent, which he agreed to do. Kate feels really guilty about making me miss TAI, which SHE TOTALLY SHOULD NOT. But i'm totally not mad, because i knew she was feeling like shit.
so we met my bro at the TAI tent, where i handed Ziggy a bandana, two small stuffed Penguins, and two stuffed smiley faces [one red, one orange] and gave him a hug because he looked like he needed a hug.
So then, we left the venue.
We learned a WHOLE LOT about Warped Tour, and all I have left to say is that next year, it won't be kicking our asses, we'll be all over warped. Besides, i saw The Butcher play bass AND maraca. i saw WILLIAM BECKETT [and sisky] and cobra starship perform one of the best live sets i've ever seen, and i gave penguins to TAI.

-If you read all of that, then you fucking rock, and give yourself a pat on the back, because i'm not there to give you a hug.
THANKS!!!

oh, and i also just printed out my ticket from ticketmaster to see phantom planet. am i excited? too much so.