THE PRETRIEVER FEATURES August 8, 1 ~99 PAGE17 Warped Reality Rock Tour With Good Intentions Falls Short

JOHN C. ROEMER Retriever Weekly Editorial Staff

When Anti-Flag played Phantasmagoria in Wheaton, .Maryland before the 1999 Vans Warped Tour threw itself down on an RFK Parking Lot, vocalist Justin Sane made some comments about the aU-day touring punk fes­ tival. Justin Sane discussed, on stage, his band's experience with Warped Tour, which photo courtesy of Rolling Stone turned out to be good and bad. The negatives Punky Dudester: Blink 182 frontman included, most prominently, the sexism con­ Mark Hoppus attacked Warped Tour tained within. He's right: The sexist attitudes crowds wHh rants and raves. are worn on the festival's sleeves, loud and proud. that every person began fighting for his own Before Ice-T could drop his ugly load of life, desperately trying to escape or find a way sexist and racist commentary on the stage, to breathe deep in the pit, where broken bones the Lunachicks more than set the tone for Ice­ are just expected. T. The rapper merely compensated for the of­ As the afternoon rolled on, as the black fensively cheesy comments made by the all­ surface of the parking lot heated up, Eminem girl punk band. For as much whining they do got the stage. Radio fodder on the Warped about the way men treat women without re­ Tour? Believe it. Musically, he was one of spect, they offer no respect for their oppo­ the least interesting performers present, but sites. As powerfully positive as feminism some of what he had to say may actually have once was, it is now just chic for the quasi­ made up for Ice-T's shortcomings. The truly riot girl to follow the Lunachicks lead. Per­ good hip-hop group to play Warped Tour was haps it was the Lunachicks that ruined the the Black Eyed Peas - make no mistake entire girl power punk genre. about that. However, Eminem just likes to Ice-T compliments the Lunachicks well. have fun,' and that's what every Warped Tour The balance almost works, but Ice-T takes it attendee needs after six: hours of pure heat a step further. While the Lunachicks struggled and fast music. desperately still to fit in as punk rock girls, The sign that hung from an amp in the spewing a bunch of chunky, cheesy sentences sound booth area read "Be polite. There is a and promoting a total lack of regard for an big difference between being punk as f--- and entire gender, Ice-T belittled his own audi­ being a f---ing punk." Ironically, I read this ence and the genre that's giving his a second as Blink 182 graced the stage with humor that shot at a musical success. This all came be­ a 12-year old might find amusing. The mem­ fore the final blow, a threat to impregnate one bers of Blink 182 are so blatantly immature, of the "white girlfriends on the streets of DC." both during their songs and in their on-stage While the Lunachicks did their high kicks and commentary that they give Hanson more re­ displayed their drawers for the world, Ice-T spect and punk rock credibility than they save begged for a peek at punk rock boobs. themselves. If that wasn't enough right there, concert­ After seeing all this m_ainstream and bor­ goers had to comprehend the music of The ing recycled crap, 7 Seconds was like a gift Bouncing Souls at 12:45 p.m. The Souls are from the gods. Playing the Bus Stage while far too good; far too much of a party band to the main stage acts were closing up shop, the play at an hour when most are still opening band offered fans smart enough to catch their their eyes to the sun. It was truly a wasted act a chance to get up on stage and blow off performance. After a barrage of semi-cool some steam with some quality dancing and bands on the main stages, Boston-based punk interesting, good-fun singalongs. 7 Seconds band Dropkick Murphys - a band so popu­ was good for the soul- it helped one forget lar and powerful that few fans last more than the sins of the past few hours and remember five minutes in the pit - took the stage. that perhaps punk rock really is about com­ Things got so intense during that performance munity after all is said and done.

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