Vans Warped Tour 2012 – TOUR REVIEW

We had the chance to check out and review the Vans Warped Tour again this year. We really enjoy this tour and look forward to it every year. You can check out our review after the break.

The day began when doors opened at 11:30 am and kids rushed inside to see the giant inflatable schedule, which for any Warped Tour attendee is the most important thing to do to make sure you don’t miss any of the bands you love. After checking the schedule, I went over to main stages, which were both located in the main amphitheater this year and saw Four Year Strong on one of the Kia stages at 11:45 am. They had quite the crowd who screamed the lyrics right back at them. The band certainly did a great job setting the mood and pace for the rest of the day. Kids pumped their fist, crowd surfed, moshed, and there was even a kid in a banana suit in the crowd. FYS finished their set with a crowd favorite “Wasting Time (Eternal Summer)”.

To avoid the heat, I decided to stay in the shade of the amphitheater and watch Falling In Reverse’s set and I’m sure glad I did. Before they had even taken the stage, fans were screaming because they kept catching glimpses of the band’s vocalist, Ronnie Radke. The amphitheater arose with an enormous amount of cheers as they began their set with “I’m Not A Vampire”.  They also played “Sink or Swim”, “Raised by Wolves”, “Good Girls Bad Guys”, and finished with “Drug In Me Is You”. During their set, Ronnie called out a couple kids who were throwing water bottles and how stupid it was spending three dollars on water only to throw it at the crowd. He also went on to thank the crowd for sticking with him while he was in jail.

Of Mice and Men played around 1pm with thousands of kids crammed into the amphitheater to watch them. They played songs off, The Flood, and even played a new song off of their upcoming album. Austin Carlile used up as much of the stage as possible. He was in the crowd, on stage monitors, and even climbed on top of the stacked monitors so he could stand far above everyone else. During the middle of their set he stopped the song and called out a wall of death, but couldn’t quit get the crowd to separate well enough. I’ve never seen a band ever do this, but Of Mice and Men had the audience all get on one knee, then when the music kicked in had them all jump into the air at the same time. It was pretty cool to see, everyone went nuts. Austin also had everyone put their hands on their heads and twirl like ballerinas.

I caught some of We The Kings set, who also had a lot of crowd participation such as yelling “HEY HEY HEY” during the chorus of one song, and a lot of fist pumping to the music. Breathe Carolina started their set off with a sample of a Skrillex song called “The Devil’s Den”. They had the crowd moving even before they started playing their own music. I’ve only heard of their two big hits “IDGAF” and “Blackout” which they did play, but I had no idea they incorporated a lot of dubstep elements and screaming into their music as well. The screamer in the band crowd surfed pretty far into the crowd during one of their songs, and the singer waved around a huge American flag while smoke poured around the musicians.

Warped Tour veterans Taking Back Sunday took the stage directly after Breathe Carolina, which I was most excited for. They started off with a recording of the Lion King theme song to pump up the crowd, then they played Liar Liar. The crowd loved it when they played music off of Tell All Your Friends, Where You Want To Be, and Louder Now and they sung all the words back at the band, but they didn’t seem to know the words as well with their newer albums. I wasn’t sure who it was, but they had a burly looking backup singer who screamed and did harmonies over Adam (front man) during the entire set. They sounded well together, I just wish I know who he was.

The final two bands I was able to watch were Memphis May Fire and Sleeping With Sirens. Memphis May Fire’s new album, “Challenger”, really got them attention, and just in time for this years Warped Tour. They had a crowd of a couple thousand kids screaming to the bands new release, as well as older songs off of “The Hollow”. They played songs such as “Without Walls”, “Prove Me Right”, “Vices” and “The Victim”. Sleeping With Siren’s vocalist Kellin Quinn was on stage the entire time supporting Memphis and waving to fans in anticipation for them to play. A couple kids must have stolen a few roles of toilet paper because people began to throw them up into the air as they unraveled.

Sleeping With Sirens seemed to be the most anticipated band to be seen on this year’s Warped Tour, next to All Time Low. Unfortunately both bands ended up playing at the same time in Milwaukee, so fans had to choose one band over the other. Girls screamed the entire set for Sleeping With Sirens, just hoping to get attention from Kellin. Matty Mullins from MMF got on stage and did some guest vocals with Kellin, and the crowd went nuts.

All in all, it was a pretty successful Warped Tour in Milwaukee, and the weather couldn’t have been more perfect. The sun was out all day, the temperature in the mid 80’s, and a lakefront wind cooled it off a bit. The concert ended roughly around 945 pm, and traffic was hell to escape.

Information about the tour…
Tour: Vans Warped Tour 2012
Bands: Four Year Strong, Falling In Reverse, Of Mice & Men, We The Kings, Breathe Carolina, Taking Back Sunday, Memphis May Fire and Sleeping With Sirens
Reviewer: Chris Nutting
Date: August 1, 2012
Venue: Marcus Amphitheater in Milwaukee, WI