My Warped Tour Top Ten

Warped Tour this year was absolutely phenomenal-- the mix of artists was great, the weather was great, and I didn't get sunburnt. I could spend a week talking about everything I crammed into one day at punk rock summer camp, but I've condensed it down into one top ten list, for your reading pleasure.

1. Mallory Knox
I had seen Mallory Knox once before, opening for Sleeping With Sirens and Pierce The Veil on The World Tour. They were great then, but my interest had dwindled in the months between. It took fifteen minutes pressed up against their stage to reinvigorate the flame-- they are a true punk band in that their power really has to be absorbed in a live setting. You aren't getting the true Mallory Knox experience streaming them on your couch.

3. New Beat Fund
I am absolutely obsessed with the image of New Beat Fund. Their music is fun and infectious, but their visual presence is even stronger, like an Easter basket come to life. I don't even like the beach and New Beat Fund had me gunning to run off to Hawaii the second I got the chance.

5. August Burns Red
Left. Shark.

6. Meghann Wright
I actually got the chance to talk to Meghann for a few minutes after her set at the Acoustic Basement. Seeing acoustic sets on Warped Tour is like seeing a penguin on a beach-- strange but completely provided for by nature (seriously, there are penguins that live on beaches). Meghann, who grew up in Hawaii, has all the punk intonations-- songs about fucking up, about drugs, about changing things-- but paired with upbeat acoustic backings. Meghann said that, growing up in Hawaii, there was a more accepting music community that prized all types of music. But hard work is still the name of the game-- her advice to anyone looking to become a Warped Tour artist is to be your own biggest champion, no one else is going to do the work for you.

9. Pierce The Veil
Pierce The Veil are so good. Just. So good. They're, technically speaking, one of the best bands in the scene today, and instead of relying on technical prowess they they turn their attentions towards making the best music they possibly can. They don't rest on their laurels-- they make the best sound, the best show, and the best records they can, demonstrating just how much they deserve their success.

10. MACARONI AND CHEESE EGGROLL
This isn't even Warped Tour- it's one of the food carts that was at the stadium that day, but I ATE AN EGGROLL STUFFED WITH MACARONI AND CHEESE, HOW AM I EVER GOING TO FEEL THAT LEVEL OF HAPPINESS EVER AGAIN?

2. Juliet Simms
I fell in love with Juliet's voice last year listening to Automatic Loveletter in the office at my internship. I honestly knew very little about her solo career aside from the single "Wild Child," so I lucked out when I decided to stop for her set. As with Mallory Knox, Juliet Simms has so much more power in a live performance, where it's guitars and drums and her unbelievable voice instead of studio magic pumping out of the speakers. She gave one of the most visceral performances I have ever seen from a solo singer.

4. Icon For Hire
Am I enamored with Icon For Hire? Yes. I've been listening to them for probably five years now, and I never thought I'd see them live, let alone three times in the span of a year, let alone photograph them performing. There's something about this band that gets under your skin and changes your entire world. There's anger and rage coupled with so much hope and power that the set becomes less a concert and more a rally for you to go out and save your own life. 

7. Pvris
Pvris are absolute game changers. As great as they are recorded, they're ten times better live-- with all the programming done in person and Lynn Gvnn's voice unhindered by a studio-- hearing her sing in person is like conducting a seance and filling a room with benevolent (if not somewhat terrifying) ghosts.

8. Warped really stepped up their heat game
I should save this space for a band, but I have to give major credit to the Warped Tour team for stepping up their game in the battle against the weather-- in addition to their normal free water stations, they added empty tents for shade (in lieu of sitting behind tractor trailers like last year) and added portable cooling stations with misters and fans. As someone who cannot tolerate heat (and does not want to tolerate heat, I have to give them kudos for their valiant efforts to fight the sun.