Warped Tour 1998, La Salle Park @ Buffalo, NY
Live Reviews | Jul 28th, 1998
Date: July 28th, 1998
Venue: Buffalo, NY
Well, Warped Tour has definitely changed over the past few years. I’m not too sure if it’s for the better. This year’s line-up featured some of the biggest names not only in the punk/ska scene but in the pop music (TRL?) world. Acts like the Bosstones, Greed Day, and Papa Roach do a great job of bringing in the alterna-radio crowd. Oh well, I guess it was gonna happen eventually. Still, it was tough to see or do much of anything cause there were so many good bands in a row.
The first band I caught was MxPx. They put on a decent set. Most of their songs were off the last two albums though. I think MxPx fans like to crowd-surf cause I had people falling on my head every two seconds. Other than that the set was pretty good. The next band worth seeing on the North Stage was this band from California called “NOFX”. They had this cool little banner that apparently “took a lot of work even though it wasn’t as big as Green Day’s”. Suicide Machines put on a good set too, even though they looked really old. The only songs worth hearing are definitely off their first album. The best ones are the ska songs with horns, which of course they didn’t play.
I actually went over to see some of Green Day. It wasn’t worth the walk. After watching so many good bands (like the Distillers and the Deviates) with so much energy, Green Day just seemed slower and lamer. So I left that stage early to get nice and close to see the Long Beach Dub All-Stars. THAT was worth the walk. They had some cool orginals but the best part about their set was the fact that they played so many old Sublime songs. Stuff like “Right Back”, “Garden Grove”, the cover of the Descendents’ “Hope”, and “Santeria” made me wish I had seen Sublime when Bradley was alive. Still, the mix of punk, ska, reggae, and hip-hop that Long Beach plays is unparalleled and generally kicks ass.
So basically you gotta go to Warped this year. Even if you don’t really like most of the bands, go to see the motocross and Chuck’s penis (from Good Riddance). See, even a little somethin’ for the ladies. Later.
