The Ups and Downs of Warped Tour, Oh and Add in Some Swirls

To compare this year's Warped Tour to previous years would be unfair. However, there is one major thing in common with this years and last years: rain - and lots of it.

Ever since Warped Tour started to play in Miami, the tour has been rained out (you could almost say cursed). But this year it came to the extremes, where the concert was actually shut down.

Last Saturday, after clear sunny skies all morning, came the afternoon thunderstorms. But these weren’t your average storms. This time, funnel clouds, sand storms and what my friend and I called “a pre-tornado” occured.

Around 4:20 p.m., large gusts of wind came swooping onto the fields of people. Next came a massive swirling sand storm, which lifted numerous trash items into its spinning motion. This caused the mass of people to yell “tornado.” Hell broke loose, with people running frantically to find a safe place. The only problem was that there wasn't a "safe place" for over a mile.

Once cops realized that something was happening, they decided to get on their megaphones and “cancel” Warped Tour.

This only made the hysteria worse, causing more people to panic and run around aimlessly. As my friend and I were running as fast as we could to our car, a very low-spinning cloud began to form above us, not to mention the great sand storm with winds so strong that it aided to the running process by lifting us up a bit.

After all the drama of “tornadoes,” about an hour passing and more than three-quarters of the people gone, I received a phone call from a band member that was still in hopes of an interview. He not only informed me of the interview still being on schedule, he also said that Warped Tour was going on as planned.

As usual, I freaked out. But we didn’t go back.

So with my disappointment, I went on with life, and remembered the good things that happened this year:

I got to see two amazing bands perform.

All Time Low – I mentioned them before, but they are amazing. They played an acoustic set due to an illness in the group, and did great.

"Coffee Shop Soundtrack" - All Time Low


Street Drum Corps – Who did a Christmas song with The Used lead singer Bert McCracken. They may just be “banging on trash cans,” but it sure was entertaining.

"Wrecks" - Street Drum Corps


"War Is Over" - Street Drum Corps & Bert McCracken


To see photos from the show click here.

I got to interview great bands, some I never heard of until that day, but were pretty awesome.

Most of the bands will be coming back to play in the area, and I will definitely post dates when I get my hands on them.

So needless to say, next time Warped rolls into town, and I see a black cloud coming towards us, I will head to my car and not just say, “Oh, it's another one of the small storms that will be over in a few minutes.”

Hopefully next year, Kevin (founder of Warped Tour) and the rest of his Warped crew will bring the show back home to its rightful place at the Pompano Beach Amphitheatre.