The only thing more bizarre than the fact that the person who loathes sunlight (me) went to two major summer festivals is that this person went to two major summer festivals in one week. One thing that isn't so bizarre is the fact that I managed to sunburn in spite of applying sunscreen three separate times.
Overall, I prefer Warped Tour to Ozzfest. Musically, there is a bit more diversity (although 90% could be loosely described as emo or pop-punk). Plus, there is far less dust at Dodger Stadium and Warped Tour tends to attract a nicer crowd. The best idea there was a "reverse babysitting" booth, where kids could drop off their parents. There were a lot of youngins at this show and, unlike Ozzfest, you could tell that the kids dragged their parents out into the sun. As far as rock shows go, Warped Tour is fairly wholesome, which is to say that it's still definitely a rock show but you just don't have to deal with guys screaming "Show me your tits" every time a girl gets onstage. Plus, Warped Tour is very accommodating. You can bring in your own water and anyone can bring a camera on the grounds. I think skateboards and frisbees were allowed as well, since I saw an awful lot scattered throughout the various six stage areas.
Again, I spent most of the day working on interviews, but I managed to catch far more performance-wise than I did at Ozzfest. I'm not sure of everything I saw, as there were times when I wasn't sure who was onstage. At various points during the day, I can recall seeing Silverstein, Plain White T's, Motion City Soundtrack, Less Than Jake, Gym Class Heroes and The Randies. I can't tell you much more than that because the sun has completely damaged my memory.
I can tell you that it was hot and I felt pretty dehydrated all day. By 2 p.m., all I wanted was a Dodger dog, but the line was so long and I had an interview coming up in a matter of minutes that this became an impossible dream. So I just started smoking, wating around for my arms to burn more and the interviewee to arrive. One interview turned into five within the span of three hours. My arms burnt more and the flow of cigarettes squashed any hunger pangs left. I think I finished the last of this round of interviews by 5:45, at which point I stumbled back into the crowd and ended up at the Volcom tent, where there was some shade. My head was killing and I wasn't sure who the band was onstage, but it was a good one. I got up nonetheless to get a drink, saw some vendors walk out with fresh stacks of lemonade and ran, half ready to faint, toward the guy, pulled out a $5 bill and grabbed a massive plastic glass filled with the best tasting lemonade to hit my lips. I don't think I ever spent that much on a drink without throwing a fit before today, but this drink was so good, so what I needed, that I carefully sipped it for over an hour.
I was still hungry, but figured that the show was close enough to the finish line that I could hold off until Megan and I could split and go to Philippe's, which is exactly what we did after she finished shooting The Randies. Man, that French dip sandwich hit the spot.