On Friday, July 17th I went to Warped Tour for the first time. I dont think I've seen so many tattoos / band shirts / different hair colours in the same place. It was raining most of the day, so girls' bright hair colours were washing out of their hair and running onto their skin, which was a pretty funny sight to see.
There were so many bands there, but I only went for 3 acts: Pvris, Bebe Rexha & The Amity Affliction... so a lot of the time I was people watching, or hearing new bands for the first time!
Bebe Rexha was the first act I saw of the day, and I was happy with how small the crowd was, cause I got decently close to the stage. If I wanted to I probably could've pushed through and been right infront. She sang some of her new songs (I Cant Stop Drinking About You, Im Gonna Show You Crazy, etc) and a couple that she was featured on (Hey Mama, Take Me Home). She was really good live, the crowd was singing along and her voice is amazing.
I became obsessed with Pvris last summer after I found them while I was scrolling through Instagram and found a picture from their account where I found out they were a band, so I decided to check them out. Anyone that knows me knows, that my favourite type of music is pop. Pretty much anything that is on the radio... and Taylor Swift is my favourite singer. Pvris brought this heavier, alternative style pop into my life that opened up my mind to music I was never into before.
After I had listened to & memorized every song on their album
White Noise and told pretty much everyone I knew about them, I looked at their tour dates and was quite disappointed to find out that they werent coming to Canada at the moment. It wasnt until a few months later that my friend called me and told me that Pvris was going to be performing at Warped, and I pretty much almost cried. I am super passionate about live performances and try to go to as many concerts as possible, so seeing my now favourite band in person when I didnt think I would atleast for a few years until they became more popular, was a dream come true.
It was raining pretty much all morning and afternoon, so it rained during their set. Maybe this was just me being ignorant, or not wanting to believe that they were sort of popular, but I just assumed that since no one I knew, knew who Pvris was, that they werent that popular so I thought I would definitly be able to snag a close spot. Wellllllll that was not the case. I was actually kind of upset about how packed their crowd was, like I found myself feeling somewhere stuck between wanting them to be successful because they deserve it, and wanting no one to know them so that I could just keep them for myself... that type of thing. It was spouring rain but like a dummy I had my iPhone out taking pics/videos.
Seeing them live was surreal. Lets just say I got choked up cause of how happy I was. A few hours later, they had a meet and greet. It stopped raining so it wasnt so bad, but my friends left me to go watch a band play, so I stood in line for an hour and a half, people watching, listening to the group of peoples conversation who were standing in front of me, and trying to resist snapping at the chicks behind me who were standing so close to me the whole time I could hear them breathing in my ear.
By the time I got about 5 people away, we were told that we couldnt take pictures, just get stuff signed. It was a very rushed scenario, and as it was about to be my turn, I suddenly was super aware that I was alone. Everything is kind of easier when you're with friends, not so much pressure just on you individually. Meeting celebrities is kind of a once in a lifetime thing, so you have to have that crap figured out. I ended up hugging them all, asking them to sign my picture of Alex I bought from their merch stand (there wasnt any group shots/I didnt come prepared as you can tell/I love Sam San Roman's photography so I decided to buy the print) So I was like here, sign my picture of ... Alex... and they laughed. Brian was like "I'm going to draw myself next to him" and drew a stick figure, and then Lynn put a thought bubble next to it saying "I Love Alex". Lynn handed me back the picture and was like "Sorry we kind of ruined your photo" and I nervously said "No it's not ruined at all!". Then I said to Lynn that meeting them was "honestly a dream come true"and then she just kind of nodded and smiled... it was super awkward. I said thanks after getting my signed stuff back and walked away, happy but also weirded out / kind of disappointed in a way? cause I guess I expected it to go differently, but I had no idea what to say to them, and they have no idea who I am so what are they supposed to say to me? I am just another fan. Anyways, despite how awkward and rushed it was...... it was still amazinggggg.
The Amity Affliction is actually one of the heaviest bands I listen to, even though they aren't that heavy. I was never into music with screaming in it until my boyfriend showed me the song Pittsburg. They were supposed to play at 5:30... and at around 4pm my friends and I went to their merch tent to check out their stuff, when I saw a sign that said that their new playing time was at 3:40... We ended up running to their stage and managed to catch their last song, Don't Lean On Me... lets just say that song was the hardest we jumped around to. I am super sad that I missed 95% of their set, but I am lucky I atleast got to see one song.
There was lots of vendors there, I spent a little bit too much money at the Stheart, Vans, and Pvris tents, but got some really cool shirts and sweaters. The pizza was literally 5 dollars, which is obviously expected but super annoying. I was exhausted by 6:30pm and really wanted to leave but my friends had a few more acts that they wanted to see, so we ended up leaving at around 8:30pm. It was a long day, tiring, my legs killed, but overall a fantastic day that I am going to remember for a very long time.
