Warped Tour

featuring Millencolin, the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, and Long Beach Dub All-Stars

Central Florida Fairgrounds, Orlando, FL • July 30, 2000

Phillip Haire

“millen1W”

Ah, the sweet stench of an open field with no shade in the scorching summer. A sea of tents litter the grounds with miscreants milling about looking for free swag. Ooh, there’s a beer tent and carny food, too! From the looks of things, I’ve surely arrived to yet another Warped Tour!

The highlight of this year’s show was Mother Nature herself. On a day that could have seen temperatures in the nineties and heat exhaustion aplenty, we actually saw overcast skies with a solid breeze for the entire day! Great work, sister!

As you may know, each band plays a thirty minute set on alternating stages to accommodate sixteen acts in a day. As the afternoon progressed, the bands I came to see started to appear.

“millen2W”

First up, the Swedish veteran (yep, they’ve been around eight years now!) rockers Millencolin. The guys wasted no time whipping the crowd up as they launched into some old faves off No Monkey and Same Old Tunes. Once the crowd was warmed up, they broke into some tunes off their latest full-length album, Pennyridge Pioneers, and new EP, Fox. I had not heard some of the new stuff, but it sounded great – more melodic than your standard-issue punk. You could sense a new level of maturity in the band’s musicianship – Fredrik’s drum work was amazing as ever. I was behind the stage for the set, so it was difficult to get the full effect of Nicola’s vocals, but the crowd’s enthusiasm said it all. There was a nice sense of camaraderie within the band, and you could tell they love to play. And with skaters launching out of the half-pipe just off the stage, they had to be smiling.

“mighty2W”

Not long after, the always-entertaining Mighty Mighty Bosstones hit the stage, adorning blue guyaberas and ready for action! You can literally feel the energy level go up a couple of notches when they came out to a chanting crowd. They kick right into a couple of their latest, Pay Attention, including the latest radio hit “So Sad to Say,” but it wasn’t long before the staples like “Where’d You Go” and “Someday I Suppose” really got things moving. Of course, Dickie Barrett is always a crowd-pleaser, and engaged the crowd in some banter between songs. The energy and talent of the Bosstones is simply extraordinary, and whether it be thirty minutes or two hours, it’s always a skankin’ good time! “The Impression That I Get” was their finale, complete with a stage full of lucky audience members dancing with the band.

“mighty1W”

“dub2W”

After a change of pace with the hip-hop flava of Jurassic Five, Long Beach’s favorite sons, the Long Beach Dub Allstars, emerged to a frenzied crowd. This was certainly one of the most anticipated acts for most, because they haven’t really had much live East Coast presence to date. Although their road manager, Mitch, fessed up to the boys’ all-day partying, he got them on in time. They immediately launched into “Rosarito” off the Right Back album. “Fugazi” and “My Own Life” were also featured in the set. Lead singer Opie was bouncing all over the stage in contrast to his comfortably numb bandmates. As the chronic flowed around stage, LBDA went into the Sublime stash for “40 Oz. to Freedom,” and the crowd sang “Santeria” to the band’s approval. Just when it seemed the guys were getting into it, their allotted thirty minutes was up… or was it? Green Day was ready to go on the other stage for their last performance at Warped. Just as they hit the first note, the LBDA asked, “Do you want one more?” Of course, the crowd obliged, and it was on – they kicked into a hard-core punk instrumental jam for just long enough to let Green Day know just who was holding court. Bradley would be proud… ◼

“dub1W”