This past Wednesday I had the chance to hit up the Vans Warped Tour 2008 at Race City Speedway in Calgary, Alberta 
To be brutally honest, I was there to see only one act - despite the impressive line up of bands - mc chris. I drove home from BC two weeks early (a 15.5 hour drive all in one day) to be able to catch him on stage - and it was totally worth it.
Due to a slight snag with traffic the day of the show, I was almost half an hour late to pick up Synema, but we still made it to the venue over an hour before the gates opened. Another friend of mine had arrived over an hour before us (he was paranoid about parking, lol), and he let us hang out with him near the front gate til it was time to go in. My friends planned out our day - which bands we'd see, on which stage and when. "Is there anybody you absolutely have to see?" "MC Chris" I would mutter distractedly as I stalked his merch tent - my whole day became about keeping in the vicinity of it.
The first band we watched was The Horrorpops - and wow, they were phenominal! I will definately pay to see them when they come to town again. Their music is utterly amazing, but I think it was their stage presence and energy that really pulled me in.
I went to my very first beer garden. It was an experience. The "bouncer" (I guess, for lack of a better term) checked my id over thoroughly, flipping it over in his hands about three times before hesitantly handing it back to me and waving me through - nobody believes I'm legal. We waited to get our tickets for beer (I've never been to an event where you needed to line up to pay for tickets for food/beverages, then to line up again for said food/beverages - it just strikes me as odd is all), and in we went. I drank two Rockstars - good gravy alcohol + hot weather = a rather tipsy Marvel.
We ate some, um, "food" after visiting the beer gardens, and then wandered around to different bands' tents. I kept sneaking over to mc chris' tent to see if he was there. The guy in the tent patiently explained that "MC" probably wouldn't be at the tent til the signing after his set. "Oh," I pouted. I can't remember exactly what topic I was on (mc chris' music, I think), but then it happened comics. LoL, we totally nerded out poor Synema, who politely nodded along with our geekery. We talked about our favourite titles, comics-turned-movies, graphic novels, all sorts of stuff. He was very cool. Just for the heck of it, I went back to talk to him several times throughout the day.
Jonny Lang is his name. Very nice and rather swoon-worthy
We chatted a fair bit each time I'd wander by - just about random stuff. I even manned the merch tent while he went to eat - I sold two cds 
I was kinda sorta proud of myself. He let me play roadie at the end of the night, and I carried stuff (not very much, mind you) back to the tour bus. As if I haven't gushed about him enough, he's also really funny - his t-shirts make me giggle (*hint* go look at his website ).
Ahem, what was I talking about? Oh, right! mc chris' show! It was great. Seriously. He had sooooo much energy on stage! I hadn't heard much of his new album, so many of the songs were new to me - I sang along where I could though. He actually did Fett's Vette, my all-time most favouritest song of his. I was pretty surprised he did it, because it's a song he did quite early into his career. I belted it out from the front row with all I had. I so wish his set had been longer!
I almost got crushed by the Protest the Hero fans that were making their way to the stage after mc chris' set, but I somehow managed to wiggle my way through them - and I frigging booked it to his tent for the signing. He signed my "MC CHRIS IS DEAD" cd, had I not been so dumbstruck by his presence I might've asked him to sign the mc chris book bag I had bought earlier in the day. I just sort of thrust my cd case towards him and smiled goofily. I'm such a retard. He looked up at my face when he handed it back, and I simply apologised for being starstruck. He just said, "Awwww" and hugged me! ZOMG, I melted. Synema was there with the cam and she snapped a pic when we turned for the cam and posed (lol, well HE posed, I was just frozen in a oh-my-I-can't-believe-I'm-standing-here-with-mc-chris look).
To be brutally honest, I was there to see only one act - despite the impressive line up of bands - mc chris. I drove home from BC two weeks early (a 15.5 hour drive all in one day) to be able to catch him on stage - and it was totally worth it.Due to a slight snag with traffic the day of the show, I was almost half an hour late to pick up Synema, but we still made it to the venue over an hour before the gates opened. Another friend of mine had arrived over an hour before us (he was paranoid about parking, lol), and he let us hang out with him near the front gate til it was time to go in. My friends planned out our day - which bands we'd see, on which stage and when. "Is there anybody you absolutely have to see?" "MC Chris" I would mutter distractedly as I stalked his merch tent - my whole day became about keeping in the vicinity of it.
The first band we watched was The Horrorpops - and wow, they were phenominal! I will definately pay to see them when they come to town again. Their music is utterly amazing, but I think it was their stage presence and energy that really pulled me in.
I went to my very first beer garden. It was an experience. The "bouncer" (I guess, for lack of a better term) checked my id over thoroughly, flipping it over in his hands about three times before hesitantly handing it back to me and waving me through - nobody believes I'm legal. We waited to get our tickets for beer (I've never been to an event where you needed to line up to pay for tickets for food/beverages, then to line up again for said food/beverages - it just strikes me as odd is all), and in we went. I drank two Rockstars - good gravy alcohol + hot weather = a rather tipsy Marvel.
We ate some, um, "food" after visiting the beer gardens, and then wandered around to different bands' tents. I kept sneaking over to mc chris' tent to see if he was there. The guy in the tent patiently explained that "MC" probably wouldn't be at the tent til the signing after his set. "Oh," I pouted. I can't remember exactly what topic I was on (mc chris' music, I think), but then it happened comics. LoL, we totally nerded out poor Synema, who politely nodded along with our geekery. We talked about our favourite titles, comics-turned-movies, graphic novels, all sorts of stuff. He was very cool. Just for the heck of it, I went back to talk to him several times throughout the day.
Jonny Lang is his name. Very nice and rather swoon-worthy
We chatted a fair bit each time I'd wander by - just about random stuff. I even manned the merch tent while he went to eat - I sold two cds I was kinda sorta proud of myself. He let me play roadie at the end of the night, and I carried stuff (not very much, mind you) back to the tour bus. As if I haven't gushed about him enough, he's also really funny - his t-shirts make me giggle (*hint* go look at his website ).Ahem, what was I talking about? Oh, right! mc chris' show! It was great. Seriously. He had sooooo much energy on stage! I hadn't heard much of his new album, so many of the songs were new to me - I sang along where I could though. He actually did Fett's Vette, my all-time most favouritest song of his. I was pretty surprised he did it, because it's a song he did quite early into his career. I belted it out from the front row with all I had. I so wish his set had been longer!
I almost got crushed by the Protest the Hero fans that were making their way to the stage after mc chris' set, but I somehow managed to wiggle my way through them - and I frigging booked it to his tent for the signing. He signed my "MC CHRIS IS DEAD" cd, had I not been so dumbstruck by his presence I might've asked him to sign the mc chris book bag I had bought earlier in the day. I just sort of thrust my cd case towards him and smiled goofily. I'm such a retard. He looked up at my face when he handed it back, and I simply apologised for being starstruck. He just said, "Awwww" and hugged me! ZOMG, I melted. Synema was there with the cam and she snapped a pic when we turned for the cam and posed (lol, well HE posed, I was just frozen in a oh-my-I-can't-believe-I'm-standing-here-with-mc-chris look).
VIEW 18 of 18 COMMENTS
I may be back around later, but I just don't feel at home here now like I used to.
I'm jealous that you got to see the Horrorpops! They're one of my favorite bands, but I wasn't able to see them when they were in New Orleans last/
I caught the Horrorpops when they opened for Dropkick Murphy's in NYC quite a while back but unfortunately didn't catch their whole set ... were pretty decent for what little I heard.