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Warped Tour just stormed through Toronto (Mississauga) like a whirling dervish and celebrated its 15 year anniversary in the process. This was the 11th Warped for me personally and there were a few notable changes this year, as well some traditional mainstays. This was the first Toronto Warped I’ve been to that’s been on a weekday, thereby making it difficult for many common folk to make it to the show. There was also only one main stage and one second stage, whereas in the past you would see a pair of both so there was constantly music playing by the bigger bands. Punk Rock juggernauts like NOFX and Bad Religion were what made the day feel more like a traditional Warped Tour.

So kick off your crocs, put your feet up and relax as we recap the glory that was Warped Tour ’09. Be sure to Czech out the massive photo gallery containing snaps from your favourite bands like Alexisonfire, Chiodos, Lights, Gallows, A Day To Remember, Bad Religion, NOFX, Silverstein, Anti-Flag and the list goes on…

All of this and more shenanigans after the jump.

The first band playing when we arrived was 3OH!3 , it was a little early in the day for a dance party so we snapped a couple of pics, did the Melbourne Shuffle and moved on to see what else the parking lot had to offer. Shortly after, we deemed it the appropriate time to take in a bit of metal. We caught Underoath’s set sans drummer Aaron Gillespie who normally does the clean vocals; he got left behind due to illness. The drummer from “Scary Kids Scaring Kids” did a good job filling in. The dudes in Underoath were the band most in need of clean clothes and a shower, which is par for the course on Warped I suppose.

We were able to catch some of the homegrown Canadian talent the tour had to offer. Alexisonfire put on a super energetic performance as per usual and howled new tunes like “Young Cardinals” and older ones like “Accidents”. I’m familiar with Silverstein’s older stuff so it was cool to see them play “Smashed Into Pieces” and “Bleeds No More”.

Toronto’s very own Lights played “February Air” and “Drive My Soul”, which you should be familiar with if you have tuned into MuchMusic the past few months.

Let’s take a minute to discuss some Warped Tour outfit choices. I noticed that there were actually a few dudes wearing booty shorts. At least this option is comfortable in the sweltering heats you can experience on the Warped Tour. The award for best Warped outfit has to go to my man in the baggy pants tucked into cowboy boots.

The best t-shirt award goes to Buddy from Senses Fail for his shirt in protest of the neon shirt fad that’s happening. The runners up were the 1000 kids wearing the “I Set My Friends On Fire” t-shirt featuring potty mouth language.

At first glance it may appear as though these kids are fighting, but fear not they’re only hardcore dancing. They’ve practiced long and hard in their parents’ living room but please be careful when you pass by in your gladiator sandals, you don’t want to lose a toenail.

Another fun thing to do at Warped is body surfing, or taking it to the next level and body rafting.

NOFX was one of the reasons I went to my first Warped Tour back in ‘98 and they were one of the bands I was most excited to see this year. They played some of their classics like “Bob and Linoleum” and traded jokes back and forth with each other in patented NOFX style.

Click here to watch Warped Tour artist videos.
Click here for Warped Tour Artist ringtones for your phone.

And finally, check out some pictures from all the other bands and fun stuff we got to check out. Special thanks goes out to Jake Stewart for taking lots of these wonderful shots.

[Photos by Dan Breuer and Jake Stewart]

See y’all next year.

Other links:
Warped Tour Matchmakers

Tags: concerts, festivals, gallery, photos, warped tour, warped tour 2009

Posted on Tuesday, July 14th, 2009 at 2:34 pm by danielb and is filed under Blog, Concerts & Events.

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