Safari Field is a part of the gigantic Irvine Meadows Ampitheater, which usually hosts big shows like KROQ's Weenie Roast and Lollapalooza (when there was one). Safari Field kinda reminds me of a fairground: a large open space, the ground is dirt, but there's also a bunch of shady and grassy places. Less Than Jake was almost done with their set when we arrived. Two of my friends were pissed about missing most of LTJ, but I personally could give a fuck. We saw about the last three songs. They had their usual band of freaks up on stage with them, which now included a naked guy wearing an E.T. mask (and yes, I did see his penis, for anyone who cares). What a lovely way to start a show. You know, all of these on-stage theatrics seem to detract from what credibility they have as musicians. The crowd, like at Ska Against Racism (which they headlined), was extremely into them. I do not see why they're the most popular ska/punk band around, because there's so many bands who I think can do that style better (Buck-O-Nine, MU330, etc.). BTW, I heard that washed up B-movie teen actor Corey Feldman went up and sang a song with the band; only fitting, considering that LTJ is joined by clowns, transvestites, and naked aliens onstage - they might as well have a washed up child star.

After the Less Than Jake Circus Sideshow packed up, we began to move through the walls of people to see the Pietasters on the North Stage. I was begginning to notice the trademarks of a big outdoor festival concert: 1) overpriced food and beverages ($2.50 for a friggin' small-ass cup of Gatorade?) 2) Cattle-like herds of people, most of whom looked like they've just crawled out of a dumpster, and 3) Blazing hot weather -- God, can I go to one single outdoor show on a day when you're not able to fry eggs on the sidewalk? Dammit, I'm whining again. Um.. oh yeah, the Pietasters. I like what I've heard from their album OooLooLoo, but everything else pretty much sucks IMO. They didn't impress me at all here. They try to be soulful, but it just comes out sounding too corny for my tastes. A lot of people in ska circles love them, but I'm not a big fan. At this particular show, I didn't feel like fighting through thousands of fat, sweaty bodies, so I never got close enough to the stage to really tell how the crowd was reacting to them. It seemed mildly positive, but I was more interested in finding a performance schedule.

Reverend Horton Heat lagged for about 15 minutes before finally starting on the South Stage. I wanted to watch them out of curiosity because I like the one song I've heard from them, "It's Martini Time," but I also wanted to get a good spot for CIV on the North Stage. So, I didn't see or hear anything from the Rev. My friend likes them, and he said they were really good. Psychobilly isn't really my thing, though. When the Rev. finally finished, CIV hit the North Stage. I've been looking forward to seeing CIV for a while. I was very dissapointed with the radio-friendly poppiness of their new album (which is good when compared to most bands, but it's the fact that it's CIV playing it that makes it sound bad). None of that mattered here, really, because they started off with two blasts from their excellent debut album, Set Your Goals: "Solid Bond" and "Do Something." Groups of hardcore people knew the lyrics and got into them, but mainly the pit was a bunch of meatheads looking to fuck shit up. No hardcore dancing during the breakdowns. They played a really good set that consisted of "Set Your Goals," "Choices Made," "All Twisted," and they ended with "Can't Wait One Minute More" with a guest appearance by Lou Koller from Sick of it All. CIV sounded excellent; even some of the new songs got me jumping around. It would be great to see CIV at their own headlining show. By the end of the set, the dust kicked up by the pit was thick in the air and made it hard to breath. One bad thing that happened during their set, though, is that I got kicked in the face and the lense to my glasses fell out and part of the frame broke. So basically, I had to walk around the rest of the day with one eye seeing clearly and the other pretty much blind, and I also looked like a fool. And it had to happen right at the start. You know.. wait, I'm fucking whining again. Sorry.

Well, with my one good eye still intact, I raced over and cut as fast as I could through the masses of people to see NOFX. This is where the scheduling of the show gets weird. NOFX is one of the biggest bands on the bill, and they're playing at 3:30, not even halfway through the show. It doesn't matter, because NOFX rules live! They started with "Together On The Sand" and went straight into "Don't Call Me White," which I missed because I was rushing to get to the front (which I eventually did). I did hear and sing along to "Moron Brothers," "Bob," "Linoleum, "Leave It Alone" (one of the only old songs they played that I hadn't heard live the last time I saw them two years ago) and "Stickin' In My Eye." They also did a song off the "album nobody likes," as Fat Mike put it, S&M Airlines; coincidentally, I didn't know the song because I hate that album. They also did seven songs in five minutes, including "Six Pack Girls," "Hobophobic," and "Monosyllabic Girl," among others. They sounded great as always, but because they're only alotted 35 minutes or so, there's a lot of songs they could've played that they didn't. Otherwise, a traditionally awesome set by NOFX (even though I watched it with double vision the whole time, ontop of getting kicked in the face by crowd surfers and smashed by big musclebound jock guys). They played "The Brews" last, but I left during it so I could get in a good spot to see...

The Specials. I was looking forward to them because I saw them live a few months beforehand and thought they were one of the best bands I've seen. They started with "Concrete Jungle," which I missed because I was trying to repair my glasses with a band sticker. They did "It's You" second, and followed with new song after new song. They did practically all songs off their new album, and only two classic songs. Now, I realize a band can play whatever they want, and maybe they just wanted to show off their new stuff, but when a band that has a following the size that the Specials do, they should at least do some of the songs everyone knows. Everytime the band introduced a song, they'd say "This is also a new one," or "While we're in the mood for playing new songs," a bunch of people around me started booing and calling them sell-outs. I wouldn't go that far, because the new songs are good, but people wanted to hear "Nite Klub" and "Ghost Town" and they wouldn't play them. It seemed like they were almost forced to play new songs over old songs, because Neville Staples heard someone yell for "Nite Klub," and he said, "We can't play that because we're outside," or something corny like that. I know they heard everyone screaming for the classics. They eventually did "Gangsters" last, but I had already left to go catch a spot for the band I was looking forward to the most that day. BTW, I saw Fight #1 during the Specials: some fat long-haired guy wearing a green soccer jersey was purposely pushing people around and generally being an asshole (he looked like he was on something). So another guy turned around and punched him right in the face, which lead to a brawl in the dirt that lasted about five minutes. I was in full-view the whole time. That's what happens when you put beer, hot weather, and a bunch of personality clashes in one place.

Let me say something before I begin to review the next band: Goddamn, Rancid rules! They were the main band I came to see, and I was not dissapointed in the least. They were by far my favorite band. Rancid was one of the first bands I ever saw live, at the Hollywood Palladium almost three years ago, and ever since I've been waiting to see them again. They were absolutely awesome, if you couldn't tell already. They started with "Timebomb," which I again missed because I was trying to get through the crowds of people (starting to notice a pattern?). They went straight into one of my favorite songs off of Let's Go (and also the only song they played from that album), "St. Mary." I got in a really good crowd surf during the chorus; I was up for half the song! They performed every song from And Out Come The Wolves (my favorite album by any band) that I wanted to hear: "Avenues & Alleyways," "Old Friend," "Maxwell Murder" (Matt Freeman went off during the bass solo), "Roots Radical" and "Ruby Soho." When they did "Roots Radical," I crowd surfed during the part where all the music stops and Tim Armstrong yells "On my stereo!", and I was one of the only people up during that part. I'm not sure if he was pointing specifically at me, but Tim pointed in my direction and I screamed "On my stereo!" as loud as I could. A very cool experience indeed. They also did two songs off of their awesome new album Life Won't Wait, their single "Bloodclot" and the song they did with the Specials, "Hooligans" (the Specials did not play it with them here, though). They had a keyboardist with them, BTW. The guys in the band were very energetic and very into the performance, despite the horrible heat. They ended their set with a cover of Jimmy Cliff's "The Harder They Come," which they dedicated to the people of Tibet who are being bullied by the Chinese government. It was the perfect way to end their show. I could have left Warped right then and gone home happy. Rancid, for me, was worth the $30 of admission alone. I waited by the barrier to see if they would come out so I could talk to them, but they never did. Oh well.

I was by myself at this point in the show. I walked around looking for my friends as Ozomatli was playing on the North Stage. Why the hell were they billed over Rancid, who is much bigger? Ozomatli is a cool band that fuses rap, Latin, and funk influences. They were using the horn section of the Cherry Poppin' Daddies at this show. They sounded really tight, but I don't know why they were playing after Rancid. On a sidenote, I saw Norwood Fisher from Fishbone dancing during their set. I was going to say something to him, but he took off before I could. I eventually met up with two of my friends as Ozomatli was finishing. We walked around and saw a little bit of Save Ferris on the South Stage. I think Save Ferris is all right (unlike most people in ska circles who despise them). I was really exhausted by this point, though, so I didn't bother fighting my way to the front. I watched a few songs from a distance, which sounded decent, but I couldn't really get into them. I saw them do "Spam," "Come On Eileen," and end with "Under 21," along with some songs I didn't recognize. From what I could see, the whole front looked to be filled with girls, which is cool because most of the time there's a bunch of big guys going crazy in the front which scares a lot of girls off. At least they were allowed to have a fun time during one band. My friends and I began to walk around a little bit, and we eventually came across Fight #2: it was out of the main area, on this little paved path leading to the Second Stage. Four or five guys in wife beaters were kicking the holy hell out of some white supremecist. I'm glad the racist got his ass whooped, but judging solely on the looks of the guys who kicked his ass, this looked to be a gang related thing more than an anti-white power thing. I don't know.. it was cool to see, though.

My two friends left me to go get a spot for the band they were really excited to see, the Deftones. I'm not really into their style too much, but I heard they have an awesome live show. I saw them do a few songs, and it looked like they were going nuts onstage. My friends said they were the best band on the main stages. I wouldn't know, though, because I was too busy wetting my dry mouth with some free Yoo-Hoo they were handing out. It was such a relief to get some sort of liquid in my mouth, even though it didn't quench my thirst for that long. Getting the free Yoo-Hoo was a highlight of the day. I went and got a spot during Deftones to wait for Bad Religion. In between, I saw Fight #3: another white power asshole got beat down, but this time he got knocked unconscious. Wow, I clearly saw three fights at one show -- a new record! Bad Religion was the first punk band I really got into. I hadn't really listened to them much in the past couple months because I got sorta bored with their style. When they started on the South Stage, though, I was really glad that I saw them. They surprised me with how good they were. Their music seems to be geared more for record than live performances, but Greg Graffin and company put on a solid show. They did a good amount of new songs, but also mixed in a lot of songs from Suffer and other early albums. Their set included "I Want To Conquer The World," "Anastasia," "Give You Nothing," "Stranger Than Fiction," "A Walk," "Infected," and others. The best was, of course, the song everyone loves, "Do What You Want." I tried to crowd surf a few times but the crowd was going so nuts I couldn't get up. They ended with one of my favorite BR songs, "Fuck Armageddon, This Is Hell." There were a lot of die hard fans there who knew every single lyric. They were probably the most popular band there, because they left with everyone cheering for an encore. I was pleasantly surprised by Bad Religion.

Well, although a majority of the people left after Bad Religion, Cherry Poppin' Daddies came on the North Stage as the headliner.. What the hell?!? Why were the Cherry Poppin' Daddies headlining Warped? They're a good band, but they were pretty much an afterthought after Bad Religion. Rancid, NOFX, Bad Religion, and Save Ferris are all way bigger than the Daddies, who have one hit song out, but they were getting to close out the show. Weird. I saw a few songs by them: "Dr. Bones," "Brown Derby Jump," "Drunk Daddy," and their hit, "Zoot Suit Riot." Some people were dancing, but otherwise the crowd was just watching them so they felt they got their $30 worth. I walked over to the Second Stage for the only time that whole day and saw Japanese punk band Hi-Standard do a few songs. I think most people were watching them purely out of curious amusement at their between song chatting through accents that barely knew the English language. I was too interested in getting some water from a drinking fountain to pay a lot of attention to them. When I got back to the main stage, the Cherry Poppin' Daddies had finished and everyone was going home. BTW, my friends saw Incubus on the Second Stage and said they were the best band there. My friends also saw MxPx and said they good, too (though I doubt it).

Overall, Warped Tour was an awesome show this year. I saw all the bands I wanted to see, and had a hell of a lot of fun. I wish that it could've been at the Olympic Velidrome this year like it was in 1997, because I thought the setup there was a lot better (the dust kicked up at Safari Field was annoying as hell). We went through hell to get there, but it made us appreciate the show better (please excuse the excessive use of the word "hell"). I broke my glasses and left with a pounding headache, which are good signs that this was a great concert. Now I can't wait until Warped '99!