Warped Tour 2015: Pomona review

Neck Deep

Neck Deep started of the Pomona date of Warped tour and got the blood of the crowd pumping.  The band sticks to the fast, upbeat tone pop punk is known for while singing about girls and making memories with friends. Neck Deep played songs from their upcoming album “Life’s Not Out To Get You” as well as older hits on the band’s discography. Neck Deep “can’t kick up the roots,” but their fans can kick up dust in the pit.

Out with the Old

Old With The Old is a pop punk/easycore band from Riverside, California that was presented the opportunity to play the Ernie Ball stage for winning Warped Tour’s “Battle of the Bands.” The band has taken off this past year with the help of their strong online presence and dedicated fan base. The band showed they were a force to be reckoned with and also demonstrated that easycore is not dead, especially in Southern California.

PVRIS

PVRIS has quickly become Warped Tour 2015’s Cinderella story. The band has built a dedicated fan base over the years with their unique sound of ambient pop rock.  PVRIS toured on the Ernie Ball stage during the previous year of Warped Tour, however, with the success of the band’s critically acclaimed debut album “White Noise,” the band quickly found a home on the main stage (Shark Stage) for this year’s installment of the tour. PVRIS is the band everyone needs to see before leaving for the day.

1. Smoke
2. Mirrors
3. Fire
4. St. Patrick
5. White Noise
6. My House

Attila

Fans can count on Fronz and his band, Attila, to deliver the party to Warped Tour. Not only does the band sport attire that will make heads spin, but the band can draw a crowd to the Unicorn stage with ease. Fronz does an excellent job in staying engaged with his audience. He is not afraid to call out the people watching him when he feels their reaction is subpar. More than anything else, the band wants their audience to have a good 30 minutes of fun in the sun to their music and it’s safe to say this band does a good job of pulling that off.

1. Middle Fingers Up
2. Party with the Devil
3. Rage
4. Rebel (Live Debut)
5. Proving Grounds
6. Payback
7. About that Life

Hands Like Houses

The Australian quintet known as Hands Like Houses aren’t afraid to push the envelope when it comes to the status quo of the tour. It has become an expectation of the band to provide intricate instrumentation and overall talent during their live sets.  The members of the band are no strangers when it comes to Warped Tour. Hands Like Houses set will hands down be the most entertaining 30 minutes spent at Warped Tour this year.

1. Introduced Species
2. Shapeshifters
3. No Parallels
4. Lion Skin
5. Wisteria
6. Same Old Story (Live Debut)
7. I am

Senses Fail

Senses Fail heavily incorporated the “summer vacation” aspect of the Warped Tour with their on-stage beach banners and Hawaiian button down shirt attire. The band may be veterans to the tour, but they showed their audience that there is still the same burning fire of energy and passion that existed in the group year’s prior. The bands set list comprised of songs ranging from their 2004 debut release of “Let it Enfold You” to the most recent tracks off their upcoming album. Senses Fail will be holding down the Monster Energy stage all summer long.

1. Bonecrusher
2. Can’t be Saved
3. The Path
4. The Three Marks of Existence
5. Calling all Cars
6. Lady in a Blue Dress
7. Renacer
8. Bite to Break Skin

The Wonder Years

Hopefully Soupy and The Wonder Years are not sad anymore since they are playing the main stage at Warped Tour this year. This may be the band’s third Warped Tour, but this is their first on the main stage (Shark Stage).  Frontman Dan “Soupy” Campbell does an excellent job of creating as much lyrical inspiration and meaning into a 30 minute set as possible. Campbell’s metaphorical rhetoric and wordplay was what drew so many individuals to his band’s set as many fans take his words and ideals and incorporates them into their own lives. In addition, the band took a couple pieces of home with them on the road as their backline is decked out in Philadelphia inspired art.

1. DIsmantling Summer
2. Don’t Let Me Cave in
3. Local Man Ruins Everything
4. Woke Up Older
5. There, There
6. Passing Through a Screen Door
7. Washington Park Square
8. Came Out Swinging

Man Overboard

Defending pop punk has quickly evolved into a lifestyle for the New Jersey based band and their fans. Man Overboard jumped over many hurdles over the past year, but these hurdles lead them to play the main stage (Unicorn Stage) at this year’s Warped Tour and to release the most fun and upbeat album the band has put up since “Real Talk.” Heavy Love takes a 180 spin on the band’s previous darker release of “Heart Attack.” Man Overboard is serving Warped Tour by defending pop punk on a day to day basis and they sound excellent doing it.

Beartooth

The band kicked off the “Shark” stage and set the precedent for the day.  The band may only have one album since their inception, but they made a dent in the music scene and a dent in the day.  Caleb Shomo led his bandmates and crowd effortlessly through much of the album, and showed no signs of slowing down.  They were the perfect band to kick off the stage.  Mosh pits were aplenty for the entirety of their set and dust and dirt flew into the sky as pits grew.

1. The Lines
2. Relapsing
3. I have a Problem
4. In Between
5. Dead
6. Beaten in Lips
7. Body Bag

Escape the Fate

It’s been years since ETF played Warped, but they played like seasoned veterans.  They played many songs off past albums.  Even though they only played six songs and played early, many fans gathered to see the band.  The band seemed to play a lot of their nostaligic songs, post Ronnie Radke, but fans seemed to eat it up.  Their closing “This War is Ours (The Guillotine II)” was the best song from their albums to close out their set.

1. Just a Memory (Live debut)
2. Ungrateful
3. The Flood
4. Gorgeous Nightmare
5. One for the Money
6. This War is Ours (The Guillotine II)

Fit for a King

Fans who stuck around for these guys after ETF would not be disappoointed.  They are still one of the up-and-coming bands in the metalcore scene but play with pure intensity and grit in each of their songs.  They had fans bouncing, jumping and bumping throughout.

The only negative we can say from these guys from Texas is that not enough people saw them.  They did play against We came as Romans, who are much popular, but that’s what you get with Warped.  Sometimes you go up against one of the “headlining” bands.

1. Hooked
2. The Resistance
3. Ancient Waters
4. Hollow King (Sound of the End)
5. Slave to Nothing
6. Warpath

I Killed the Prom Queen

These guys have been back for quite awhile, but do many people even care?  Not many seemed to see these guys from Australia.  They showed a lot of heart on stage, but people seemed to just pass by without much of a care.

This Wild Life

Since last year, TWL has been growing and rising to the occasion, playing on bigger stages with bigger bands, and to more and more fans, and this show was no different.  Warped served as a stepping stone in their already experienced band.  The duo played an acoustic rendition of Blink 182 song “First Date” which all fans enjoyed.  Fans had a mutual respect for the band and did not sing too loud over them and let them play their soft, acoustic songs.

Miss May I

Bringing the mayhem to the main stage, aka “Unicorn” stage, MMI always is a top notch band at any festival they play.  The massive crowd went crazy for every song that these guys played.  MMI showed that they were one of the top metalcore acts throughout the day and deserved to be apart of one of the main stages.  They played songs from all of their albums and had fans chant and scream for them like no other band throughout the day

1. Hey Mister
2. Hero with No Name
3. I.H.E. (Live debut)
4. Our Kings
5. Masses of a Dying Breed
6. Forgive and Forget
7. Relentless Chaos

August Burns Red

ABR is playing their second year in a row at Warped.  They never cease to amaze the audience.  Once again playing to a massive crowd, the band blended songs from new and old.  They even debuted two new songs from their new record, “Found in Far Away Places,” to the crowd.  Even though fans didn’t know much of the new songs, lead singer Jake Luhrs and company got fans involved and even brought out someone in a shark costume (appropriately for the “Shark” stage) to crowd surf and show as the mascot for one of the songs.  Even though ABR had a stelar performance, you can tell that lead singer Luhrs’ voice is diminishing, as he cannot hold long notes as much as he used to.

1. Fault Line
2. The Wake (Live debut)
3. Back Burner
4. Identity (Live debut)
5. Composure
6. Meddler
7. Empire
8. White Washed

Silverstein

Silverstein is another Warped Tour veteran and a veteran in their genre.  They always seem to enjoy playing California.  They played the Monster Energy stage and played songs spanning their last 10 plus years as a band.  They played one newer song to start off their set and many classics throughout, finishing with “My Heroine,” one of their most popular songs.  Fans that grew up with the band and have seen their history were in attendance to sing-along to their well-known songs.

1. Milestone
2. Smile in Your Sleep
3. Face of the Earth
4. Massachusetts
5. Smashes into Pieces
6. Vices
7. Sacrifice
8. My Heroine

This show was at the Pomona Fairplex and was also broadcasted for the world to see on Yahoo Music.

 

This post is courtesy of Corey Kleinsasser and Matthew Saunders

Photos by Corey Kleinsasser

What are your thoughts on Warped Tour this summer?  Comment below.

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