The day that most of us have been waiting for all year finally came, and went even faster than expected. Just incase you have no idea what I am talking about I’ll fill you in: Warped Tour 2010. This is the third year that the Toronto date was held at Arrow Hall (in Mississauga, ON by the airport) on July 9th .
Warped Tour carries many bands and is a full day festival that goes across the United States and portions of Canada. This year had a lot of big names playing the main stage such as Sum 41, We The Kings, Motion City Soundtrack & The All – American Rejects, while a lot of other well known bands played the smaller stages such as The Rocket Summer, Breathe Carolina, Four Year Strong & The Cab. Warped Tour is also a good way to learn about newer artists in the scene such as Never Shout Never & Artist vs Poet. Its festivals like these that help widen the crowd’s taste of music and help them find bands that they might not have taken the time to listen to beforehand.
The weather for this year started out really rainy but stopped as it got closer to the afternoon, and after that it was smooth sailing with the sun and a cool breeze ( a big relief from last year as it was scorching hot outside with no breeze ). With nice weather in place, it meant that the chances that fans were able to interact with their favorite artists were greater as the rain would not cancel the meet & greets and signings that were supposed to take place. On a side note; it was also nice to see the tour’s creator Kevin Lyman wandering around the press area thanking people for covering his tour.
This year was not too bad set time wise, as the tour kicked off with We The Kings playing on the main stage at around 11:15 (doors opened at 11), and all the other big acts were spread out as opposed to last year when many fans were upset because of slow security, long lines and not being able to get into the venue on time to catch big bands such as The Devil Wears Prada. Following this, the bigger names such as Sum41, Motion City Soundtrack and the All – American Rejects did not hit the stage until after 4pm, so it worked out if you were only going to see the big bands on the main stage. The smaller stages such as the Glamour Kills stage & the AP Advent stage were filled with a good mix of well known and unknown bands and have them alternating what was going on, on each stage (eg. There was always a well known playing on one stage and an unknown playing on the other; giving people the option to always be entertained instead of just standing around and waiting for the bands that they wanted to see).
Not only is Warped Tour all about great music, but it’s also about doing things for a great cause. Some charities that were on the warped tour this year included To Write Love On Her Arms (a suicide prevention program), Keep A Breast Foundation(breast cancer research), Music Saves Lives (blood donation drive – you donate blood before the show and get special access to stand on the stage and watch bands perform + front of the line meet & greet access for all the signings they have going on that day) & Skate4Cancer (brings awareness to different types of cancers & raises money). This year also included a surprise, Tyson Ritter from The All – American Rejects stood by his merch table for a portion of the day getting donations for Haiti (http://donthateonhaiti.tumblr.com/) . This was a great idea because it gives fans an opportunity to meet him and they can help out a good cause!
With all this being said, the Vans Warped Tour 2010 – Toronto was a success! And if you missed out on the Toronto date, try and catch another one near you as the Warped Tour goes on all summer long and is definitely a must see event of the summer!
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