If Woodstock II was the personification of peace and happiness in the 90s, the ultimate heaven on earth, then the Warped Tour can only be described as pure hell—In the greatest sense. Where as Woodstock had about half a million kids gathered together on a gigantic open field to help bring unity to the world, Warped was what felt like a million kids packed into a fenced in parking lot, standing on hot asphalt, in the shittiest part of Asbury Park, NJ. To top it off, the show started about 10 hours before Hurricane Felix hit town. You know what? That was the best fucking $20 I ever blew.

Here's the low down: There were two stages, and for the first two hours some really crappy bands played on them. At the stroke of 1pm, Orange 9mm hit the main stage and tore the place apart. You should have seen how many kids got fucked up during the set. There was no where to take pictures from. There was no where to stand. Orange 9mm controlled the crowd for a full 45 minutes, then it was break time again. Unless of course you really wanted to see No Use For A Name or The Swingin' Utters, two of the most generic punk bands today. The Swingin' Utters actually weren't that bad, I watched them for a little bit before heading over to the half pipe ramp to see some really cool skate tricks.

CIV proved to be a crowd pleaser. They took over the second stage and performed almost all of their new songs. The highlight of the set had to be Lou Koller just appearing on stage for his solo on "Can't Wait One Minute More," and then just disappearing again. I always wondered how violent Sick Of It All pits really were, now I know, and I'm still in pain. Koller was really into crowd participation... literally. He periodically drenched the crowd with water guns, and now and then dove in for a closer glimpse of the fans. The only thing peaceful about this show were SOIA's pleas for peace and unity in their songs. "My Life" was the crowd favorite of their set.

The only thing I caught of L7's set was an ear bleeding rendition of "Pretend That We're Dead." Tilt pulled off a really good show, even though it was really quick and Seaweed didn't manage to maintain a crowd. The only thing left was Quicksand. About half an hour of bass difficulties, and awful rendition of "Start Today," and something that resembled a joke from singer Walter, I decided to call it quits and head home. Hardcore at its finest, and not a drop of mud in sight.