The Simon Tonekham Statesman

I have decided to write a story about the time that I had every accomplished in my lifetime of visiting concerts. The first time on going to the 2008 Vans Warped Tour is no exception. Onwards….

I arrived at the International Centre at roughly 8:52a.m. It took me a two to three hour bus ride from Ajax just to get here (with a transfer involved. Bus routes to the venue can be founded here). My fellow fans were on the same path until security told us to enter through Hall 3 (or is it Hall 5). As I arrived at the venue, the line up was slighty long – some arrived the day before. I then made my mad dash to the box office where I had won a VIP wristband to this particular stop of the Warped Tour for filling out surveys and stuff. Lisa, the person who organizes the Warped Reporter came a little late at 9:15a.m., despite this – she was able to made it in one piece.

Once she arrived, we filled out the surveys on PDAs and we then distribute paper versions of the surveys to fans waiting in line. Once that is done, we did the same process all over again. It took me at around 15 to 20 to fill all the surveys in. Once finished, Lisa escorted us inside the venue. Talk about priority entrance, eh?

Once we are in, she gave us very important information on where to meet and which bands do we want to see. In this case, I choosed Against Me!. Once that is done, I then roamed around the venue in this hot and sticky weather. I drank two energy drinks just to survive all day. Monster energy drink is my favourite and I drank their Reduced Carb (or Lo Carb for our American friends) and Assault varieties. It would have been nice if they can gave us “Tour Water” or the recently released I can see some merchandise tents and to my “sharp” eye, I saw two CN trains passing through along with a VIA train. Also, I also like the way that the venue is situated near the airport, I can see a few planes touch down and take off. The three planes that I saw were an Alitalia, Cathay Pacific and (one of my favourites) Air Canada. Before I arrived at the venue along the bus ride, I can see an Air Canada Jazz touching down and a Westjet parked on the tarmac.

Anyways, I went inside Arrow Hall and nothing has changed much inside during my last visit to the now-defunct Computer Fest (a computer show and sale). I really like the way that the venue organizers plan for this. Many fans decided to cool themselves off after being outside in the heat for a long time and there was a beer tent set up as well. In the other half of the hall, the crews set up for another concert next day called “Rock the Bells” (or something like that).

When I met up with Lisa down at the Vans tent to see Against Me!, she gave us and my fellow colleagues some advice on where/when to get off after the show is over. She escorted us to the “Highway 1″ stage and she gave our instructions from there. Once that is done, the excitement builds up. Against Me! perfroms for a full crowd. I can feel the vibrations on my feet and the adrenaline was pumping up every second. Here are some pictures of Against Me’s performance:

Once that is done, I have met a lot of friends along the way who went to the tour. Some of them drove, while others took the bus. FYI: I’m an avid hardcore transit junkie that gives directions to all of my friends who were on the facebook group dedicating to the Warped Tour in Toronto.

Suddenly, it began to rain like crazy. We immediately rushed inside the hall seeking refuge. Many fans were keeping themselves dry, while others decide to stay outside and be there no matter what. They just don’t stop going! The venue was a complete deluge (washout). After the rain had stopped, some of the bands were have to be stripped down into an acoustic scale, while others were cancelled – citing “safety issues”.

The last band that I saw this evening was Angels & Airwaves. Despite their acoustic performance, it was a very good time that I saw them for the 2nd time this year. Once that is finished, I happily left the venue with my older sister (who I catched up with her later on) to drive me home. As me and my sister left the venue, I can see all the fans who were waiting at the bus stop for their ride home. A GO bus was stopping at the lights as we turned left along Airport Rd.  My first time on going to the Warped Tour will be in the history books for many years to come. I wonder how my friends Tarin, Laura and Jenny will react to that…after all, they didn’t care about the statements I made about them and mentionning them about my first time on going to the Warped Tour – No Opportunity Wasted.

I’m putting “The Flats at Arrow Hall” as my new case study for my proposed Warped Tour report which I will plan to present to Kevin Lyman in the near future, in the meantime, please check out my picutres of that day: http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y233/swindon726/warped%20tour%20-%2007-19-2008/

Until next year, Warped Tour……^_^