It’s the greatest day of the year for any punk rocker, emo kid, or garage band wannabe… It’s the one time all year when you can travel to a magical place where hundreds of bands gather to put on short sets for their loyal fans…And most of all, it’s one of the few major tours that actually comes to us, here in Indiana. The Vans Warped Tour is nothing short of wonderful.

This year’s Warped Tour had a lot to live up to. The legacy of Warped goes back to a time before some of the band members today were even born and last year the tour headliners included big names like: Fall Out Boy, My Chemical Romance, and the king of the 80’s Billy Idol. Boasting bands like Thursday, Motion City Soundtrack, NOFX, and the Academy Is…, the possibility was definitely there for this to be a good year.

The day started off well as I saw a small ska-punk band called Nadafinga rocking out on one of the small side stages. After a little while, I traveled across the lot to check out the Bouncing Souls. This old-school punk band put on quite the show, despite the fact that the mosh pit wasn’t quite as good as I’m sure they’ve seen in the past. Soon after, I wandered over to another stage to find the Gym Class Heroes halfway through their set. I was surprised at how entertaining they were and am now convinced to check out their new album As Cruel as Schoolchildren.

The day continued to get better as time rolled on, even though the weather was far hotter than anyone would like it to be. Other standout performances included Motion City Soundtrack playing quite a few older songs, Cartel playing all the pop-punk hits to get you jumping from Chroma, and Forrest Kline of Hellogoodbye crowd surfing on an inner tube. The day ended with the Academy Is… delivering one of the best performances I saw that day and an extended set from Thursday thanks to Energizer.

Although the line up didn’t quite measure up to what the Warped Tour has been, it was definitely worth checking out. Even if the Warped Tour is going downhill, small bands will still get a great push performing for curious teenagers, mediocre bands will get their start, and soon to be big names will blow up for years to come.