imadehollywood describes it with these words:www.anberlin.com/home/ www.myspace.com/anberlin www.facebook.com/anberlin
If you are coming to the world famous concert for the first time, here are some handy don'ts
1. Make fun
Make sure you understand that your taste in music is not universal. There are people who prefer other bands as well. If you do not like the performance of a particular band, do not make fun of the people who are listening to that music. Everyone has a different musical preference, and some people might think your favorite band is not so cool either.
2. Be upset
Though it is advised not to make fun of people listening to other bands, some people may not be considerate enough, and might make fun of you, because of your music preference. Do not be upset at that. Be cool, and let it be. You know your band is the best, and that is what's important.
3. Spend all your energy
Do not spend all your energy early during the day. Keep it safe, as there is lot of running to be done all day long. If you get tired early on, you are sure to miss out a lot of fun later.
4. Forget sunscreen
Apply sunscreen when you leave home, and keep applying it after some time- especially on your tattoos. The skin at your tattoos is sensitive, and thus reacts to heat faster than skin at other parts of the body. Make sure you keep the sunscreen supply high.
5. Dehydrate
You got the water bottle, right? If you feel thirsty, take a quick gulp. Do not ignore any dehydration signs. If you do not keep yourself hydrated, you might end up tired and broken, and in the medical camp.
6. Complain
This is one very important point. Hopefully you know what you are going to face at the Vans Warped Tour. It's all in the open. It is going to be hot in the sun, and wet in the rain. If you are going to complain about the situation, it is not going to help. Expect a lot of roughness at the concert.
7. Consume alcohol
You have just one bottle of water, and whole day to pull. The stalls are packed, and if you want another bottle of water, you will have to wait in lines. So make sure you do not dehydrate yourself further by consuming alcohol. All alcoholic beverages will make you feel thirstier. Also, don't do drugs. Illegal things can get you arrested. You can even get arrested for just holding a packet of those illegal things!
8. Avoid food
You need to fill up if you want to run around. Sure the food might be expensive, or the lines might be long. But if you really want to enjoy, you need to be energized. Going empty stomach would make you feel hungry, and you wouldn't enjoy the concert to the full, and get tired faster. Remember, the Vans Warped Tour happens just once a year.
9. Get mixed up in the crowd
If you are coming with your group, you can easily get lost in the crowd. Do not abandon anyone from your group, and make sure you decide on a common meeting point. Else there will be a lot of extra running around, which you might not be able to do, as you would be tired at the end of the day.
In the end, don't forget to have fun! Rules are good, and should be followed, but the number one rule of Vans Warped Tour is to have fun.
Coming up next year
Expect a whole lot of fun at Vans Warped Tour 2011. The headlining band at 2011 would be the winning band of 2010 contest. For those who don't know, bands have the chance to participate at the Battle of Bands at the 2010 tour. Top 100 contestants will be chose from all the venues, and from them, the best 4 of each venue will play at Battle of the Bands. The band that wins will be given the headlining position in 2011 Van Warped Tour.
There is going to be lots of stunts, and new bands at the tour. The venues and bands are not planned yet, but it is going to be a blend of old and new bands. Whatever the list is, you can surely expect what you always get from Vans Warped tours- 200% fun.
Musical acts' summer tours encounter heavy weather This summer, the music industry has been repeatedly rocked — not by big beats, keening vocals and loud guitars, but by lackluster ticket sales and concerts canceled by a growing list of major artists.This month, pop diva Rihanna postponed six dates on her "Last Girl on Earth" tour. The Lilith Tour was forced by poor attendance to cancel 10 concerts, and Christina Aguilera pulled the plug on her 20-date tour because of "prior commitments" in June. The Eagles scrapped stadium shows with country superstars Keith Urban and the Dixie Chicks because of sluggish ticket sales in May. U2 postponed its North American tour after lead singer Bono underwent emergency back surgery. The Jonas Brothers pulled out of a number of North American dates on their world tour. And "American Idol" producers canceled eight engagements and rescheduled other dates on the "Idols Live!" tour.
"It's brutal out there," said Jordan Kurland, manager of such alternative music acts as Death Cab For Cutie, She & Him and Say Anything. "The economy is still not great and there's a lot of distractions people can choose from. Going to big rock concerts is not one of them."
In particular, the downturn has spelled trouble for Live Nation, the country's biggest promoter of live music, which on Thursday informed investors that the company's adjusted operating income for 2010 is projected to drop by $40 million, or nearly 10% below last year's, despite a merger with Ticketmaster that enhanced Live Nation's market position and required Justice Department approval. U2's tour postponement alone will cost the company $6 million. And Live Nation said it expects a further 15% income drop for the top 100 tours in the second half of 2010. The company's shares fell 11% in trading Thursday.
Rival promoters complain that Live Nation has contributed to the downturn by initially overcharging for tickets, then overcompensating by slashing prices in a last-ditch effort to fill seats. Tickets for the Eagles' tour stop in Chicago, which also featured Urban and the Dixie Chicks, ran as high as $895, and the lowest-priced entry to Aguilera's postponed tour cost $125.
Critics say the high prices were triggered by the company overpaying top artists — in some cases, handing over nearly the entire box office take — in order to secure their touring commitments against competitors. .
"They may well be worried about the amount of money they've promised some acts," said Gary Bongiovanni, editor of Pollstar. "Their bread and butter comes from parking and concessions."
Representatives for Live Nation declined to comment for this story.
With CD sales taking a nose dive over the last decade, the concert business enjoyed unprecedented growth with pop acts relying upon their touring incomes to offset lost revenue. But according to a study released this month by Pollstar, grosses for the top 100 tours in North America this year were down 17% from the same period in 2009, with losses expected to continue through year's end.
According to Randy Phillips, chief executive of concert promotions giant AEG Live, the industry's downturn comes courtesy of a "perfect storm" of factors.
"Artists aren't making enough money on sales of recorded music so they're trying to make money on the road," Phillips said. "The problem is, you've got too many tours, the same acts going through the touring system year in and year out. On top of that, the economy is in a very fragile state of recovery and the Consumer Confidence Index is very low.
"You have years of mismanagement by the concert industry, treating the consumers like they're idiots. All that coming together at one time? It's like one big stop sign," Phillips added. Despite that, he characterized AEG's concert tours as doing "exceedingly well," without offering specifics.
According to Chang Weisberg, founder and head of Guerilla Union, the concert promotion firm behind the successful Rock the Bells hip-hop tour, part of the industry's current woes can be attributed to a glut of artists.
"The concert industry has seen overall ticket sales grow exponentially year after year," Weisberg said. "But unless you've got a festival or a concert with something unique — a band that has stayed out of the marketplace, a new or unique record — the odds are it's not going to be the hottest ticket in town anymore. There's been a correction. Acts can't just show up and expect to fill seats whenever they want."
Paul Tollett, president of Los Angeles-based concert promotion firm Goldenvoice, said the company chose to "not be aggressive in buying a lot of shows" for 2010 in light of abiding economic concerns, sparing the company, owned by AEG Live, from the concert downturn in the process. The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, which Tollett founded in 1999, has gone on to become the most successful concert event of the year — an indication that fans may be more interested in an immersive cultural experience lasting several days and spanning more than 100 bands than they are in going out to see one act perform a show on, say, a Thursday night.
"You go back 25 years, the big shows were on the weekends," Tollett said. "Now you could have three shows on a Monday that are good. That's hard for the consumer. There's just so much to choose from."
Lilith Tour co-founder Terry McBride similarly acknowledged the fierce competition. "We are in the midst of one of the most challenging summer concert seasons, with many tours being canceled outright," McBride said in a statement this month announcing the tour's cancellation.
There are exceptions. Gregg Perloff, founder and president of Berkeley-based Another Planet Entertainment, said that summer 2010 has been "very strong" for his company, citing sold-out engagements by Paul McCartney, Neil Young and Tool. Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga and Taylor Swift also have had strong sales.
While Live Nation resorted to last-minute price cuts and initiatives such as the "No Service Fee Wednesday" to attract customers, Another Planet took a different route. The company worked closely with the acts it booked to keep ticket prices affordable and avoided tacking on surcharges — such as the one charging customers for buying and printing tickets on their home computers — that many fans have come to resent.
"I have not had to discount one show this summer," Perloff said. "You charge a decent, reasonable price from Day One and the public will respond by buying lots of concert tickets."
Tollett feels that at a time of crisis in the music industry, some promoters may have lost track of their primary objective: giving the customer an experience to remember.
"It's not just about selling tickets," Tollett said. "This is a very human business we're in."
chris.lee@latimes.com
Times staff writer Todd Martens contributed to this report.
Here's the original only since everyone always ends up wanting it.
