Warped Tour made its last stop at Darien Lake Performing Arts Center on Wednesday, July 25. Despite the heat and humidity, fans came out in droves from all over Central and Western New York for one last Warped Tour experience.
Ice Nine Kills
NYS Music Photographer Meredith Snow and I started the day off catching Warped alums Ice Nine Kills. Even in 79 degree heat, the horror-core band from Boston played the entire set dressed as horror movie icons like Freddy and Jason, with full costume and makeup. The highlight of the set was hearing their new song “The American Nightmare,” from their upcoming album The Silver Scream.
Ice Nine Kills
The next stage over featured As It Is. The British band doesn’t make it stateside often. I first heard band leader Patty Walters when he was a teenager doing solo cover songs on YouTube. Now he’s backed by a full band and performing original songs. Gone is the wholesome “boy next door” persona. In its place is an edgier look and sound. After singing “Hey Rachel,” from last year’s debut album, Walters introduced the band as My Chemical Romance and welcomed everyone to 2005 Warped Tour. They launched into a couple new songs, “The Stigma” and “The Wounded World,” off their new album The Great Depression which comes out in a couple weeks.
As It Is
It’s impossible to catch everything at a festival with eight stages, and sometimes we just caught snippets as we raced from stage to stage. We saw the tail end of Tonight Alive’s set, as front woman Jenna McDougall told us in her Australian accent, “You have the right to lose your minds,” before launching into one of their new songs. I took a much needed break from the heat at the Reverse Daycare tent while my photographer snapped a few pics of Buffalo’s Every Time I Die.
Every Time I Die
Then we were off to see The Maine. A whooshing sound filled the air as they filed on stage in their signature matching outfits. They started with a cover of Blur’s “Song 2” which got the crowd singing along. The rest of their set was all originals from their eleven years as a band. On “Girls Do What They Want,” they called a random audience member up on stage to help sing the song. This guy Brian came up in his tank top and shorts and made the most of his five minutes of fame, nailing the lyrics and vocals.
The Maine
It wouldn’t be Warped Tour without ska bands. Reel Big Fish was crushing it on the main stage with their signature sound and antics, and the sun had dried out the muddy ground enough to make it possible for fans to dance in the fields. Over on the Korner Stage which featured regional acts, Buffalo band The Toy Box Brigade was putting on a fantastic performance. Their set included a ska rendition of The Bloodhound Gang’s “The Bad Touch.”
One of the bands on my must-see list is Las Vegas’ Palaye Royale. These darlings of the Vegas art rock scene are originally from Toronto. The three brothers named the band after the dance hall where their grandparents met. Their last album payed homage to the bands who played The Boom Boom Room and they are set to release a Part B soon. They played the song they just released this week called “You’ll Be Fine” as well as a gritty cover of My Chemical Romance’s “Teenagers.” The high-energy set included singer Remington Leith climbing up to hang upside down from the stage rafters during the song “Get Higher” and crowd surfing on a coffin-shaped raft.
Palaye Royale
Asking Alexandria was a band I’d never seen before, but the consensus from the faithful fans around me was that this was not their best performance. We then headed over to catch Simple Plan’s set. It was late afternoon and attendance had peaked; I could barely see the stage as the audience sprawled around behind tents and trailers. Despite the poor visibility, the sound was cranked to full volume and people young and old were singing along to hits like “Addicted.”
Asking Alexandria
I popped back over to catch some more locals. On The Cinder made their return for a second year at the Korner Stage. The three-piece punk rock outfit drew a lively crowd which danced and moshed throughout the entire set. Some locals were on the Full Sail Stage, too. Lucky33 from Syracuse was upgraded to the larger stage for the day. They put on an energetic set that included a version of CCR’s “Bad Moon Rising.” Between songs, bass player Red talked about attending his first Warped Tour in ’96 and being inspired to start playing music himself.
Following Lucky33 was Rochester’s Kaiser Solzie. Rochester native James Jackson has been performing under the moniker Kaiser Solzie for years, and has recently built a full band. Jackson was the driving force behind the creation of the local Korner Stage last year. And all local band members and their fans had migrated to Full Sail to rock out to Kaiser Solzie’s set. Donning his pink guitar, Jackson belted out song after song, from one about actor Bill Murray to “Punk Pop Hip Hop” and “Ordinary Average Day,” the songs paired a raw punk energy with catchy feel-good messages.
Kaiser Solzie
On the way to see 3OH!3, I ran across With Confidence. The Australian pop punk band was finishing their set with hits from their last album, “Voldemort” and “Keeper.” They signed off with a promise to return to the states by the end of the year. Over the hill, 3OH!3 was in full swing. The massive dance party spilled out from under the amphitheater tent and into the expansive lawn. For their grand finale, they brought the members of Simple Plan onto stage to join in on their hit song “Don’t Trust Me.”
We ended the day at the amphitheater tent with a performance by Waterparks, a Texas trio who are more on the pop side of the pop/punk spectrum. When I saw them at Warped Tour a couple years ago, they were playing songs from their EP Cluster. They’ve since released two full-length albums.Their set list included songs from both, including the acoustic “Lucky People.” They ended with the the catchy little love song “Stupid For You.”
Waterparks
Photographer Meredith Snow caught a few sets that I didn’t, including Motionless In White, Digital Afterlife, Doll Skin, Great American Ghost, Of Night and Light, Pros & Icons, and Every Time I Die. See the full photo gallery below for these pics and more.
All in all it was a memorable day, although tinged with sadness about the end of the Warped Tour era. Throughout the day, I spent time with friends from as far flung as Syracuse and Buffalo. I saw people I met at Warped Tour in previous years,and I met some new people. We swapped stories while making new memories. This touring festival successfully brought together some of the greatest alternative musicians from around the world and made them accessible to millions. But it also brought people together and built communal experiences that defined an entire generation.
The special Sunday welcoming of Vans Warped Tour to Hartford, CT’s Xfinity Theatre was a long, hot day of nostalgia and nearly-controlled chaos. As temperatures rose into the eighties, attendees piled in around 11am in massive numbers, sectioning off sides of the neighboring overpass and crowding the front entrance gate. Upon entry, a cloud of dust and an array of color greeted each guest on the festival grounds. Brightly printed advertisements and booths lined the front pathway, and attendees showed off tattoos and spiked their hair in anticipation of Warped Tour’s last official year in operation.
The lineup for the summer represented several decades and genres, from the adored 2000’s rock band Bowling For Soup to the driving force of Australian metalcore band The Amity Affliction, taking up the 2010’s and beyond by storm. After scanning over the printed artist schedule for the day (decided day-of in true Warped Tour tradition), the Buffalo natives of Every Time I Die came onto the Monster-sponsored Mutant White Lightning Stage. They opened with the abrasive “Decayin With the Boys” from the 2014 album From Parts Unknown, and followed with songs from their 2016 album Low Teens, driving a powerful pulse behind their performance of “Glitches” and “Map Change”. It wasn’t long before guitarist Jordan Buckley made his way into the crowd to meet the mosh pit that formed in the center.
With some built up anxiety to have the best final Warped Tour experience, the day of music hosted several extreme disappointments. From not enough parking to generally poor attitudes from festival staff members, the large amphitheatre setting of Xfinity was surely not fit for this kind of endeavor. Many of the bands people were excited to see on tour also weren’t included on the Hartford bill, including Warped Tour success stories All Time Low, English rock band Asking Alexandria, tour veterans August Burns Red, and the popular ska band Less Than Jake. To make matters worse, venue security guards barricaded the aisles of the main theatre as the crowd size expanded, pushing back anyone who tried to walk up to the front pit area, even when there was plenty of room. Beyond the safety concern of being trapped on both sides by a massive crowd, photographers could not get a proper glimpse of artists that played the Main Stage without being aggressively escorted out of the area. Many fans took to Facebook after Warped Tour posted that the pit had been at capacity for the entire day. With upwards of 20,000 people attending the festival, it’s no surprise that these areas filled quickly, and with better preparation from the venue, crowd control could’ve been handled in a safer and more professional fashion.
After a few snafus and some set times cut short, some great performances served as a saving grace throughout the afternoon hours of the fest. The Boulder-based electronic duo 3OH!3 played the Main Stage at 2:55pm, where a nearly-filled theatre was waiting for them. After bringing us back to 2008 with their charting single “DONTTRUSTME”, the dance duo welcomed Travis from We The Kings to join their performance of the 2008 pop dance track, “STARSTRUKK”. 3OH!3 couldn’t get Katy Perry or Kesha to join them on set for their collaborations, but the earworm melodies and dance beats came back to everyone nonetheless.
After a raging set from Falling in Reverse, including their reckless anthem “Just Like You”, Bowling For Soup set up on the left side stage to pick up on the energy left brewing in the audience. Along with their chipper charm and catchy songs, BFS was the most honest while bantering in between songs, with singer Jaret Reddick admitting the band as “a bunch of 40 year olds singing about high school”. In addition to getting a laugh from the audience, this truth could be another reason Warped Tour just couldn’t survive in the same fashion. While the millennial generation jumped around to the 2004 smash hits “1985” and “Ohio”, many of the younger concert attendees seemed to lose interest and move elsewhere, a true testament to the cultural and musical shift of rock music. For those present for the remainder of Bowling For Soup’s set, a surprise visit from Simple Plan singer Pierre Bouvier kicked the crowd’s energy into high gear to close out their set, reminding the audience of the festival’s glory years, back when we thought “High School Never Ends.”
As set times came and went, life outside the stages remained lively, with an array of food and drink choices, a hydration station, and vendor pop up shops. Tucked in the back of the bustling festival city was the owly.fm stage, which booked some of the biggest surprise bands of the festival – Warped Tour newcomers. Earlier in the day, young girls fled to this stage for Story Untold, a five piece pop punk band from Montreal. In addition to some really catchy originals in their set, they made a creative mashup of multiple legends that make up the Warped Tour family, including hits from Green Day, Linkin Park, Boys Like Girls, and more. Later in the evening, the owly.fm stage brought an unapologetic entrance from British punk sensation Dominic Harrison, under the stage name YUNGBLUD. Known for his high intensity and rebellious lyrics at only 19 years old, he and his backing band took control of the surrounding crowd, encouraging everyone to sing along and move. First gaining notoriety for his musical contribution to the Netflix show 13 Reasons Why, YUNGBLUD has since released a debut album with rebellious rock mixed in with hip hop, punk, and whatever else inspires him at the time.
YUNGBLUD’s incredible stage charisma was only outshined by his music, with the British punk-influenced “Tin Pan Boy”, and the outcast anthem “My Medication.” Like many organizations and artists on the Warped Tour stage, there was no fear in talking about complex issues. As YUNGBLUD shared on his experiences through music, there were a few speeches from other artists, encouraging people to reach out and ask for help when times get tough. It was interesting to see other rockstars throughout the day scream out a grindcore thrasher about hatred, then opening up about sensitive and personal experiences shortly after, but it was still refreshing to see a positive message get across to so many people.
After a brisk walk to the Main Stage area after being blown away by YUNGBLUD, We the Kings set up on their half of the Main Journey’s stage, and the audience count (and difficulty entering the theatre) doubled. We the Kings has always had a massive following, and you can certainly tell the band’s superfans from those who remember hearing them on the radio for a few years. Either way, the band coerced a wild chorus to sing as they went into the 2007 charting single “Check Yes Juliet” and the 2011 beach jam “Say You Like Me”. The band also dove into their latest album, named Six, to sprinkle in some variety in their set. It wasn’t until the 2013 pop anthem “I Feel Alive” that the band asked everyone to mimic a dance move that Travis’ daughter inspired, getting the audience of thousands to shake down low right before jumping up for the song’s chorus.
To add some variety to an otherwise punk sphere, Reel Big Fish took to the Main Stage for an audience-interactive, fun-filled set. They opened with an awesome cover of “Take On Me”, before diving into their own rebellious songs, including the 2012 “Everyone Else is An Asshole”, and the 2005 “Your Guts (I Hate ‘Em)”. The Main Stage performance space simply wasn’t big enough for this band, and it was clear when members of Reel Big Fish moved to different parts of the audience, only to get caught on monitors and equipment. Even trapped in a small space, Reel Big Fish brought a massive sound that kept the energy level up and ensured people stayed dancing, even after a long We The Kings set.
After a rather short set from the Maine on the Main Stage, Mayday Parade took control of the Main Stage and caused a large flock of people to rush to the inner theatre. They chose songs that truly represented their nostalgic ‘emo rock’ style, including the 2007 track “Jersey”, which lead a wave of audience members to sing along in perfect unison. The band also covered the Blink 182 classic “The Rock Show”, made famous for its reference to Warped Tour. It was a treat to have several headlining bands recognize the impact of Warped Tour’s popularity, giving bands like Blink 182 a chance to meet a diverse audience. Throughout all 24 summers of the Warped Tour, so many bands have risen in popularity and matured in music, and it’s a least partially, if not completely thanks to Warped Tour. There’s no better example of this growth than the festival’s late night performance, Canadian rock band Simple Plan.
For all the crowding issues faced throughout the day, the venue staff was not prepared for the onslaught of fans that drenched the Main Stage area in anticipation of Simple Plan. As the band came on stage, a thunderous applause rung throughout the entire concert space. Simple Plan paid homage to their many years performing at Warped Tour, playing hits like the 2002 rock ballad “Perfect” and the 2004 anthem of angst “Welcome to My Life”. For their performance of “I’m Just A Kid”, the band made a brilliant decision, bringing Travis from We the Kings and YUNGBLUD on stage to sing the song with them. This was truly a pivotal moment of Warped Tour, showing a contrast of genres, ages, and even generations coming together to perform the same rebellious music to gets you through your teens and twenties.
Seeing these contrasting, yet iconic artists celebrating Warped Tour together was a bittersweet moment, and as lyrics to Simple Plan’s remaining songs came from the library in your head to your tongue, everyone surrounding you sang along. People of various ages and backgrounds (not to mention BAC levels) came together to end the night with joy and nostalgia in remembrance of endless summers, and celebration for the next concert that will fill the void of Warped Tour for each person. Although this is Warped Tour’s last official year, there have been floating rumors of a celebration show in 2019. Details will likely be announced on the Warped Tour facebook page, and for anyone still looking to submerge themselves in the Warped Tour experience, there’s a few more tour stops coming up, including a show at Jones Beach in Wantaugh, NY on July 28. Thank you Warped Tour, party on!
In the summer of 1996 an estimated 70,000 to 85,000 Phish fans drove to a former Air Force Base in Plattsburgh, NY to attend an event that would forever change the landscape of modern music festivals and add yet another dimension to Phish’s already polarizing live music experience: The Clifford Ball. Fans camped out from August 16-18 to see Phish performed three sets of music and an encore on each of the two show days, as well as a secret jam, the Flatbed Jam, at 3:30 a.m. on the night of the first show. The audience was four times the size of the county the festival took place in, Clinton County, and for that one weekend Plattsburgh became New York’s ninth largest city.
The Clifford Ball was the first festival Phish had ever thrown, and since then they have kept the tradition going with their upcoming festival, Curveball, as their eleventh installment. Going in, fans had no idea what to expect, and most were completely astonished by the experience they had that weekend. In addition to the music, attendants were treated to flights overhead by bombers, gliders, and other aerial vehicles, carnival rides, wandering jugglers, fireworks, a classical violin quartet, a blues quartet, guitar soloists, a choral quintet, a full orchestra, movies in the camping area, a full village built on a hill, a vast array of food and drink vendors, a general store, trampolinists, a aerialist swinging on ropes, and scattered art installments. The carnival vibe filled fans with glee and wonder, and those who attended still say it was one of the most stupendous experiences of their lives. For those interested in watching the festival in its entirety, Phish released a massive seven DVD box set in March 2009. Below is a look back on experiences had at the festival by friends of NYS Music and Phish.net.
Anticipation and Arrival
John Demeter, Contributor to The Phish Companion, Third Edition: “Oddly enough, we didn’t really expect some Dionysian party, beyond what we were accustomed to (see what I did there?). There were literally a million other places we could go camping that are better than a shitty closed airfield in Plattsburgh. We were expecting to hang out during the days, entertain ourselves, and then see Phish outside the construct of a regular venue. The baseline expectation was Sugarbush from the prior year, which was really nothing but rows of tents in the ski area parking lots.
We had no idea what “festival” in that sense meant at the time. We were calling it “the camp out” right up to the show. We didn’t even consider that there’d be vending, art installations, gliders, and trampoline skiers and such.”
Todd Wimer: “I was beyond stoked when I opened up my mailbox, took out the latest Doniac Schvice, and saw the Clifford Ball announcement. This was how I got Phish news back then, not months in advance via rumor gurus like Attyaloew. Coming off of the New Year’s ’95 run, with 12/1, 12/15, and 12/31/95 being the most recent shows I had seen, I was obsessed with Phish at the time, so the timing was pretty ideal. My high school crew all felt the same way and it was an understood thing that we’d make it up to the festival no matter what.
[Going in] the enthusiasm everywhere was palpable. Phish felt like this big inside joke at the time, and the festival was astounding in that we all looked around and acknowledged that a lot of people were in on the joke. And that was fine, because I love being around Phish people, so the more the merrier (barring tough-ticket shows and scalpers who have since learned to capitalize on this rabid fandom.) My first few shows in ’93 and ’94, the crowd was a lot of white-cap collegiate dudebrahs and nerdy guys with glasses who looked like they played D&D. The wook element was there at those shows, but not as present until after Jerry died the previous summer.”
Russell Howze: “[My initial] reaction was excitement. I knew it would be large, but it was an incredibly large crowd there. I did not expect the art and creativity that happened when the band was not playing, and was also amazed at how many different subcultures were there for the music/party/scene. I expected a huge police presence (the Grateful Dead’s horrible tour/riots/gate crashing were still fresh), but there were only about four mounted, pot-friendly, Texas sheriffs. The gathering of all those people, with no real authority present made for a laid back good time.”
shirt design by Tripp
Dan Hewins: ”I was in Vermont at a friend’s house about three hours from Plattsburgh. We (three of us) decided to leave on Thursday about 11 o’clock. We thought we’d beat the traffic by arriving at two and that there should be some people there since the gates opened at noon. Well the surprises began immediately upon entry. There were so many people already there, the lots were filling, and the camping areas were already fully inhabited. The place was booming when we got there so we quickly closed up the car and began moving about the masses. We took a walk to get our bearings and see what we could see. All I could think for a while was, Damn. All this for one band? We explored, danced some by the DJ bus, and explored more.”
John Lockerby: “I had been seeing Phish for two years at that point (five shows) but wasn’t the “true” fan as many others tried to be. I was there for the party. Really, it could of been a Dave Matthews Band fest and probably would of gone. I don’t remember much of the drive there except the closer we got the more we knew we were in the right place. Getting up to the gates there was a huge line to get in, of course, but not like the lines you see today.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lOhpm-ru6c
The Festival Scene
Marco Esquandolas*: ”The Clifford Ball was also my first show. Honestly one of the biggest memories that sticks out to this day, non-musically speaking, was just the fact that I managed to find everyone I was looking for, in that pre-cell phone era. Near my campsite there was this big corkboard wall where hundreds and hundreds of people had posted things hoping other folks would see their messages and connect. I picked up a paper plate off the ground and wrote a Sharpie message on it telling my best friend where my tent was – magically he saw that note amongst all the others and found me…. nearly miraculous!”
Mark Larezzo: “I remember it as a giant chaotic mess and total 24 hour party. That and it was CROWDED. I saw the first set on the second day from so far away that the only thing I could make out on the stage was a tiny bright green dot that was Mike.”
Poster by Star City Art. An unofficial Clifford Ball print commemorating the 1996 event. The imagery is inspired by aviation and some sort of pageantry of old entertainment balls, which inspired the vision of the event. The font and stars around the propeller are inspired by the 76ers logo.
Russell Howze: “Folks weren’t really into wearing the costumes back then, but my friend made me a crazy costume to wear (fish-themed fabric, like a Scottish kilt/sash). I also brought a tuxedo and walked around like I was a butler during one of the daytime sets. The stares and drunken drink orders were priceless. The memory I still love is: While chilling under a shade structure on one of the night set breaks (I think it was during a set break), a guy walked in with a flashlight on a tripod. He set it up, turned it on, checked his focus, and then threw a brilliant hand shadow show up on the shade tent’s white-fabric roof. I just had to roll over on my back to watch it, and when he finished, dozens of folks gave him a round of thunderous applause.”
Todd Wimer: “There was a big movie screen in the campground that was showing Simpsons episodes. Drum circles. Many many grasshoppers. Mounties. I’ll tell you some fun that we didn’t have at the campground: the flatbed jam! We were fast asleep and when it passed by, twenty feet away from our tent, we slept right through it. I think there were newspapers being printed daily and circulated on site and we read about the flatbed jam or someone told us about it and we were just confused. ‘Whattaya mean? Where was the stage? Was the truck moving?’ I thought they were trolling us.”
Dan Hewins: “There was a town square replete with Barber Shop, Ball Court, Ball Diner, some kind of chapel, General Store, and a statue of Clifford Ball himself in the center. On the outskirts was an artist area where people were making, building, painting, and creating. There was another building that contained giant asphalt balls. One was about five feet in diameter and some of the others were a bit smaller, but they were all painted like a street. Outside of that building there was a guy standing in front of a huge log about three feet in diameter. He was chopping at it with a hatchet, a tiny hatchet, he was making very slow progress. There was a theme here and if you can guess what it was you win. It was Clifford Ball. Ball was the theme. Artists were sculpting and decorating balls of all types. Inside on of the buildings in the square there were plaques up on the walls with words: orb, sphere, dance, globe, testis, bullet. I got orb, globe, sphere, and dance but I wasn’t sure what testis was.
Jim Pollock was in a tent signing art that he had done. There was a special deal, if you were wearing a shirt he designed you got a dollar off a purchase. I bought a three dollar sticker for two bucks. There was a music tent too, there was a saxophone quartet, that’s all I remember. There also was a place to “confess to Phish.” It was attached to the chapel. It was a small room with a mic and a podium that you would sit behind and “confess” in front of a camera. Hmmm. The barber that I mentioned before gives haircuts too. He only cuts one hair though. I found him giving a haircut to a camera crew guy’s fuzzy microphone. I chose the hair that he should cut and then presented the cut hair to the guy holding the mic. So basically, Clifford Ball square was cool.”
The Music
Tela Esquandolas*: “Clearly there were so many musical highlights in retrospect. At the time the Phish I knew best was A Live One and the studio albums up to that point, so a good deal of nuance was lost on me at the time, but what I will never forget is the “Chalkdust Torture” opener. The opening notes sent a wave of goosebumps over my body – the roar of the crowd only increased them… I was there… I had finally arrived… this was it! Still to this day if I play that “Chalkdust” or watch the video of that opener, I get goosebumps – it was the true beginning of my obsession with their music.”
John Demeter: “Seeing Mike’s outfit when he took the stage on day two was among the funniest things in the world. The sound was phenomenal. One hundred bigger and better than anything I could imagine. (Having never experienced the wall of sound. Or heard of it at that point, for that matter. But I had been to plenty of other arena and stadium shows. No comparison.) I can still hear the end “Life On Mars”, the perfect articulation of all those notes across the massive field. I didn’t even know the song at the time, but the sound system permanently etched it in my memory.
Todd Wimer: “Musically, I remember the opener because my best friend and I were up against the rail and had to wait a long-ass time for them to go on, and the bigness of the “Chalkdust Torture” opener made it all worthwhile. The band were obviously thrilled and so were we. It was loud, and everyone was unabashedly pumped. I also remember the sort of acoustic set that they played I think the second set of that night, just because that was when we needed to bail from the rail, so we could go piss and get some water and nourishment, and that the timing for that interlude set seemed perfect as we kicked back and had some chicken fingers.
Other highlights were the 2001, the ferocious “Antelope” with… the UVM ski team on trampolines? Or the chick swinging around on the rope? And also, the “Harpua” encore on the last night. I recall the band being a little bit miffed at something during this, and ever since then my friends and I had assumed it was a miscue. I think the glider with the sparkling trails was supposed to be doing its thing after Trey’s narration but had gotten the timing wrong and released the luminescent sky writing early so the very end of the festival was kind of …curious. And my impression was that people who had an absolute blast for the whole weekend weren’t thrilled with the ending. We were only slightly confused, but definitely not unappreciative!”
Russell Howze: “”Brother” stood out. Ben and Jerry sang horribly on that one and it was hilarious. The “Tweezer” circus spectacle was fun. The flatbed truck jam was amazing, and the highlight of the weekend. I still wish I could’ve kept running along the truck longer than I did (it was a long day and they weren’t stopping).”
John Lockerby: “The “Chalkdust Torture” was the perfect way to open the festival. The energy was indescribable. You can see from Trey’s face how much fun the band was having. I don’t think they knew what they were in for. Whenever I hear the “Chalkdust” riff I think of Jeff and me running down the runway. I think I was pissed at the encore. Not that “Amazing Grace” isn’t a fun tune, it’s just not what I drove all day to see.
We missed the late night set. I guess the truck didn’t drive by us. I didn’t bring a tent, so I slept in my car. (It was a hatchback though so there was plenty of room for me.) Maybe that’s why I missed it.
[The second day was the] best concert of our lives, but once again, we were bummed out by the encore. I mean it was only half the song. Luckily, I didn’t know “Harpua” at the time, so I had no idea what was missing.”
Leaving/Final Thoughts
John Demeter: “The end of the festival was abrupt and very confusing. I fully expected that some massive cosmic energy had manifested over that spot and some great energetic event would occur. But they didn’t even finish the song, really. I am still confused.
Leaving was disgusting. An absolute embarrassment of waste trash garbage people ditching perfectly good stuff. Gross. Figured more of us knew approximately what “leave no trace” meant.”
Mark Larezzo: “I remember it being a mess in the camping area and musically amazing. I am thankful I was so young because there is no way I would survive it now. The only other festival I have been to is Magnaball and it was 100 times more civilized but not quite as exhilarating as the Clifford Ball.”
Todd Wimer: “I mean, only for a band like Phish can ‘making it big’ be something beyond selling out Madison Square Garden. Yes, that was amazing. But being a sort of indie band and building a tent city from the ground up by luring 70k people all the way up to Plattsburgh, that was awesome. And we all felt it. One of my lasting takeaways from the Ball was that I forever wondered if and when they would release the video footage of the shows. We saw the camera crew on stage for the whole weekend and kept speculating about why they were filming it. Years later (15?) when they announced the 5.1 mix and the DVD set I was almost as excited as when I first heard about the festival.
I saw three festivals during 1.0 and two so far during 3.0 (Can’t wait for Curveball!) I lump together the ’97 and ’98 festivals, I guess because they were held at the same spot; and I do the same with the two previous Watkins fests. But The Clifford Ball was its own thing, and stands out for being so huge, timed perfectly, 100% FOR the fans, and very positive. And now that I read that back, I think those positives apply to ’11 and ’15 as well, but in ’96 we didn’t know what to expect or that it would be as special as it was. “
courtesy of PhanArt
Russell Howze: “Looking back, the Clifford Ball was a fun event. Compared to the disastrous Coventry (the only other festival I’ve attended), it was a perfect slice of rock n roll heaven. Being at the first Phish festival means to me that I really don’t have to go to another Phish festival. I left CB exhausted, but it was worth the effort.”
Nala C. Egapal: “The atmosphere was so incredibly warm and welcoming. I recall such a large amount of vehicles but I feel like traffic (getting in and out) was not a problem. One of my biggest memories was watching Trey on the screen almost lost staring at the “Mr. Sausage” booth and those words coming out…”Mr. Sausage” I had never been to a festival before, but this opened my eyes to how awesome they could be. There was so much to explore, people on shakedown, the giant art pieces, people getting lost within themselves playing devil sticks, etc… The weather was hot and clear from what I remember, and nights were perfect. I did not see the set the band played on the flatbed trailer but remember hearing about it the next day. My favorite set was definitely set 1 just because of the energy level, my but favorite song was either “Makisupa Policeman” or “Chalkdust Torture.” One cannot forget Ben and Jerry singing.”
Darren Barcomb: “I had seen the Grateful Dead in 1994 and 1995 in Highgate, Vermont, and can say that the Clifford Ball definitely established Phsh as the premier festival group in the post-Grateful Dead era. The Plattsburgh airbase was a perfect spot for a 70,000+ person weekend performance but I do recall issues with heavy traffic and high demand for food/water. Overall, it was a well received show by those in attendance and is still discussed in Plattsburgh routinely 22 years later. I’m not sure if the local community loved the event, but those in attendance enjoyed a historic weekend.”
On November 15, 2017, founder Kevin Lyman shared that after 23 amazing summers of music, Vans Warped Tour would celebrate its final run in the summer of 2018. Making up for the upsetting news was the release of this summer’s diverse lineup, featuring bands from the electronic duo 3OH!3 to folk singer-songwriter Frank Turner, the charismatic members of popular Canadian rock band Simple Plan, to the abrasive metalcore of August Burns Red, with so much more sprinkled in.
While Vans holds the top seat as the festival’s primary sponsor (hence the festival’s name change), several other sponsors will be hosting multiple stages on the tour, including Journey’s (who will host a ‘Right Foot’ and ‘Left Foot’ stage), Monster (with a cleverly named ‘Mutant Red Dawn’ and ‘Mutant White Lightning’ stage, named after the ultra-caffeinated energy drinks), owly.fm and Full Sail University (to stage some up-and-coming bands). The tour is already underway, making stops in Camden, NJ this Friday, followed by Holmdel, NJ on Saturday, then Hartford, Connecticut this Sunday. The tour will also make a stop at the Darien Center in New York on July 25, and Jones Beach Ampitheatre on July 28. In celebration of it’s 23-year legacy, here are two reasons why Vans Warped Tour stands out as one of the most impressive touring festivals of its era.
1 – From start to stardom, Vans Warped Tour has introduced us to some of our favorite bands.
Since its first run in 1995, many bands have Warped Tour to thank for their rise to popularity. Avenged Sevenfold, Fall Out Boy, and Paramore are a few of the many bands that played the Warped Tour stage early in their careers, and continued to play each year in the early 2000s as their repertoire expanded. A prime example of the festival’s impact is Baltimore-based band All Time Low, who played a small stage at Warped back in 2007. Shortly after, the band released their second studio album So Wrong, It’s Right, which caught a wave of fans and charted number 6 on the Independent Albums chart in the US. The band went on to headline the festival in the following years, even topping the lineup list for this year’s fest.
The festival always had punk rock at heart, but shed some light on other genres, hosting Limp Bizkit in 1997, the Black Eyed Peas in 1999, and Katy Perry in 2008. The festival organizers adapted to the evolving popular music scene while remaining true to their roots, and the massive following that ensued placed Warped Tour as the largest traveling music festival in the United States.
2 – There’s nothing quite like the Warped Tour experience.
Walking around the grounds of the fest is a treat alone. The outcasts of the everyday find sanctuary in a crowd of like-minded cohorts at Warped Tour. Goths, skaters, and punks alike flock to the stages to dance, mosh, or whatever feels right for them. This space is theirs and free of judgement, which fosters a unique and enticing crowd experience for a first-timer. The festival takes great pride in activism, drawing attention to important causes as well, from suicide prevention to breast cancer awareness. Patrons who donate to these causes can get special interactions with artists and receive signed gear, only to further awareness among the festival. You can even get express entry to this year’s fest by donating three cans of food or $5 to Feed Our Children NOW.
Music education also plays a key role in the festival, with free lessons often offered to concert-goers. In past years, the John Lennon Bus has also set up shop at the fest, which holds a mini studio for younger attendees to interact with music in a reclusive setting. When attendees need a break from the scores of performances scheduled for the day, there are so many experiences to take in, and you’ll never know what (or even who!) you might find around the festival grounds.
A bittersweet heaviness will follow each attendee at the festival’s last return this summer, but the nostalgic lineup and all-encompassing experience will be sure to bring great enthusiasm in honor of a successful 23-year run. Be sure to get your tickets for this weekend’s festivities and the tour’s future stops on the Vans Warped Tour site. The remaining dates can be found there as well in case you’re beyond the tri-state area. For the full artist lineup and more info, head to the Vans Warped Tour artist page and info page, and be sure to follow the latest happenings on Facebook. We’ll see you on tour!
Fans of Twenty One Pilots are finally privy to information about what’s on the horizon for the iconic pop duo. Two songs, a music video, and tour details have just been unveiled – “Jumpsuit” and “Nico and The Niners” are the first singles from the the long-anticipated new LP from Twenty One PIlots, Trench, which is due out on Oct. 5.
Twenty One Pilots, Photo by Cathy Bechle
The ensuing Bandito Tour kicks off this fall in the U.S. Over the winter they travel to Australia, New Zealand, and Europe. Dates in New York State include NYCB Live in Uniondale on Oct. 27 and Madison Square Garden in NYC on Oct. 30. Visit twentyonepilots.com for more information.
The annual tradition of the New York City Ballet taking up their summer residency in Saratoga, NY at Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC) is upon us. Earlier this week seven tractor trailers began arriving carrying costumes, shoes, lights, sets, and anything else a world class ballet company would require on tour. Crews are working hard to ready the stage for the dancers including hanging the beautiful backdrops, and running over 3 miles of cable. Dancer’s have an entire truck load of costumes for this year’s one week run of performances along with over 1000 pairs of toe shoes.
This year’s run begins on Tuesday, July 17 with a production of All Balanchine. George Balanchine was a world renown choreographer, who also had a hand in designing SPAC’s stage and acoustics. There will also be performances of Romeo + Juliet, and 21st Century Choreographers, The closing performance will be on Saturday, July 21 with the 2018 Gala featuring a celebration of Jerome Robbins and Leonard Bernstein. Details can be found at spac.org
Most days of the year, Gibbs Street in Rochester’s East End is a quiet side street you’d drive by without taking much notice. Though for 9 days in late June, it gets renamed Jazz Street and the surrounding area becomes a vast musical hullabaloo. Big tents are erected, rock clubs become jazz clubs, and churches morph into ornate high-ceilinged music venues. Food vendors come by truck, tent and cart. Police blockade traffic while happily allowing open alcohol containers in the streets. A tale of such excitement would hardly be believed, had it not occurred every year for the past eighteen years. This was the Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival’s 18th season, and this is what we saw.
We saw over 40 different artists in 16 different venues. The music was inescapable. Whether blasting from the Jazz Street Stage, the Chestnut Street Stage, the Fusion Stage, the outdoor speakers at the Big Tent, or from the multitude of quality musicians busking on every corner of every street, even passing between Club Pass venues was filled with sweet sounds.
True to the Fest’s mantra, we saw artists we knew and we saw artists we didn’t.
We saw familiar festival alumni return in a not-so familiar way.
Norwegian piano trio, In the Country, made their third visit to the festival this year. Though this time they backed singer Solveig Slettahjell and guitarist Knut Reiersrud in a group called Trail of Souls. They opened and closed with Norwegian folk songs and in between sandwiched an invigorating set of American gospel, folk, blues and rock. Reiersrud’s guitar was angular, jarring, beautiful and fluid while Slettahjell’s voice fell somewhere between Cesaria Evora and Nina Simone. Her hands extended out, fingers hitting invisible keys in the air, playing her vocal chords like a piano. Highlights include a piano and voice duet on the traditional “Motherless Child,” a flourishing spacey take on Peter Gabriel’s “Mercy Street,” and a stunning slow building “Nobody’s Fault But Mine.”
Cuba’s Alfredo Rodriguez and Pedrito Martinez have both played the festival as leaders of their own bands. This year they returned together as a duo, a mini-Cuban supergroup. The two played from an album they just recorded and will be out early next year. Rodriguez’s head rolled on a swivel as he engaged in entrancing and hypnotic piano solos. Martinez had a full palette of congas to make his percussion sing. Both also sang, eventually involving the audience in singing the chorus to a traditional Cuban song.
Adventurous piano trio The Bad Plus returned to the festival after a ten year absence. This year the band experienced their first lineup change, replacing founding pianist Ethan Iverson with Orrin Evans. The Bad Plus has always been the sum total of the musician’s personalities. Iverson was fairly rigid and controlled with a heavy classical influence. Evans brings in a looser more free-wheeling attitude. The music then was more fluid, the band took more improvisational risks, and even delved into a more traditional swinging jazz sound at times. The band hit on a few classics like “Big Eater” and “Anthem for the Earnest” but really focused most of their attention on their new material like the manic “Safe Passage” and the aired out beauty of “People Like You.”
We saw yet another church turn into a temple of jazz worship. Joining the Christ Church and Lutheran Church, the newly renovated Temple Theater, or Grace Road Church, became the latest venue on the Club Pass series. Plentiful comfortable seats, great sight lines, beautiful stained glass and pristine sound made it one of the best venues and just another reason to praise jazz-us!
We saw a trumpet player sing and a singer play trumpet. Nicholas Payton returned to the festival for the third time. On his last visit in 2016 he played trumpet and keys simultaneously, but the set was cut short by a fire alarm. This year he added a keys player to make a quartet. It would be too easy for him to stick to just the trumpet, so he added singing to his repertoire, taking the vocals on his ‘derangement’ of “How Deep is the Ocean” and for a piece based on an essay by Max Roach called “Jazz is a Four Letter Word.” He even had the Kilbourn Hall audience rapping along by the end of that one.
The aptly named vocalist, Jazzmeia Horn, on the other hand, turned her voice into an instrument. Her classic interpretation of jazz standards got turned on their head once she started scatting. Impossible sounds emerged from her mouth as she pushed the human voice to exciting new realms. It’s possible the best trumpet player we saw at the festival didn’t even play the trumpet!
We saw younger jazzmen turn the acoustic, electric.
It isn’t so much that Moon Hooch is a trio consisting of two saxophones and a drummer. It’s how each is played. Saxophones of all kinds, bass, electronic and everything in between, were run through ample effects to create sounds previously alien to jazz and the world in general. With a ruleless and ruthless onslaught of massive noise the band had the crowd shaking their bones voluntarily or otherwise. The band didn’t so much as stop to breath for their full hour set in the Big Tent, leaving absolutely no room for woulds or coulds. Shirtless ten minutes in, drummer James Muschler held the dance party together with EDM-ready beats and his own bout with a soprano sax and even some off-kilter bangs on a baby grand.
U.K.’s Gogo Penguin are a more traditional trio, with piano, bass and drums. Though more subtle with the electronics, they still packed a punch. Chris Illingworth had the piano wired in such a way that he could play acoustic and electric sounds simultaneously. Nick Blacka had his double-bass running through an array of pedals befitting a rock band. Drummer Rob Turner appeared to be fully acoustic though his beats veered into electronic music territory. The energy driving the music ebbed and flowed, with more swells than breaks and an incredibly big sound from three men.
We saw artists from islands to the west, and islands to the east.
Hawaii’s Ron Artis II, shaped guitar sounds from his axe like molding putty in his hands, effortlessly throwing short bits of brilliance this way and that. His trio, The Truth, rode with him every step of the way as he conquered blues, funk and soul, sometimes all at once, in a set that wowed an ever-growing crowd inside the Big Tent venue.
Through the Made in the U.K. series held at the Christ Church there was plenty of great music from across the pond. One of our favorites were Beats n’ Pieces Big Band, who sported a 9-piece horn section as part of a 14-man ensemble that made them the largest band to ever play the venue. It’s songs often ended in explosions of chaos, sounds bouncing every which way around the cavernous hall.
We also loved young vocalist Zara McFarlane, who injected more traditional jazz with 70s soul grooves and reggae, reaching into her Jamaican heritage. Though she was the leader, the band wasn’t reserved for backing duties, the music was much more of an equal parts affair, giving everyone plenty of space to shine.
We saw some pretty unusual jazz instruments.
Brooklyn trio House of Waters shined a spotlight on the nearly-forgotten hammered dulcimer. In a stunning set at Max of Eastman Place, Max ZT played a hammered dulcimer that he built himself, in pieces ranging from funky to rocking to hypnotic. Moto Fukushima played the bass as a lead instrument, eliciting a sound reminiscent of Victor Wooten keeping the music in constant movement.
Mwenso and the Shakes brought a completely unique twist to vocal jazz, breaking up normal song patterns into chunks, stretching here, punctuating there. Upping the ante on the unusual, the 8-piece band included a tap dancer. One song consisted of a mostly (or completely?) improvised tap dance and guitar duet that was simply incredible and incomparable.
We saw fed up citizens use their talent as a platform for protest. While it isn’t unprecedented for the artists at the jazz fest to get political, this year’s voices of protest were much more prominent and prevalent. Indeed there was an entire set dedicated to speaking out. Drummer Ulysses Owens Jr. presented his Songs of Freedom, featuring singers Alicia Olatuja and Theo Bleckmann interpreting the music of Joni Mitchell, Nina Simone and Abbey Lincoln. Songs written decades ago remain relevant today. Olatuja opened the set with a gorgeous take on “Both Sides Now” and finished it with an “Everything Must Change” that had some in the audience in tears. Bleckman put his spin on the all-too timely “Borderline” using filters and loops to stunning effect. He also had his voice sounding like an organ in a set highlight performance of “There’s a Balm in Gilead.”
Singer Deva Mahal‘s band came out dressed in white to show solidarity with those marching to protest families being ripped apart at the country’s border. In a set spanning pop, funk, rock and soul, she also exhibited some gospel influence, singing “Everyone deserves to be free / I would stand for you would you stand for me?”
Jazzmeia Horn used “Willow Weep For Me” to opine on the state of race in the country, singing about police brutality, private prisons and more.
Matt Wilson‘s Honey and Salt played from his latest project, putting music to Carl Sandberg poems. The set oozed with pure joy; musicians joking, laughing and smiling, music bouncing and bright. Fun as it was, it wasn’t without a serious note. Introducing the song “Choose” to close out the set, Wilson noted that while it was always relevant, it was even more so in the past 500 days. “The single clenched fist lifted and ready / Or the open asking hand held out and waiting / Choose: For we meet by one or the other.” The music resembled a march, and after the band’s final bows, they marched off stage chanting the words.
Honey and Salt closed out the programming at the Kilbourn Stage. As such, a line from another of the poems they played seemed quite relevant as well. “To know silence perfectly, is to know music.” After nine magical days, Jazz Street would be silent again.
For this is a festival that no one can beat! And to think that we saw it on Jazz Street!
Frends from around the globe converged on Mt. Ellen this past weekend for the Frendly Gathering 2018. The three-day event proved that the event’s foundation of music, camping, community and sustainability are viable cornerstones to a successful weekend. Music started with a Frendly Gathering pre-party on Thursday June 28. In perfect syncopation, the weekend concluded just as new laws legalizing recreational marijuana in Vermont took effect.
Despite minor rain showers as Frends arrived on Thursday afternoon, mother nature cooperated just as music started later in the evening. The beautiful blue skies continued throughout the weekend and the green mountains of Vermont served as the perfect backdrop to a weekend of thoughtful music, community and frendship.
Major highlights to the weekend included the events main headliners. Thursday night, Twiddle frontman Mihali Savoulidis joined Nakho Bear for a rare Mihali & Nahko set. The duo highlighted not only a variety of their own solo music, but also played a variety of cover tunes.
Savoulidis joined his Twiddle band mates on Friday evening where frends were treated to a two-hour set from the Vermont quartet. Most of the weekend attendees agree that while they missed multiple sets from Twiddle, the Frendly Gathering staple was still their weekend favorite. Andrew Chaney from Willsboro NY, who attended his third Frendly Gathering this year told NYS Music that Twiddle is always his favorite band to see with his frends. “The lyrics consume your mind, while the instruments consume your soul.”
For many attendees, it was Friday night’s Nahko and Medicine for the People set at the Pacificio Stage that highlighted their weekend. “There is something cleansing about Nahko’s music” said New Haven, CT native Jon Carlisle, “It’s the kind of music that makes you want to go out and put good into the world. And we need more of that in the world right now.”
On Friday evening, the Burton stage played host to both Kamasi Washington and Kat Wright, who both delighted frends with powerful and soulful sets.
On Saturday, bluegrass reigned supreme as both the Devil Makes Three and Greensky Bluegrass packed the Pacifico Main Stage. Just before midnight, Greensky Bluegrass Savoulidis joined the band for a cover of J.J. Cale’s “After Midnight” and Peter Tosh’s “Legalize It” in celebration of Vermont’s changing marijuana laws. Jamtronica fans enjoyed a powerhouse evening set from Emancipator while jam fans gathered early on Saturday evening for Spafford.
The weekend was highlighted by Frendly favorites Upstate (formerly Upstate Rubdown). The Hudson Valley based Appalachian soul powerhouse delighted fans with two sets as well as a pop-up set in the Martin Guitar dome. First year attendee Shane Smith from Manchester, New Hampshire was blow away by the band’s performance “Not just their music but their whole stage presence for both of their sets was perfect, “ he told NYS Music, “and wow can those girls sing!”
Throughout the weekend, several other artists garnered praise from those in attendance. Houston based Gulf soul outfit The Suffers weathered the heat Saturday afternoon with an even hotter set of rich, powerful tunes that pierced throughout the mountain side. “We didn’t make it to the main stage because we just wanted to stay under the shade at our camp, but we could hear The Suffers clear as day back at camp,” noted Alyssa Monarch, a first time Frendly attendee from Rochester, NY. “Their music was so powerful and the vocals so heartfelt, it didn’t matter where we heard it from because it just filled our entire crew with joy.”
Boston based electrofunk quartet Strange Machines kicked off Friday’s Burton stage with a high energy set. On Friday afternoon, Satsung drew a huge crowd, despite toasty mid-day temperatures. Other weekend notables included singer songwriter Kevin Morby and Canadian based indie folk group The Relative.
Beyond the music, the true star of the weekend was the Frendly Gathering’s volunteer team, most notably their massive sustainability crew. Upon arrival, campers were offered colored trash bags to ensure ease of sorting. Volunteers wearing bright pink shirts marked “Frendly Crew” maintained the festival grounds all weekend long as they worked in pairs not only picking up trash, but also keeping labeled trash cans properly sorted. According to Smith, these efforts help encourage him to also be a part of the clean-up process. “The volunteers I saw did an amazing job keeping the place clean,” he praised. “It made me happy and motivated to keep my site clean, too.”
The festival’s commitment to sustainability shined with Kleen Kanteen providing cold, filtered water for attendees. Food vendors provided quality food with little to no waste product. “Too many festivals offer basically only fried food,” said Smith, “but this place had a very good food selection and mostly healthy as well!” To help combat the heat, Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream offered free samples throughout the weekend.
The Frendly Gathering also showcased a variety of vendors, crafts, workshops and products. Twiddle fan funded 501c3 the White LIght Foundation was on site raising money for two local charities, Vermont Family Forest and LoveYourBrain.
As the weekend concluded, many frends noted that it’s the festival’s pillars of music, community, camping and sustainability that makes Frendly Gathering more than just a typical event. “Bigger festivals can be so overwhelming, and you leave feeling like you’ve really left a footprint”, noted Monarch. “I appreciate the fact that the organizers, volunteers and frends understand that sometimes, it should just be quality over quantity. It makes you feel warm to be a part of it.”
Regardless of your political views, there is a general consensus among Americans that they love and support this great country and the ideals on which it was founded. Before nearly every sporting event, each person in attendance stands in solidarity and pays their respect to the flag and what it represents. They forget about their political positions for a brief moment and are silent as they listen to anyone from a pop singer to a youth choir give it everything they’ve got to deliver their most passionate ode to America.
Depending on the game you’re attending, you’ll either hear “The National Anthem,” “God Bless America” or both songs sang as tribute to the men and women who serve in our military. Ironically, and unbeknownst to most in attendance, Irving Berlin’s 1918 patriotic song “God Bless America” was originally written as a “peace song” opposing the first world war, and later changed to a song in support of our troops.
For a short time in the United States, nearly all published music came from a short group of blocks in the middle of Manhattan. The early 19th century saw a boom in songwriting and music publishing companies unlike the world had ever seen, and that area of New York was referred to as Tin Pan Alley.
Songwriters from all over would swarm to the area to have a chance to write piano sheet music sold around the country or hits for Vaudeville or Broadway shows. The cream would rise to the crop and make a name for themselves, with no one more popular than Irving Berlin, a Russian immigrant who moved to the United States at the age of five.
Tin Pan Alley, then and now
In 1918, while away from his piano in Manhattan and serving in the US Army at Camp Upton in Yaphank, NY, Irving wrote the first version of “God Bless America” in an attempt to write the perfect peaceful song that would help unite the world and inspire men to live in harmony, much like notable songwriters Bob Dylan and John Lennon years later. However, after a few versions, he decided that he wasn’t in love with the music and that peace songs were all that were flooding the market at the time, so he decided to put a pin in it for a while.
Having come from Jewish descent and already living through one world war, in 1938, Irving decided take another look at “God Bless America” in response to Hitler’s unsettling rise in Europe.
“I had to make one or two changes in the lyrics,” Irving said,” and they in turn led me to a slight change and improvement in the melody, one line in particular. The original ran: ‘Stand beside her and guide her to the right with a light from above.’ In 1918, the phrase ‘to the right’ had no political significance, as it has now. So, for obvious reasons, I changed the phrase to ‘Through the night with a light from above.’”
Irving Berlin
With the new revisions, the song took off instantly and was even hailed as the new national anthem to many. It was debuted to the public on Armistice Day in 1938 by Kate Smith on her radio show and was quickly spread around the country. In 1940, both Democrats and Republicans adopted the song as their theme, and the peaceful song was beginning to achieve exactly what Irving had intended – though it never did on a global level.
Post-World War II, the song began to gain popularity at sporting events around the country. The trend originally started in Philadelphia at Philadelphia Flyers home games, often sung for good luck and to pay respect for the men and women who served in our country. It was also used at political rallies, schools and concerts across the country.
Today “God Bless America” is not sang as wide spread at sporting events as it used to be, but the song is still heard on occasion to honor our troops. Some sporting teams will sing the song in place of “The National Anthem” and it is not uncommon for Canadian teams to also use the song in its place when honoring our country. The buildings in Tin Pan Alley where the song was full composed still exist today, however, they are no longer filled with clanking pianos and hopeful singers. There is currently a push to have some of the buildings on Tin Pan Alley preserved so the area is not built up like midtown, but as of recently no significant changes have been made from either side.
‘God Bless America’ Lyrics:
God bless America
Land that I love
Stand beside her and guide her
Thru the night with a light from above
From the mountains, to the prairies
To the oceans white with foam
God bless America
My home, sweet home
God bless America
My home, sweet home
With Camp Bisco less than two weeks away, it’s time to start preparing for Color War Xlll: The Over Bezerk! An homage to one of the greatest shows ever played by The Disco Biscuits and feature a remix of the classic Color Wars game that has been played for the past 12 Camp Biscos. For the 13th year of Color War, the games will be played following the rules of the only other game in existence that is as ruthless as the way Biscuits fans get down on the field.
Known as “The game of games” on the streets of Philadelphia, this year will incorporate the rules of Chardee Macdennis from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Only the most savage players on Lot have a chance to play the most savage game ever created and offered to the masses.
Join the Color War teams – Orange, Purple, Green and Blue on Friday, July 13 from Noon to 5pm at the Lazy River in the waterpark. Want to sign up? We got ya covered!
Chardee Macdennis has three levels that dictate the order the games are played in, and the traditional camp games will be reworked to fit under these guidelines:
Level 1 (Mind)- Trivia, Puzzles and Artistry
Level 2 (Body)- Physical Challenge and Endurance
Level 3 (Spirit)- Emotional Battery and Public Humiliation
Color War is not just a war of games, it is a War of psychological warfare! All year long, rival teams take the time to get to know their opponents inside and out so they can use what they have learned to crush their spirits on the field. Just as in It’s Always Sunny, physical representation of the team Captains will assist in shaming the losers with the ceremonious destruction of their game pieces at the end of the game – an added bonus to the glory of winning the coveted Color War Cup!!!
In 1918, while away from his piano in Manhattan and serving in the US Army at Camp Upton in Yaphank, NY, Irving wrote the first version of 
