Warped Tour 2001: Camden, N.J.

by Julio

First let me tell you that I had a great day. It started with a car ride from NYC down to Camden, NJ which is located right outside of Philadelphia. I planned on getting up early but that wasn't happening. I got there around 1:30 which isn't bad considering the concert started at 1:00. After getting my press pass I headed in and went looking for the skaters. I stumbled upon the street course first and checked out some of the amateurs. The street set up consisted of a quarter pipe, a pyramid with a ledge, a funbox with a step, and a couple of rails. One side of the street course was actually just a few plywood boards on a hill. It was good enough and the skaters seemed to really enjoy it. After taking a few pictures I headed towards the other side in search of the Half Pipe, but on the way I was sidetracked by the Lucha Libre-Mexican wrestling. There was this guy dressed in a Sasquatch type outfit fighting with two guys that called themselves 69 degrees. The 69 degree guys were dressed like a typical boy band and people really hated them, of course. People were throwing plastic bottles and whatever they could get their hands on at them. The wrestlers were throwing tortillas at the crowd and I got hit by one right on the side of the face. Don't worry I'm okay and I remembered I was looking for the Half Pipe. I found it after making my way through the crowd. There were about 6 skaters some of which were Mike Frazier, John Comer and Jesse Fritsch along with a girl skater and a couple of fruitbooters (I mean roller bladers). I was really impressed with Mike Frazier's ability. I've seen video of him but seeing him in person is amazing.

By this time I was itching to check out some of the bands so I checked out the end of Less Than Jake's set and waited for The Rollins Band to come on. I saw Henry in the back of the stage getting ready to go on and got some nice shots. I've been a big fan of Rollins for a long time so I was really psyched to see him. I was right in front of the stage below where he was standing. He doesn't really run around much and he mostly stood in his usual Rollins pose which is one foot forward yelling into the mic. Their set was great but too short. I know they have a lot of bands playing but a half hour of The Rollins Band is never enough. Afterwards I checked out Rancid and Pennywise. They were both freaking incredible and worked the crowd into a frenzy. It was about 90 degrees out so the mosh pit must have felt like an oven. I usually have to put up with sweat drenched people, but this time I was hanging on the other side of the barricade.

I was running out of film but I headed over to the Half Pipe to finish off my final roll. I kept wishing I had bought more film. There was an amateur vert contest going on and there were some really good people out there. I respect all skaters and if they can bust a couple of tricks I usually say they're good. I don't skate vert and this was the first time I was hanging on top of a Half Pipe. I kept thinking if I would be able to drop in from that height and the answer is NO for now. I give the vert guys their props because they make it look easy.

I still had some film and decided to go and check out D'12. It's that new rap group that Eminem put on his label. I was about to take some pictures when one of D'12s' security told the Warped Tour security people to get the photographers out of the way. So much for that. I took some pictures on the way out and left the show early with a nice tan and some great pictures.