For Jewish kids, the Warped Tour is like Christmas in July. The level of talent playing this year’s tour is mind-boggling, and when listed out of context, the bands I decided to watch this year reads like really something special: VAUX, TSUNAMI BOMB, THRICE, GLASSJAW, ANDREW WK, BRAND NEW, RANCID, ME FIRST AND GIMME GIMMES, and THE ATARIS. Unlike last year, where I didn’t even venture over to the main stage, instead, choosing to hang out by the Punkrocks.net stage and watch mostly lesser known (but still completely excellent) bands, the attraction of the main-stages this year was too hard to resist.

Things got off to a quick start, as I heard TSUNAMI BOMB playing on the main-stage just as I walked in from the parking lot. Although I didn’t get the chance to actually see them on the stage, the lovely, and highly talented Agent M was signing autographs later in the day (for two hours!) by the Interpunk booth, and my friends and I managed to snag a picture with her. I liken this band to sounding similar to old AFI with incredible female vocals. Their Kung-Fu records disc, “”The Ultimate Escape,”" is pure pleasure.

VAUX was the first band on my agenda to check out for an entire set, and as they totally destroyed live with BOY SETS FIRE in DC a few months ago, even without the wicked light show, VAUX were stunning. Playing the Maurice stage this year, instead of the Volcom, the band sounded tremendous, and dished out such songs as “”Ride Out Bitch,”" “”On Love and Cars,”" and closed with the epic, “”Set It To Blow.”" The drummer played the finale almost entirely with one hand, while twirling his stick in the other. I personally enjoyed it when the band’s vocalist, Quentin, announced to the crowd, “”We have a new cd out, buy it, we think it’s pretty great.”" If you’re looking for a new twist on the hardcore sound, with organs, an extra guitar, and a whole lotta great multi-vocal screaming, VAUX is where it’s at.

Immediately up next was THRICE, and although it was only 1:30pm in the day, the crowd that amassed by the main stage for them was expansive. Opening up with “”Kill Me Quickly,”" I seriously felt like I was going to bust a lung singing along, also trying to not hurl my camera onto the stage as I snapped photos like a madmen. (Tangent: why is that “”real”" photographers give you such nasty looks if you actually sing along and get into the band you’re shooting? Lame.) Anyway, THRICE touched on “”Where Idols Once Stood,”" new ones such as “”Under A Killing Moon”" (which was nothing short of explosive), the current single, “”All That’s Left,”" the mid-paced bruiser, “”Silhouette,”" and closed with a blazing take of “”To Awake and Avenge The Dead.”" Even with THRICE’s ultra-technical songwriting, these guys were able to sound spot-on outdoors and flash some snazzy stage presence in the process.

I came into the day with a mission: to interview and get a photo with the one, the only ANDREW WK, and while I failed in achieving those tasks – the man is seriously building up more and more reasons to claim the “”Audio Messiah”" title that’s been branded onto him. As my friend, exhausted from non-stop fun in the pit, said to me, “”I’m not sure I could handle more than 30 minutes of this,”" it must be known that the positive spirit and pure romp of energy that is ANDREW WK could and should put a smile on anyone’s face. For me, the Warped Tour is always a feel good day, no matter what bands you catch live, and there’s no doubt that ANDREW WK “”gets”" the whole spirit behind the tour. Songs played included a new called “”Your Rules,”" “”We Want Fun”" from the “”Jackass”" soundtrack, and hits such as “”She Is Beautiful,”" “”Party Head,”" and “”Ready to Die.”"

Shortly after ANDREW WK, we came to the tough realization that we had missed YELLOWCARD on the Maurice stage, and since the heat was beginning to reach its apex of the day, some food in our systems wouldn’t be too bad a choice. The $8 chicken fingers and fries, while plenty hot, and not all that salty were only mildly satisfactory (the honey mustard dipping sauce was languid and chewy – sauces should not CHEWY!), and I think my $4 soda evaporated while the cup was sitting on the pavement, but so is life is the summer heat. Eating also caused us to miss POISON THE WELL, but we heard they “”tore it up.”" Nice.

A bit later in the day, after doing some interviews (GLASSJAW, VAUX), it was back to the music for the final 3+ hours, at first taking in a little bit of COHEED AND CAMBRIA. And by taking in, I mean, hearing the music and seeing only the singer’s absurd afro peak above the crowded spectators by the Volcom stage. The BRAND NEW guys were up next on the Maurice stage after COHEED, and it was pretty cool that the band was watching COHEED intently and applauding as they finished. The scene by the Maurice stage was pure lunacy for BRAND NEW. As I was taking some photos, two girls directly behind me, crushed against the barrier, were bawling their eyes out for vocalist Jesse Lacey. It was almost impossible to walk anywhere near this stage during their set, and it proved that BRAND NEW really belonged on the main stage, where I’m sure they’ll be next year. I managed to catch the guys play “”Sic Transit Gloria – Glory Fades,”" and “”Jude Law and a Semester Abroad,”" before I had to scoot to watch GLASSJAW, but in just those two songs, it was clear that BRAND NEW were making a lot of people very very happy.

GLASSJAW – man, what can be said about GLASSJAW that’s even mildly accurate about how talented and fierce this band is, both live and in the studio. With a healthy Daryl Palumbo, these guys are unstoppable live. Opening up with “”Tip Your Bartender,”" and immediately flying into “”Mu Empire,”" it was aural whiplish. Also touched on was “”Ape Dos Mil,”" an odd, slow choice for the Warped Tour, but it definitely sounded fantastic, and “”Radio Cambodia.”" The guys played a new song called “”Natural Born Father,”" which had some sweet guitar work and a bass line that was vigorous. The scattershot style of the vocals on the new song gave it almost a hip-hop feel, highlighting the band’s genius in textures. GLASSJAW closed with “”Siberian Kiss,”" and the crowd went nuts, featuring one of the few dust blow-ups of the day. Do NOT miss this band live.

After GLASSJAW, I gladly would have gone home a beaming man, but no, there was oh so much more rock to indulge in, most importantly for me being RANCID. I only got to take photos during one song of RANCID, because the security kicked us out of the area due to too many kids crowd surfing and coming over the barrier. It should be noted that the security people at Nissan Pavillion were awesome the entire today and were very heads up when it looked like someone was getting hurt or needed water. Considering the fact these kinds of security people are the minority (or actually are professionals), they deserve some recognition for their hard work. So back to RANCID – these guys are definitely ready for their second trip to the mainstream, and with their catchy-as-SARS single “”Fall Back Down,”" and shout-outs to “”our homeboys in GOOD CHARLOTTE and SIMPLE PLAN,”" it’s no secret that RANCID has the desire to be a radio mainstay again. And who can fault them with the songwriting abilities they possess and pure musical charm? Opening with “”Radio,”" and continuing next with “”Ruby Soho,”" “”Roots Radical,”" and “”Journey To The End of the East Bay,”" the band sounded tight and vibrant. For the new ska-rock song, “”Red Hot Moon,”" Rob from TRANSPLANTS came out and sang a verse, which was pretty neat. RANCID also slashed through “”Dead Bodies,”" and Lars did a solo version of “”The Wars End.”" The band closed with a rousing version of “”Time Bomb,”" which still, after seven hours in the sun, managed to get people moving up and down.

I didn’t get to watch too much of ME FIRST AND THE GIMMES, but I managed to pick out “”Sweet Caroline,”" “”I Believe I Can Fly,”" and the closer, “”Nothing Compares 2 U.”" The guys were as expected, in full Hawaiian shirt regalia and with their awesome new glitterly guitars (as seen on the cover of their new one, “”Take A Break”"). Closing out the day for us was THE ATARIS (we opted to skip THE USED for no real reason…), who managed to get the crowd into a massive circle pit around the sound booth, prompting a few to hoist a massive garbage can in the air, and launch it towards the front of the stage where it was promptly crowd-surfed into the hands of security. Rad. Kris Roe and company seemd really tight, and the sound quality for them was perfect, as it was most of the entire day, a major improvement from previous years. The new material played from “”So Long Astoria”" sounded crisp, and the crowd singing along to “”In This Diary”" was of the feel-good type. As expected, the band closed with “”San Dimas High School Football Rules,”" and it was a simmering end to a damn long and tiring day.

A few more highlights and the seldom lowlight:

- ANDREW WK was signing autographs in his tent for almost three hours. That man seems to have enough endurance to operate a factory singlehandedly.

- Getting hit in the back of the head with a cd while taking photos during GLASSJAW kinda sucked. This however was minimal compared to the girl next to me who got slammed with a mostly-full bottle of soda. Why the fuck do people need to toss these “”weapons”" towards the stage. Ungrateful assholes.

- Getting attacked by giant flies during the one bathroom stop of the day. Weird man, weird.

- Spotting uber-producer Brian McTernan on stage for THRICE and hanging out in their merch booth. He’s the best hardcore producer out there, hands down, and a truly nice guy.

- Praise to MSOPR for being ultra-organized with the press stuff, though placing the press tent in East Afghanistan was a small annoyance.

- Joe Oz and the Hellbent Records crew for having a booth selling hundreds of different hardcore and metal cds. Warped tour would really benefit from having a host of metalcore bands on a stage all day long, and at least these guys were there to present a rad shopping option.

- Epitaph had their mailing-list sign-up done through computer terminals this year, which was way less chaotic than previous years with everyone trying to write their info down on tiny cards. Yay for technology!

- VAUX… best band you’ve probably never heard of. Change that, right now.