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The Calgary Herald has this Warped Tour review, with some boffo words about the 'Bot:

Warped not all wonderful: Punk loses its edge

SOURCE: Calgary Herald

BYLINE: Heath McCoy

BODY:
The Vans Warped Tour at Race City Motorsport Park Thursday featured over 60 bands, including, Bad Religion, NOFX, Ima Robot, and Taking Back Sunday. Attendance: About 10,000.

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Band X launches into a furious punk rock set. Band Y slams its way through an energetic offering of mosh-happy punk pop anthems.

Band Z serves up a fiery platter of frenzied tunes.

And so it went with the punk rock/extreme sports Vans Warped tour at Calgary's Race City Motorsport Park on Thursday.

There's only so many ways one can possibly sum up the sounds of Vans Warped after five years here.

Every year features a few good bands, loads of so-so acts and plenty of lousy Gong-Show groups, but because most are tapping into the same well -- a bubbling, volcanic brew of full-on, pedal-to-the-metal punk rock burn -- too much of it begins to sound the same.

White noise richochets from one stage to the next across the park (this year there was a total of nine stages) and before long all one hears is a whole lot of punk sludge.

When a group is able to rise up from the sludge, however, and distinguish themselves from their Warped comrades, it becomes all the more noteworthy.

A handful of bands did just that Thursday.

New Jersey's My Chemical Romance stood out with catchy hooks and charismatic frontman Gerard Way frying in the summer sun dressed in a suit jacket and tie, his jet black hair drenched with sweat.

Warped veterans The Vandals scored with the sheer potency of their attack, and the goonish antics of singer Dave Quakenbush who climbed to the top of the stage rig like a gorilla. Another Warped staple, NOFX, was also predictably fun and frantic.

The day suffered a disappointing loss with the absence of Sweden's The Sounds, whose perky, poppy blend of hard rock and '80s synth-pop could have added much- needed variety to the day. Singer Maja Ivarsson called in sick for her Calgary gig.

Jesper Anderberg, who plays synthesizer for The Sounds, did make it onstage however, briefly, for New Found Glory's set, giving the rather average MTV-slick pop punk band a cool sort of a-ha meets Green Day flavour.

Minneapolis-based underground hip-hop act Atmosphere was a highlight, delivering clever raps and funky, stoned-out grooves courtesy of the group's DJ, Mr. Dobbs, who wore a ball cap and bandito-style scarf across his face.

The tour's freshest, most striking showing, came courtesy of California-bred retro-electro rockers, Ima Robot. As the group's infectious, danceable garage rock revealed shades of Devo, disco, The Cars, and Bowie, shirtless singer Alex Ebert proved himself an excellent frontman, brimming with sexuality, impudence and in-your-face energy.

If only there were more such bands.

At the end of the day, Vans Warped is more than a music festival. It's a scene; a fair number of the kids who show up appear more interested in making that scene than they are in the music.

That was clear when the rains came down after 8 p.m., just as Yellowcard and Taking Back Sunday were about to take the stage. Half the crowd fled the park, leaving only the diehards to mosh in the slosh.

Ah, Vans Warped. You beat yourself black and blue in the moshpits. Roll around in the mud. Laze in the sun. Show off your tattoos, multiple piercings, skimpy bikinis, battle scars, whatever, depending on your own personal style. You can even decide, on the spur of the moment, to get yourself a mullet or a mohawk, or buy some leather bondage gear in the bizarro Vans Warped village.

You don't have to grow up, and the prevailing love of punk rock aside, that vibe is a big reason this tour, despite its limitations, continues to draw in Cowtown.

hmccoy@theherald.canwest.com