Kids these days must like throwing shit. Judging by what we saw at the Vans Warped Tour Friday afternoon, it seems to be second or third to smoking dope and being sexually active. Don't worry about that, though; Trojan Condoms was out in force giving up the goods. Luckily, they were all turned into balloons above the crowd.
Rocks Off hadn't seen that many errant water bottles and random refuse in the air at any of our ten previous Warped appearances. Hell, we never saw anything like that in all our time at concerts period. The air above the crowd before and during a band's set on the main stage looked like the skies above Baghdad during a 2003 airstrike, albeit with big ol' fat stinging rain drops instead of missiles.
It wasn't even during just the music that kids were throwing waste in the air. A fan would finish a beer and throw the aluminum bottle in the air like a cartoon character throws a banana peel over their shoulder. We would see pizza crusts launched after the rest of the pie was eliminated.
Mind you, there were trash cans all over the venue. Some were even so-called "green" ones labeled with what trash went into what compartment. And bravo to the Willy Wonka people, your purple Kazoozle wrappers dotted the ground like sticky landmines. Never mind that we ate three of them, and will probably leave work today to look for more.
The only saving grace we seem to cling to is that with eight straight hours of rain, and even though they could have, no one resorted to throwing mud. Rocks Off loves a good party, but we are now pushing 30 and starting to get the temperament of our parents, and
We are at least trying to fight it. Grandpa Rocks Off went directly home after Andrew WK's set, took a warm shower and put on some sensible pants and shoes.