The Gaslight Anthem

Walking out to Jay-Z’s  “Empire State of Mind” (and wearing a blue Derek Jeter shirt), frontman Brian Fallon quickly remarked to the crowd that they should all scream “Jersey” over “York” during the song’s Alicia Keys-sung chorus. Indeed, this show was about New Jersey: it marked the band’s first performance in their home state since releasing American Slang, one of the best albums of 2010 thus far. The Gaslight Anthem kicked things off with a few cuts from that album, including the remarkably catchy title track and “Boxer”, both songs making their way through the airwaves on any rock-format radio stations that haven’t yet closed their doors.

“Blue Jeans & White T-Shirts” was a special cut this evening, with Fallon commenting that even as the band gets to tour all over the world, they still take a piece of their Jersey home with them in the form of this song. Fans hung onto Fallon’s every word, and before jumping into the song he remarked that “at 33 RPM, life ain’t so bad.”  Acknowledging the nearby Cookman Avenue, only recently renovated into a desirable living area, Fallon changed up the song’s final lyrics: “Someday I’ll buy you that house on Cookman — if they don’t keep raising the rents so high”.

The Gaslight Anthem

Sink or Swim‘s “Angry Johnny and the Radio” received unique treatment, as well, with an extended introduction and Fallon injecting bits and pieces of Brand New’s “Jesus” into the song’s bridge. The band only just released American Slang,  so the biggest treats of the evening were the nine cuts (only “We Did it When We Were Young” was absent) from that album. “The Spirit of Jazz” and “Old Haunts” sounded right at home next to old favorites like “The ’59 Sound” and “We Came to Dance”, a funny point to consider when The Gaslight Anthem are barely five years old. Some cuts prior to American Slang were introduced as “old songs”, but the tracks were only released as far back as summer 2007. The songs aren’t old at all — they’re just tired from the band’s relentless touring in the tricounty area.

Some of those songs included “Red in the Morning”, a song Fallon describes as vocally influenced by the California punk quintet The Bronx. The Gaslight Anthem successfully perform so much new and “old” material in one evening by playing extended sets: few acts perform twenty-six song setlists. Even fewer bands barely five years old perform more than twenty in a night. The Gaslight Anthem’s dedication to their live show helps lift them well above their peers; this was no clearer than on the stellar performance of “Great Expectations” that closed the first part of their set.

The Gaslight Anthem

Against Asbury Park’s noise ordinances, the band returned for a five-song encore. Originally planning to cut some of the songs to obey curfew, Fallon announced that the band had been given special permission by the venue to continue on as planned. “Here’s Lookin’ at You, Kid” was a fine way to to wind down the evening, leading right into “The Backseat” wrapping things up in the same manner as it does on The ’59 Sound.

American Slang
Boxer
The Diamond Church Street Choir
Old White Lincoln
Even Cowgirls Get the Blues
Señor and the Queen
Bring it On
Miles Davis and the Cool
The ’59 Sound
The Spirit of Jazz
Angry Johnny and the Radio
Film Noir
Old Haunts
Blue Jeans & White T-Shirts
We Came to Dance
Red in the Morning
Wherefore Art Thou, Elvis?
The Queen of Lower Chelsea
Stay Lucky
Boomboxes and Dictionaries
Great Expectations
Orphans
We’re Getting A Divorce, You Keep the Diner
Wooderson
Here’s Lookin’ at You, Kid
The Backseat

The Gaslight Anthem

It’s hard to ask for more in a setlist — the band has written just under forty songs to date and performed twenty-six of them in one night. Crisp guitars and rock-solid rhythms provided the backdrop for Fallon’s luscious storytelling, told through a bold, gritty alto; the quartet connects with the crowd in and out of each song. The band’s connection with the crowd isn’t superficial. The Gaslight Anthem don’t write stories about adolescent life in New Jersey, they recount them with a brazen wisdom that demands a closer listen.

New Found Glory

Following a performance by opening act Kadawatha, New Found Glory started at 7:15 with “Truck Stop Blues” from their latest album, Not Without a Fight. “All Downhill From Here” followed, and a large portion of the crowd responded to the band’s most well-known song. Still, cuts from quintet’s most popular album — 2002′s Sticks and Stones — were the most exciting, and vocalist Jordan Pundik embraced the energy emitting from longtime fans that pushed their way to the front of an otherwise motionless crowd.

New Found Glory

For “Don’t Let Her Pull You Down”, the Florida quintet taught the audience the song’s namesake chorus using enormous, vibrant signs painted “DON’T”, “LET”, and “HER” (when flipped, the posterboard revealed “BUY OUR SHIRT”). “Hit or Miss” sounded great, and the band’s final cut, “My Friends Over You”, was equally impressive. Veterans of touring, and certainly familiar with larger venues, New Found Glory was sonically sound and exciting to watch during their ten-song setlist. The band pulled no punches, even using their guitar tech to play the keyboard parts live when necessary.

Truck Stop Blues
All Downhill From Here
It’s Not Your Fault
Understatement
Something I Call Personality
Kiss Me (Sixpence None the Richer cover)
Don’t Let Her Pull You Down
Hit or Miss
Failure’s Not Flattering
My Friends Over You

Tegan and Sara

Tegan and Sara Quin, identical twins from Canada, provided direct-support. Slower and more subtle than New Found Glory before them, the evening certainly shifted gears during the twins’ set. Supported by a backing band, the duo  surprisingly constructed half of their setlist from 2004′s So Jealous, strange because the band has released two much more popular albums since. Tegan and Sara undoubtedly drew a number of fans who appreciated the older cuts, though, even if it meant most of the set going over the heads of the Paramore-ready crowd familiar with just their newer, more mainstream material.

Tegan and Sara

Despite playing together for more than ten years, Tegan and Sara still sound rough around the edges. The band’s newest material relies heavily on air-tight production — consequently hitting harder in the studio — and the act’s constant pleas to the crowd to “calm down” because it was “too hot” were a bit off-putting when the crowd was barely moving at all. The penultimate “Northshore” featured the song’s various “don’t [verb]” lyrics on a giant screen behind the band while the twins traded fast-paced lyrics like “don’t bend, don’t bleed, don’t beg, don’t scream, don’t whine, don’t fight, don’t tell me”.

Tegan and Sara

Just hours before Tegan and Sara performed, a United States district court judge overturned California’s Proposition 8 — a ban on homosexual marriage. In celebration of the ruling that apparently touches a personal chord with the sisters, the duo performed “Underwater” from their 2002 full-length, If It Was You, to close their set. Tegan and Sara were enjoyable, but nothing remarkable; to truly enjoy the act’s quirky indie-pop, their studio albums are a much better choice.

You Wouldn’t Like Me
I Bet It Stung
The Con
Walking With a Ghost
So Jealous
Hell
Alligator
Back In Your Head
On Directing
Nineteen
Where Does the Good Go
Speak Slow
Northshore
Underwater

Paramore

By 9:35 Paramore began their set with a lengthy introductory jam, performed behind a stage-concealing curtain. As the band kicked into the opening licks of “Ignorance”, however, the curtain dropped and the Tennessee natives were revealed to the eager crowd. “Feeling Sorry”, another cut from the band’s latest album, Brand New Eyes, went next; in fact, the band played all of their most recent full-length except for “Brick By Boring Brick”, “Turn it Off”, and “All I Wanted”. Riot! single “That’s What You Get” followed, and frontwoman Hayley Williams sounded as strong as ever singing the song’s soaring chorus: “That’s what you get when you let your heart win!”

Paramore

Complementing an already solid lineup, Paramore added a third guitarist, Johnathan Howard, to the tour. The band rarely needs a third guitar, but songs like “Emergency” sounded somewhat beefed up by the addition. Also beefing up their live show were fun videos of the band played in the background during parts of the set, showing brief scenes like the band skateboarding through town or hanging around the house. Make no mistake, however, Paramore’s live show starts and ends with the band’s songs and not gimmicky videos.  “Decode” drew a deafening roar from the crowd — likely due to its use in Twilight — but the song is one of the band’s weaker cuts and indeed the only nick in an otherwise flawless set.

Paramore

Midway through the evening, Paramore’s setlist took an interesting turn with Williams singing a cover of Loretta Lynn’s “You Ain’t Woman Enough”, backed only by lead guitarist (and ex-boyfriend) Josh Farro on acoustic guitar. The brief tune found the two alone on the corner of the stage while the rest of the stage was being rebuilt to resemble a living room, complete with lamps and furniture. The band joined together on couches in the middle of stage to perform mellow, acoustic-based takes of “When it Rains”, “Where the Lines Overlap”, and “Misguided Ghosts”. The change of pace added a welcomed dynamic to Paramore’s otherwise fairly straight-forward arena-rock-ready set.

Paramore

“Let the Flames Begin” returned the band to their electric roots; the band extended the song with a special live-only bridge that has been a part of Paramore’s set for some time. The band returned to their 2005 debut with “Pressure”, with Williams introducing the rest of the band during the song’s drawn-out instrumental breaks. “The Only Exception” appeared to conclude evening, but Paramore returned moments later around 11PM with their breakout single “Misery Business”.

Ignorance
Feeling Sorry
That’s What You Get
For A Pessimist, I’m Pretty Optimistic
Emergency
Playing God
Careful
Decode
You Ain’t Woman Enough (Loretta Lynn cover)
When It Rains
Where the Lines Overlap
Misguided Ghosts
Let the Flames Begin
crushcrushcrush
Pressure
Looking Up
Misery Business

Paramore

It’s unclear why the band inexplicably removed “Brick By Boring Brick” from their encore — the song has been a part of the Honda Civic Tour all summer until Philadelphia — but even with that unfortunate omission Paramore still performed one of the best shows of the summer. Drawing from three excellent albums, the band crafts an exciting setlist that touches on a variety of styles within the punk-pop and pop-rock spectrum. Williams is a fantastic frontwoman anchored by rock-solid musicians, and the band’s live performances are undeniable evidence that the five-piece is more than studio magic.

Photographs credit to the excellent Becca Sawka.

Dashboard Confessional

A few more songs came from that 2001 full-length, including a rousing performance of “Screaming Infidelities” and “Again I Got Unnoticed” back-to-back. Despite a third of the band’s set coming from The Places You Have Come to Fear the Most, the band did manage to sneak in a few new cuts, showing off their more mature songwriting, including “Belle of the Boulevard” with Carrabba on piano. “Everybody Learns from Disaster” was dedicated to an unnamed girl on Friday Night Lights that Carrabba once dated.

Dashboard Confessional

Midway through the set, Carrabba emerged alone with just his acoustic guitar, asking the crowd what songs they wanted to hear. In a mind-numbing moment, most of the crowd implausibly screamed for “Hands Down”, to which Carrabba remarked “you’ll get that one last”. The singer-songwriter settled on the title track from his debut (“The Swiss Army Romance”), allowing the crowd to provide vocals for parts of the song. The band once again rejoined Carrabba afterwards, kicking into a well-executed cover of Weezer’s “El Scorcho”.

Dashboard Confessional

Lead by drummer Mike Marsh’s thunderous percussion, Dashboard Confessional’s performance of “As Lovers Go” dwarfed the meager studio original. “Vindicated” drew an enormous response from the crowd, the band responding with a flawless performance of one of their most popular songs. The quartet performed the more upbeat version of “Stolen” before wrapping up — as they always do — with “Hands Down”. The audience sang along to the repetition in the the song’s final moments as Dashboard Confessional left the stage: “And I knew that you meant it.”

Don’t Wait
The Good Fight
Saints and Sailors
The Places You Have Come to Fear the Most
Carry This Picture For Luck
Screaming Infidelities
Again I Go Unnoticed
Everybody Learns From Disaster
The Swiss Army Romance
El Scorcho (Weezer cover)
As Lovers Go
Belle of the Boulevard
Summer of ’69 (Bryan Adams cover)
Vindicated
Stolen
Hands Down

Dashboard Confessional

Even with rollercoasters bustling not too far away, Dashboard Confessional sounded fantastic for more than sixty minutes, a testament not only to the band’s respectable live show but also the venue’s design. Shifting back and forth between acoustic performances and full-band jams, Dashboard Confessional’s sound never suffered; Northern Star Arena might be one of the best sounding outdoor venues in the area. It’s hard to expect more than a “greatest hits”-styled setlist at a free event inside an amusement park, but with two covers tossed into the sixteen-song performance things stayed fresh throughout the night. The quartet remains a solid example of a well-executed, extremely enjoyable live band.

Reel Big Fish performed at noon, sticking heavily to their older, most well-known songs. In fact, only two of the band’s eleven songs were written in the last decade despite the band releasing more than fifty original cuts over the last ten years. The band’s sophomore album (issued in 1996, which contains re-recordings from their 1995 debut) contributed five of the set’s eleven songs, including absolutely stellar performances of “Beer” and “Sell Out”. Pretending to walk off stage after every song (“thanks, we’ve been the Reel Big Fish!”) in the first half of the set, the California natives set a jovial, lighthearted tone early.

With songs like “She Has a Girlfriend Now” — sings frontman Aaron Barrett during the song’s potent ending: “I never thought it would end like this just because I’ve got no tits / I’ll shave my legs, I’ll wear a bra, I”ll even cut my dick off for you”) — the band thrives on a playful setting, but doesn’t rely on it. Van Morrison’s “Brown Eyed Girl” was undoubtedly in jest, but the band’s cover of the Norwegian mega-hit “Take On Me” is as solid as any cover recorded in the last twenty years. And there lies Reel Big Fish’s true appeal. While many of their So-Cal peers understand the fun side of music, few execute with Reel Big Fish’s precision and musicianship.

Everything Sucks
Thank You For Not Moshing
Another F.U. Song
Brown Eyed Girl (Van Morrison cover)
Your Guts (I Hate ‘Em)
I Want Your Girlfriend to Be My Girlfriend Too
Snoop Dog, Baby
She Has a Girlfriend Now
Sell Out
Beer
Take On Me (A-Ha cover)

The Dillinger Escape Plan

Starkly contrasting the ska antics of Reel Big Fish, The Dillinger Escape Plan played a loud, brash, and to-the-point eight song setlist constructed largely from the band’s latest release, Option Paralysis. Beginning with 2004′s “Panasonic Youth”, the New Jersey locals tore through a career-spanning setlist that drew the biggest response with Calculating Infinity‘s “43% Burnt”. There’s no questioning the band’s unbelievable technical ability or vocalist Greg Puciato’s unrestrained vehemence, but it remains to be seen why the frontman ditches his trademark screams for an embarrassing attempt at traditional singing on songs like the closing “Farewell, Mona Lisa”. The Dillinger Escape Plan were likely the most potent heavy act of the day — that is, when the band stays fierce and unrelenting.

Panasonic Youth
Milk Lizard
43% Burnt
Room Full of Eyes
Chinese Whispers
Good Neighbor
Sunshine the Werewolf
Farewell, Mona Lisa

AM Taxi

The five-piece AM Taxi played next on the nearby side stage, showcasing their blend of Bruce Springsteen-influenced melodic punk rock. Comparable to The Replacements or The Gaslight Anthem, the Chicago natives ripped through a seven song set filled with songs from their recent debut, We Don’t Stand a Chance. Tight guitars, interesting bass lines, and rock-steady percussion backed frontman Adam Grier’s raspy vocals, with occasional keys provided by Luke Schmitt. The band appeared genuine and appreciative of the meager crowd they attracted, and during the penultimate “Shake, Rattle, and Stall” Schmitt traveled down to the audience to sell copies of the band’s album for just five dollars. The unique marketing tactic proved successful, and Schmitt sold every CD he had taken down to the crowd. The keyboardist returned to the stage for the band’s closing song, a solid cover of “Paint it Black”, and AM Taxi wrapped up their set to enormous applause from anyone lucky enough to have caught the up-and-coming act.

Dead Street
Woodpecker
The Mistake
Fed Up
Charissa
Shake, Rattle, and Stall
Paint it Black (The Rolling Stones cover)

Face to Face

Catching all of AM Taxi unfortunately meant missing part of Face to Face‘s setlist. Frontman Trever Keith was characteristically cynical throughout the set, at one point calling out fans of Bring Me the Horizon for idly standing around in the middle of the band’s set. Unquestionably one of the oldest bands in Monmouth Park that day, the California five-piece’s classic ’90s punk-pop was refreshing amongst a backdrop of neon-powered acts on nearby stages. Face to Face’s setlist included “Ordinary”, “Pastel”, “Velocity”, “A-OK”, “Complicated”, and a song from the band’s upcoming full-length, Laugh Now, Laugh Later.

The Riverboat Gamblers

Led by the charismatic Mike Wiebe, The Riverboat Gambers performed on a small sidestage in the mid-afternoon as Face to Face’s set wrapped up. The Texas quintet was exceptionally exciting, gathering a fairly large crowd that grew bigger and bigger as passersby noticed the intense live show. The band played a brand new song (“What Are You Waiting For?”) before wrapping up with Underneath the Owl‘s “Victory Lap” and Something to Crow About‘s “Hey Hey Hey!”; for the latter, Wiebe toppled a nearby trashcan, dragged it across the parking lot to the pit, and then climbed on top, demanding a circle-march around him for the song’s final moments.

The Swellers

The Swellers contractually finished their stint on the Warped Tour before the Oceanport date, but the band still set up a merch tent to make a few extra bucks before heading home to Michigan. In addition, the band teamed up with the Keep-A-Breast non-profit organization to perform a set of acoustic songs at 3PM. Barely miked and quickly improvised, the set consisted of four songs from the band’s latest full-length, Ups and Downsizing. Frontman Nick Diener was overwhelmingly cheerful and lighthearted, coming off extremely relaxed and accessible; his softer takes on normally swift punk-pop songs gave the tracks new life, displaying an honest, sincere vibe that feels missing on the band’s overproduced and lifeless album.

Do You Feel Better Yet?
Ups and Downsizing
Sleeper
Welcome Back Riders

The Mighty Regis

The Mighty Regis, a seven-piece Celtic-punk/folk-punk band from California, was next. Beginning with “Them Bastards” from 2008′s Another Nickel for the Pope, the band played a lengthy six song setlist. “Broken and Battered” was dedicated to Chicago Celtic-punks Flatfoot 56, whose singer Tobin Bawinkel would join the band later for a rousing cover of “Boys from the County Hell”. An unconventional take on “Danny Boy”, featuring Ryan O’Neill on pan flute, finished up The Mighty Regis’s set. Unfortunately, few saw the band put on one of the day’s best sets.

Them Bastards
The Brothers Rafferty
Broken and Battered
Celtic Storm
Boys from the County Hell (The Pogues cover)
Danny Boy

Alkaline Trio

The Flatliners played next, kicking their set off with “July! August! Reno!”. The Canadian punk quartet played a new song, “Common Collection”, next, but I left the sidestage afterwards to catch Alkaline Trio performing across the parking lot.  Opening with the rarely seen “She Took Him to the Lake”, the Chicago three-piece played a respectable collection of early-decade cuts, wisely opting to ignore the less-than-impressive offerings found on 2005′s Crimson and 2008′s Agony and Irony. “My Friend Peter” was a nice surprise, as was a totally unexpected and passionate Nomeansno cover that flew over the head of a crowd not-yet-born when the song was originally recorded in 1989. Alkaline Trio wrapped things up with “97″, tossing in the often-sampled chorus fromRock Master Scott & the Dynamic Three’s “The Roof is On Fire”.

She Took Him to the Lake
Armageddon
Emma
Dine Dine My Darling
My Friend Peter
Blue Carolina
Private Eye
Off the Map
Two Lips, Two Lungs, One Tongue (Nomeansno cover)
97

Motion City Soundtrack

Motion City Soundtrack performed the tightest set of the day, but it was unfortunately the exact same collection of songs performed by the Minnesota five-piece just a few months earlier at the nearby Bamboozle festival. Luckily, the songs are some of the band’s best. Things began with “Attractive Today” leading directly into I am the Movie‘s “The Future Freaks Me Out”, the entire crowd singing the song’s opening lines: “I’m on fire / and now I think I’m ready / to bust a move / check it out I’m rockin’ steady!”

With four albums to choose from, Motion City Soundtrack spread things out quite evenly. Tossing in three cuts from the band’s excellent 2010 release, My Dinosaur Life , frontman Justin Pierre was spot-on yet tired, clearly draining the remains of his stamina on the penultimate “Disappear”.  Still, closing track “Everything is Alright” sounded excellent and the crowd roared to the song’s opening riffs. Motion City Soundtrack never disappoints, but it would have been great if the band switched things up from their last New Jersey appearance just a few months earlier.

Attractive Today
The Future Freaks Me Out
My Favorite Accident
Broken Heart
A Lifeless Ordinary (Need a Little Help)
LG Fuad
This is For Real
Her Words Destroyed My Planet
Disappear
Everything is Alright

Set Your Goals

As the sun began to set, Set Your Goals played a large side-stage. Drawing in fans of all genres, the band opened things with their latest single, the blistering “Gaia Bleeds”, setting the tone of their performance immediately. “Goonies Say Die”, from their debut EP, made an appearance in the nine-song set, and a surprising number of attendees responded to the song. Highlights included “Summer Jam”, a song almost describable as a Warped Tour anthem, and the one-two closing punch of the “Dead Men Tell No Tales” into “Mutiny”. Unfortunately, the band sounded hollow — especially vocalists Matt Wilson and Jordan Brown — a far cry from their normally-outstanding intensity. The rest of the band picked up the slack, though, with crisp leads and rock-solid rhythms anchoring an enjoyable performance.

Gaia Bleeds (Make Way For Man)
The Fallen
This Very Moment
Summer Jam
Goonies Never Say Die
To Be Continued…
Echoes
Dead Men Tell No Tales
Mutiny

Criticisms of Warped Tour’s sixteenth year are often targeted at the overwhelming number of awful bands on the tour. It’s not unfounded. At the Oceanport date alone acts like Alesana, Artist vs Poet, Attack Attack, Breathe Carolina, Breathe Electric, Bring Me the Horizon, Emarosa, Emmure, Four Year Strong, Hey Monday, In Fear and Faith, Mayday Parade, NeverShoutNever, Pierce the Veil, VersaEmerge, and We the Kings undoubtedly cluttered the parking lot with uninteresting tunes, but there were more than enough diamonds in the rough worth checking out. At least one solid band was playing at any given time, including a number of overlaps that meant missing quality acts like Every Time I Die, Fake Problems, and Flatfoot 56. At just $40 per ticket, Warped Tour remains an excellent opportunity to see a large number of favorites in one day. More importantly, it might expose you to your new favorite band.

Photos credit to the amazing Rebecca Sawka.

Weezer

“Trippin’ Down the Freeway” included part of the rarely seen “Keep Fishin’” from Maladroit; the 2002 album also contributed “Dope Nose”, sung by bassist Scott Shriner. “Say it Ain’t So” was predictably massive, and “Island in the Sun” was transformed midsong from a solo Rivers Cuomo acoustic performance into a full-band jam. The instrumental “Brian’s Theme” lead into “Can’t Stop Partying”, showing off the band’s latest sarcastic offerings and commentary on modern pop music. “El Scorcho” was a pleasant surprise, though Pinkerton was criminally underrepresented in the eighteen-song set. Luckily, the band’s blue album contributed five cuts, including the energetic “My Name is Jonas” which went before the set-closing “Beverly Hills”.

Weezer’s encore began with the opening licks of Van Halen’s “Hot For Teacher” before shifting gears and jumping into 2008′s “Pork and Beans”. A flat and unnecessary cover of MGMT’s “Kids” intertwined with Lady Gaga’s “Poker Face” brought Weezer’s triumphant setlist crashing down, but luckily the excellent “(If You’re Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To” from the band’s latest effort, Raditude, brought things back to life. As always, Weezer finished with “Buddy Holly”, and the Williamsburg crowd responded with roaring applause.

Hash Pipe
Troublemaker
Undone (The Sweater Song)
Surf Wax America
Trippin’ Down the Freeway
Perfect Situation
Dope Nose
Say It Ain’t So
Island in the Sun
Brian’s Theme
Can’t Stop Partying
El Scorcho
My Name is Jonas
Beverly Hills
Pork and Beans
Kids (MGMT cover)
(If You’re Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To
Buddy Holly

Predictable yet solid, Weezer stuck primarily to their long-established setlist. Performing away from a nation-wide tour, the Brooklyn venue would have been a good chance to play a slightly different set, but the band opted to take the safe, well-traveled route instead. Thankfully, Weezer’s staples are overwhelmingly a collection of their top cuts, and songs like “Surf Wax America” are always a treat in a live environment. The California quartet is set to issue their eighth full-length, Hurley, on Epitaph Records in 2011 — Williamsburg Waterfront may have been the last performance of some lesser known songs as Weezer undoubtedly retools their setlist to make room for new material.