Warped DC Day 2 - 6/14

June 22, 2026

This is part 3 of 3 of my Warped series. Part 1 is located here. Part 2 is here.

Setting the tone

Sunday morning is where it becomes undeniable that I was not as prepared for this as I thought. I had some gastrointestinal distress overnight combined with pretty bad muscle cramps. Electrolytes. You need them when you're sweating, even if you're in the sauna a few times a week. Noted.

I also woke up to the entire bottom of my left heel covered in a blister. Neat! That's new. I slapped a giant hydrocolloid bandage on that bad boy and put some bandaids over the other spots that I could feel heat on during the first day. Wore socks. Ate an extra string cheese like that was going to help. Chugged my energy drink and grabbed an electrolyte drink as my first stop through the gates.

Security was faster this morning, but we were slower so I only caught the tail end of The Dollyrots.

Bands

The Dollyrots

Peep one of their kids doing sick yo-yo tricks to their set. I love being in my 30's.

I unfortunately missed their Bikini Kill cover. I would have loved to be in a tiny pit for that. But I was very intentionally only putting weight on the ball of my left foot this day so it's probably for the best.

I caught the tail end of "Jackie Chan" and the entirety of "Because I'm Awesome". Which was great, that's the song that I wanted to hear!

Interlude because I was dying

Full disclosure, we spent about an hour-an hour and a half sitting on the asphalt under one of like two tents that were available. We watched The Oxymorrons and Jutes from that area, and were able to see some of the skateboarders. That was cool. I liked that my break still had some entertainment. Then I hit up the frozen lemonade stand (because I accepted I was just going to pound those and not alcohol), and headed over for American Hi-Fi.

American Hi-Fi

Another band that pleasantly surprised me! He mentioned in the beginning that they were from Boston and I can't unhear his accent now. It cracked me up in every song.

They also blew out an amp to a not-particularly-heavy song and handled it really well. Made a joke and the crew recovered it.

I don't know who submits the visuals for the sets, but these guys obviously submitted nothing and the singer was both visibily and vocally surprised when he turned around and saw their band name. I love how unprepared he was. He just showed up to rip out a setlist and go back to Boston. I respect it.

Setlist
Surround
Scar
The Breakup Song
Hi-Fi Killer
Another Perfect Day
The Geeks Get the Girls
The Art of Losing
Flavor of the Weak
Happy

I didn't get to be drunk and screaming "her boyfrienddd he don't knowww anything about herr he's too stoned TOO STONED TOO STONED" but doing it sober was still pretty fun.

Boston Manor

I think Be Nothing is a perfect album. I know they really moved away from that sound and prefer their heavier stuff, but I thought maybe they'd do a practice run of some of the older songs since they're gearing up for a full playthrough tour. Nope. We got one.

I was unfortunately really put off by the singer's crowd work. Now I never want to see them again. It seemed like everyone else was having a good time, though.

I'm just not into "we traveled all the way here, make this worth my while" and "other bands suck". I'm sorry that sitting in an air conditioned plane was really hard for you. I'm not gonna go "fuck someone in the pit" because you're on a business trip.

Am I still looking forward to my pretty variant of the re-release of Be Nothing that I pre-ordered? Yeah.

Setlist
Floodlights on the Square
Sliding Doors
England's Dreaming
Laika
Halo
Passenger
Foxglove

Grandson

Yes, that is a man wearing an Elon Musk mask leading a diapered but otherwise naked Trump across the stage on a leash. Obviously.

Having said that, I can't stand Grandson. I'm so sorry. I find his voice really irritating and can't get into him despite him seeming like largely a good dude. My husband really likes him. Marriage = compromise.

Thank you Kevin Lyman for putting Grandson in the lineup and not having him conflict with something that I was excited for so I don't have to go to a solo Grandson concert. My apologies to the woman who was having a great ass time and wanted to talk to me about it, except I was actively dying of heat exhaustion and also not into him at all. I tried to be polite.

Setlist
AUTONOMOUS DELIVERY ROBOT
BURY YOU
SELF IMMOLATION
Masters of War (Bob Dylan cover) (Brought out trump and Elon musk on leashes)
BRAINROT
Blood // Water

Hoobastank

The Reason (the entire album) went triple platinum in my childhood bedroom. "Same Direction" in particular was a huge comfort to me as I was figuring out my thoughts on religion. I was amped to see them as a guilty pleasure.

I was wrong. They are full pleasure. They are a real band. They still slap. I stand corrected and must live with the fact that I believe, ten toes down, that Hoobastank still rules.

They seemed fully okay with being a nostalgia act ("I guess we're here because you all listened to us in high school". Middle. But yes) and I could feel how touched they were by the crowd response.

We also got to hear a brand new song. He taught us to sing along and we did our best. Honestly, a crowd trying to sing along knowing that they don't know the song is a feat. Hoobastank is back.

Setlist
Same Direction
Inside of You
Running Away
How Do You Sleep (New song)
Pieces
Out of Control
The Reason
Crawling in the Dark

We left during Crawling in the Dark, which is a sin. But we wanted to see 3OH!3. Because it was Warped, you have to.

3OH!3

It felt very weird seeing 3OH!3 play while completely sober and with kids around. A woman holding a tallboy who was there with her eight year old had to yell at a man to not try to crowdsurf from where we were. He tried anyway. He fell. She called him a fucking idiot. That's pretty much the vibe.

I'm glad that I saw them. It was fun. But I don't think they have anything to offer past "lol remember this shit?" I would skip them next time.

Setlist
PunkB*tch
STARSTRUKK
Double Vision
RICHMAN
Touchin on My
Hit Me Harder
My First Kiss
IMNOTYOURBOYFRIENDBABY
DONTTRUSTME

New Found Glory

Is this a safe place to say that even though I am into pop-punk, that I'm not really into NFG? I appreciate their contribution to the scene but they just don't really do it for me. My goal for this set was to maybe hear Head on Collision, since it was the song that All Time Low took their name from, and to get some pictures/video for one of my friends who loved them in high school.

Having said that, I think they put on a great show. They had a t-shirt cannon. The singer ran over to the other stage a few times, which is where I was standing. I appreciated him really working the entire space, even if that space wasn't technically alloted to them. They also played Head on Collision! So missions accomplished.

Setlist
Understatement
Hit or Miss
All Downhill From Here
Head On Collision
Better Off Dead
Something I Call Personality
Truth of My Youth
Failure's Not Flattering
Dressed to Kill
Beer and Blood Stains
Sincerely Me
Intro
My Friends Over You

Interlude 2 because I was still dying
I think we left roughly around Dressed to Kill. I was, once again, dying and needed to sit down with a frozen lemonade. All of the stands were out of frozen lemonades. I went for an electrolyte drink. They were also out. I sat down by the trash exit in the shadow of the fence with some water. My husband, the great forager that he is, somehow found a stand that had a HOT electrolyte drink and a cup of ice.

I sipped. I considered throwing up but did not. I finished my drink. I had a kind of emergency porta potty break, which tells you how dire this was. Heat is not a game! They should have had misters!

I rallied. We decided we could go sit near a stage and thought Coheed and Cambria sounded like a good time.

Coheed and Cambria

I intend to try to really get into these guys one day. I guess all of their albums are like sci-fi concept albums? And there's a comic? And maybe a novel? It seems like a lot. I've mentioned "oh, but the Coheed lore" to some people and everyone else seems unaware so maybe it's not necessary. They're definitely technically skilled. I can hear a Michael Jackson influence on the vocals which I have to really be in a mood for, but I will say I liked them live more than recordings. And the recordings are good.

I don't know what songs I heard or how long I was here, but once I had rallied a bit more we briefly popped over to Caskets since I really wanted to see them.

Caskets

I'm going to preface this by saying that I think Lost Souls and Reflections are perfect albums. We only stayed for one song. I don't remember what it was and setlist.fm has nothing. I heard a heavy backing track and I was like..I could do this or I could go sit back down for Coheed. So we walked back to Coheed and sat it down. Coheed brought out a double-necked guitar. That fucking rules.

Some people on reddit have said that Caskets was one of the worst sets, so maybe they were having some trouble. Some people have also said that they were great. I don't know what was going on. I'd try them again at a festival but at that point in my heat exhaustion I was not feeling generous.

Jimmy Eat World

My second most anticipated band and both my stomach AND the weather held. It was a Warped Tour miracle.

Sonically these guys are perfect angels. I don't know what else there is to say.

I let a woman text her husband on my phone during this set and I felt bad about insisting on keeping a hand on my phone, but I heard so many horror stories of stolen phones and I was clearly in no position to chase someone. Her husband found her. She did not steal my phone. Happy endings all around.

Setlist
Bleed American
A Praise Chorus
The Middle
Your House
Sweetness
Hear You Me
If You Don't, Don't
Get It Faster
Cautioners
The Authority Song
My Sundown
Pain

They're currently touring Bleed American in full so that's what they played. Bleed American is a perfect album but that was certainly...a choice...for a festival set. I think it's very cool that I got to hear the whole thing. I cherish the memory. Does it really run out of energy after the first half? Yes. Did a bunch of people leave after The Middle? Well, yeah, that's The Song and it looked like we were all imminently going to be struck by lightning.

They were in Boston this weekend. I would have tried to see them again if I had missed any of Bleed American, but eh, I don't need to do that again. I would 100% see them again for a Futures full play-through or a new album.

Yellowcard

This was the only truly bad audio mix I noticed of the entire festival, and since they were doing their full tour production I have to assume it was their own audio team. The bass was hostile. We had to move way back because I could feel it vibrating my trachea, among other things. Bass can damage your hearing even with earplugs! If you are vibrating, your ears are vibrating!! I know its not cool to care about noise safety, but damn. It was bad.

They came on in the car ride home and I turned to my husband like "Oh, this sounds wrong. Where's the bass? This song is supposed to sound like *boom crackle distorted bass imitation*". I fear we will be making this joke for the rest of our lives.

Another point of sacrilege...they need less violin. Or they need to turn him down. He was playing damn near constantly in the background and jumping up and down and it just sounded sloppy. Middle school violinist me is ready to fight me over this.

Setlist
Top Gun Anthem (Harold Faltermeyer & Steve Stevens cover)
Better Days
Way Away
For You, and Your Denial
Rough Landing, Holly
Love Letters Lost
Five Becomes Four
Lights and Sounds
City of Angels
Breathing
Only One
Bedroom Posters
Ocean Avenue

They started by playing a recording of the Ghostbusters theme. In full. And every two or three songs they played an extended clip from an 80s movie. I understand that's what they're doing on the tour, but when I am standing in an open lot desperately waiting to hear Ocean Avenue before the lightning starts I don't want to waste time watching the Goonies.

It was extra out of pocket because Ryan stopped to give a speech about how much Warped means to them but said he "didn't want to talk too much". My dude we are having movie night.

I pooped in a porta potty to make it to this set, I feel like I am allowed the criticism.

Other than that, they were fine. They were fun (from a distance). I fear I don't understand the nostalgia clips in their tour and would have to read a lot of reviews before I went to see them by themselves. Maybe they will have invented ear plugs for my ear plugs for next time.

Warped Verdict

I am delusional and already have tickets for next year. I already have thicker shoes. I have a UPF hoodie on the way. I promise to remember electrolytes exist.

Girl math is telling me it was worth it, because if I had seen each of these bands individually I would have also bought a $20 drink. Girl math is ignoring the heat exhaustion. Girl math is ignoring that I wouldn't have gone to all of these shows individually. Girl math will see you in the pit in 2027.