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"It&amp;apos;s a hot and dry Saturday afternoon on the grungy New York City\nsatelliteknown as Randall&amp;apos;s Island. The Vans&amp;apos; Warped Tour has come\nto roost, bringingwith it the attendant self-mutilations and\nskatewear booths, and the arid moshpits are spitting up billowing\nclouds of dust. It&amp;apos;s a brutal, filthy, joyous,high-energy affair.\nAnd there was music. \nHere are the high &amp;apos;n&amp;apos; low lights:\nBEST BAND: &amp;quot;This is obviously the cool f---ing part of the show,&amp;quot;\nsaid AmazingRoyal Crowns lead singer King Kendall, a super-smooth\ngreasebag in pompadourand silver-studded belt who sang and\nrollicked like he was on fire. His voiceboomed from the far reaches\nof hipster hell, completely unintelligible overthe blare of his\nhard-rocking fellow Crowns, who nearly combusted by theirlast song,\nthe sizzling &amp;quot;Do The Devil.&amp;quot; Not just punkabilly, the Amazing\nRoyalCrowns make killer rock &amp;amp; roll, as incendiary and honest\nas any music you&amp;apos;relikely to find.\n\nWORST BAND: Cherry Poppin&amp;apos; Daddies lead singer Steve Perry held\ncourt with anannoying swagger and a styrene smile rubber cemented\nto his face, smirking hisway through anemic attempts at jump blues.\nThis band embodies everythingthat&amp;apos;s wrong with the swing revival:\nThey&amp;apos;re phony, boring, sloppy and theythink they&amp;apos;re a punk band.\nWorst of all, they&amp;apos;ve fooled their fans intobelieving it.\nBEST PARTY: Picture Devo meets Loony Tunes with the production\nvalues ofMexican pro wrestling, and you&amp;apos;ll get a good idea of what\nthe Aquabats are allabout. Their frantic brand of novelty rock was\nsolidly skanking, and thecostumed antics -- dancing with a guy in a\nchicken suit, inviting &amp;quot;the kids&amp;quot;to hunker down for story time --\nwere somehow very endearing. The crowdquickly got into the spirit,\nhissing and booing at &amp;quot;the insane clown&amp;quot; whoappeared on stage,\nberating the fans for not being as cool as the kids atOzzfest.\nSECOND BEST PARTY: For about forty-five minutes, a makeshift band,\nincludingmembers of Bad Religion and NOFX, invited fans to join\nthem on stage for around of &amp;quot;punk rock karaoke.&amp;quot; A brutish looking\nfellow barked his way throughFear&amp;apos;s &amp;quot;I Love Living In the City,&amp;quot;\nwhile a timid young woman gave a modest,almost inaudible rendition\nof the Ramones&amp;apos; &amp;quot;Sheena Is a Punk Rocker.&amp;quot;Beautiful musical\ndemocracy.\nBIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT: As the best-selling act on the tour,\nexpectations werehigh for Rancid. Unfortunately, the sloping ground\nin front of the main stageand dust emanating from the pit made it\nnearly impossible to see the band.Worse, what could be heard was\nless then spectacular, as they limped throughthirty half-hearted\nminutes of new material peppered by some predictable oldfavorites.\nMaybe they&amp;apos;re just burnt out by the rigors of Warped, but\nRancid&amp;apos;sgot some work to do if they&amp;apos;re to maintain their reputation\nas one of rock&amp;apos;smost boisterous and fiery acts.\nSECOND BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT: It must be great to be the Specials.\nYou&amp;apos;re alegend in a style of music enjoying a popular resurgence,\nand you&amp;apos;ve earned aheadlining spot on one of the summer&amp;apos;s biggest\npackage tours. But you leantowards your newer, blander material in\nan effort to lure the kids to yourlatest album, while virtually\nignoring your classics. There were flashes ofbrilliance --\ndedicating &amp;quot;A Message to You Rudy&amp;quot; to New York&amp;apos;s favorite rudeboy,\nMayor Rudy Giuliani -- but the shameless product plugging seemed\nsort ofhypocritical. Now who&amp;apos;s working for the rat race?\nHONORABLE MENTIONS: Bad Religion and NOFX, both of whom seemed to\nbe having ablast on stage, and spreading the fever to the fans. Not\nthat they neededfurther encouragement to get in a partying mood;\njust the fact that it waspunk rock in the summertime is all the\nreason anyone could need.\n"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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