VANNA
Boston hardcore/metalcore act Vanna are back on Warped again this year with a new record All Hell that just released during the tour on July 8th. Fans seem to be onboard with the new material, especially in their home turf in New England, with huge crowds turning out to see them in Hartford and Mansfield. The band’s set on this year’s tour only features two new tracks “Mutter” and “Pretty Grim,” opting to include more fan-favorites from their recent releases instead, such as “Void,” “Piss Up a Rope,” and “Year of the Rat.” The amount of crowd interaction on both days that I caught their set was insane—with security hard-pressed to keep up with the waves of crowd surfers, especially when frontman Davey Muise hopped down, climbed the barrier and crowd surfed his way out during “Year of the Rat.” Vanna is certainly worth seeing this summer if you can!
VOLUMES
Volumes had a short run on Warped this summer, finishing up on the 19th, but while they were on they were probably one of the better sets on the Monster stages. The addition of Myke Terry (ex-Bury Your Dead) to their lineup seems to have reinvigorated the band as well as added more dynamic range to the vocals. Frontmen Gus Farias and Terry are energetic as hell on stage, with Terry serving as the band’s ambassador to the crowd, climbing the barrier during multiple songs to get up close with fans. Their set featured the somewhat repetitive yet catchy new track “Feels Good” off their upcoming release with Fearless Records. While the song offers fans the first taste of what Terry can bring to the band, it was hearing Terry on older material in the set such as “Erased,” “Wormholes,” and “Vahle” that was really exciting. Although short due to the nature of playing Warped Tour, their set gave fans a good preview of what is to come with their new frontman, and left the crowd excited to check out new material in the coming months.
CHELSEA GRIN
Chelsea Grin are one of the heaviest acts on the tour and definitely worth catching, especially with their freshly released full length Self Inflicted, which came out on July 1st. While I will confess to being a bigger fan of their older music, their set wasn’t bad, featuring three new tracks—the somewhat controversial “Clickbait,” as well as “Skin Deep” and “Broken Bonds.” Luckily they threw in older tracks “Recreant,” “My Damnation,” and “Cheyne Stokes” all of which saw the biggest crowd responses of their set. These guys are as solid as ever live, and the new material is sounding great—definitely worth adding them to your Warped itinerary.
