Unwarped, Unwound

Ah – time to unwind. Another long, humid day in Buffalo, NY and the team is tired from trudging the gear across four acres of sun-scorched Earth and gravel and hills en route to our stage.
So we head to the barbecue around ten where we discover an 80s theme dance party, the likes of which – I can guarantee – you’ve never seen.
There’s the hulked-out, tattooed bass player of the heaviest of all the Metal bands shaking his ass to Huey Lewis and the News.
A hip-hop, freestyle chick shrieks when “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” comes on.
The circle in the middle is unlike any of the ones during the day. No shouting. (Well – only to “Jessie’s Girl.”) No punches thrown. No bloody noses. This is the unwarped, unwound side of Warped Tour. Everybody’s just in tune with the grooves they loved as adolescents.
“The best music comes from the 80s,” say Mike, trying to convince Dan’s date – a stripper from the night before – who claims she hates 80s music. He rattles off a bunch of names: “INXS. Def Leppard. Toto. The Pixies. Sonic Youth.” And he could probably go on forever.
Still, she sticks to: “I just don’t like it.” Until they’re in line for burgers and hotdogs and “Seldgehammer,” by Peter Gabriel pricks up her ear and ripples through her shoulders and hips to her ass until she’s shaking it like the hulked-out bassist.
Dan catches her. “See – Mike was right.”
“OK – maybe,” she relents.
It’s only a theme-night, and on any other night, a live band would be entertaining the crowd. But a snapshot of the barbecue speaks to the adolescent still inside each and every one of us. Stirring up memories of prom. First illegal downloads. Ex-girlfriends and boyfriends. Everyone forgets the long day and lost sweat and their sunburns.
By the end of the night, I’m shaking my ass right along with them.