Loud, driving music. Ripped shirts and pants. Mohawks. Cardboard signs reading "Free Hugs." Angry kids. Happy kids. Green hair. Confused chaperones. Vegetarian pamphlets. Corporate logos. Corporate logos. Corporate logos.

The sponsor-emblazoned Vans Warped Tour powered by AT&T (har har!) rolled in to town yesterday with a roster filled to the brim with pre-prepared, shaggy-haired punks sporting a few days stubble and their heart on their sleeve.

Each band is a very similar variation on a well worn theme (and not the kind of ironic "faux well worn" like the tee-shirts that are so popular these days). Bands named "Bleed the Dream," "Bless the Fall" and "Escape the Fate" are, I'm sure, not too eager to draw comparisons to each other, but it puts a fine point on where the tour has gone these days. This year seems to mark the more dismal lineups in recent memory.

Upon scouring the list of bands, I found it difficult to find any  whose 25-minute set would stand out among the sea of driving metal guitars. Among the bands I was looking forward to were street ska brats, Big D and the Kids Table (as well as ska newcomers The Fabulous Rudies and ska godfathers, The Toasters ... what can I say, I'm a sucker for that offbeat).

Straylight Run has always seemed more genuine in their emo endeavors and The Gallows sounded more genuine to the actual punk movement. I also thought it'd be interesting to find out if Tiger Army would break out their (now) old school psychobilly anthems or showcase with their new love for corporate rock. K-OS might add a dose of hip-hop to the scene and of course there's Bad Religion.

One of the unusual elements of the Warped Tour is the loose scheduling and rotating time slots that makes it impossible to know when your favorite band will play before entering the grounds. My compatriot and I weren't able to enter the gates until 2 and by the time we wound our way through the tens of hundreds of sponsorship tents and then through the dozens of band merch tents to find the schedule and stages most of the bands I wanted to see had already played. It took us two hours to find the Hurley Stage!

As the 90 degree day blazed on, we were able to catch a few bands. Red Jumpsuit Apparatus' time slot was highlighted in yellow (and sponsored by Energizer), noting that they were voted by the majority to play 15 minutes longer, so I had to check them out.

The first song dripped with the typical corporate-safe screamo (it's hard to imagine that that particular sound was pretty threatening only a few years ago). Before their next ditty, the audience was asked if they've ever had their best friend stab them in the back, to which I responded "Oh brother!" and by the end I'd heard enough.

Bad Religion played to an enthusiastic crowd and The Alkaline Trio played a lot of music from its new album, a smart move considering it's high critical score. The Toasters, the longest running ska band in America (25 years!) put on a happy, bouncy,and entertaining show. Straylight Run played piano (and glockenspiel) emo on the main stage; a startling, but welcome contrast to the big guitars of the entire day.

I'm not naive enough to believe the ultimate goal of The Warped Tour was ever about the music, but the architectures of control and number of sponsors seemed so much more apparent this year; it has long since ceased defining and uniting the punk scene.

I have to admit, I spent far too much time picking out the right combination of "punk" clothing for my outfit -- tight pants, converse shoes, military hat, checkered belt, semi-obscure band T-shirt -- falling right into the normal cliches, but the Warped Tour has been a yearly staple in my diet and I've found that dressing up, joining friends and getting lost in the experience seems to be the best way to enjoy it. I like to go because I enjoy the time I get to spend with friends set to the backdrop of the spectacle of vaguely familiar sounding music.