FALLING IN REVERSE As Warped Tour Kickoff Awakens The Dead & The USED

Ever wonder what it's like to be Falling In Reverse

Ever wonder what it's like to be Raised By Wolves

Or to be serenaded by a Dead girl

Or to be abused by The Used

Or to Get Wasted until 6:66 in the morning

If so, you know you're Warped

This year, March ended with the roar of a Lion...

The VANS WARPED TOUR kick-off party and press conference assembled at Club Nokia in downtown Los Angeles on the 29th of March.

Vans Warped Tour artists, including Cherri Bomb, Neo Geo, Vampires Everywhere!, Dead Sara and The Used joined tour founder Kevin Lyman and Steve Van Doren of Vans to celebrate.

Also on hand were local scenesters including Mixi from Stitched Up Heart, Davey Suicide, Danielle Fidelity from Hollywood Waste, photographer Michelle xStar, Ana Lovelis (Cherri Bomb mom) and Todd Brodginski from MSO.

A sea of fans packed the club early and were first treated to a screening of the new tour documentary film NO ROOM FOR ROCKSTARS (from Stacy Peralta and the producers of Dogtown & Z-boys) before Forever Came Calling (the group featured in the NRFR film) came out to kickstart the heart of the party with some live rock 'n roll.

Next up was Matt Toka and his trademark bright green hair. Toka is a real go-getter as he passionately hurtles himself into every performance as if it's his very last. Strutting the stage with great aplomb, his amped up music explodes like a bomb.

Detonating the crowd with favorites "Say10" and "666" ("6:66 in the morning") from his upcoming Reprise/Warner Bros debut, Matt and his band pepper their sets with classic riffs from the likes of Metallica to keep the intensity level at a fever pitch. It's all leading to what I'm imagining will be a bunch of bright green hairdos amongst the throngs along Warped this summer.

Fading from green into yellow, came the first "surprise" guest of the night. Singer Ryan Key, along with violinist Sean Mackin and guitarist Ryan Mendez, stripped down a couple of Yellowcard favorites; "Ocean Avenue" & "Sing For Me".

Next up were the impassioned musings from a Dead girl by the name of Sara. Having seen Dead Sara a few times already this year, it was cool to see them on a bigger stage with a booming sound system and a larger crowd to elevate the energy in the room as singer Emily Armstrong and guitarist Siouxsie Medley delivered yet again with an unforgettable epic rendition of their signature song "Weatherman".

Seeing Ms Armstrong leap from the top of a Marshall stack after the bridge in "Weatherman" is not revolutionary but it sure does seem that way every time. Dead Sara is alive and well in the city of Angels.

The limitless boundary of the Walking Dead was further unhemmed by the straight line stitch of the deluge of The Used.

Singer Bert McCracken and the rest of The Used wrecking crew kicked off their rampage with "the best song ever written" (Nirvana "Smells Like Teen Spirit") before instigating a high voltage rock 'n roll set geared to use and abuse anyone not already having nothing but a good time.

Headlining the evening were Falling In Reverse whom have been busy playing shows in L.A. as of late. A few months ago, they played a raucous sold out show at the House of Blues on Sunset before signing on last minute to open for Guns N' Roses at the Hollywood Palladium.

As was expected, the majority of fans in the audience were in attendance to see the "King of the music scene" Ronnie Radke (as he anoints himself in "Tragic Magic") escape the fate of mediocrity once again. He's a penultimate showman whom knows how to get the most out of both his band and his eagerly responsive flock of worshippers.

At one point, the floor in the mosh pit was vibrating beneath our feet from the exuberance of hundreds of bodies madly falling in reverse over and over again.

Expect the same to happen all summer long...though replace the climate-controlled air conditioning with blazing hot UV rays and you have a hot tamale recipe to unleash a cherished moment of infamy.

"Hi my name is _____ and I'm a Warped Tour addict...

I'm Not A Vampire but I feel one corsing through my veins"...

VANS WARPED TOUR 2012:

6/16 Salt Lake City, UT Utah State Fairpark

6/17 Denver, CO Sports Authority Field at Mile High

6/20 Las Vegas, NV Plaza Hotel & Casino

6/21 Irvine, CA Orange County Great Park

6/22 Pomona, CA Pomona Fairplex

6/23 San Francisco, CA AT&T Park Lot A

6/24 Ventura, CA Seaside Park

6/27 Chula Vista, CA Cricket Wireless Amphitheatre

6/28 Scottsdale, AZ Camelback Park

6/29 Las Cruces, NM New Mexico State University

6/30 San Antonio, TX AT&T Center

7/01 Houston, TX Reliant Center Parking Lot

7/03 Dallas, TX Gexa Energy Pavilion

7/05 Maryland Heights, MO Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre

7/06 Auburn Hills, MI The Palace Of Auburn Hills

7/07 Tinley Park, IL First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre

7/08 Shakopee, MN Canterbury Park

7/09 Bonner Springs, KS Sandstone Amphitheatre

7/10 Noblesville, IN Klipsch Music Center

7/11 Cuyahoga Falls, OH Blossom Music Center

7/12 Burgettstown, PA First Niagara Pavilion

7/13 Holmdel, NJ PNC Bank Arts Center

7/14 Montreal, QC Parc Jean Drapeau

7/15 Toronto, ON Molson Canadian Amphitheatre

7/17 Darien Center, NY Darien Lake Performing Arts Center

7/18 Scranton, PA Toyota Pavilion

7/19 Mansfield, MA Comcast Center

7/20 Camden, NJ Susquehanna Bank Center

7/21 Uniondale, NY Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum

7/22 Hartford, CT The Comcast Theatre

7/24 Columbia, MD Merriweather Post Pavilion

7/25 Virginia Beach, VA Farm Bureau Live At Virginia Beach

7/26 Atlanta, GA Aaron's Amphitheatre

7/27 Orlando, FL Central Florida Fairgrounds

7/28 Miami, FL Cruzan Amphitheatre

7/29 St. Petersburg, FL Vinoy Park

7/30 Charlotte, NC Charlotte Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre

7/31 Cincinnati, OH Riverbend Music Center

8/01 Milwaukee, WI Marcus Amphitheater

8/04 Redmond, WA Marymoor Park

8/05 Portland, OR Rose Quarter Riverfront

(Special thanks to Libby, Angela & Michele @ MSO and photographers Melissa Libertelli & Manny Hebron)