Warped Tour 2001 – Ventura CA.

Warped Tour 2001 – Ventura CA.
All the music was a yawner until Fear took the stage…

Photo Gallery by Jeff Greenwood

It was a great day to be out of the office and headed to Ventura CA to partake of the Warped Tour. Usually I am stuck chilling behind a computer plugging away on webpages by 9:00 a.m. but this Thursday was a welcome change as me and my partners in crime (Barfly, SMOG, Rich, and Mike) were firing up the Car stereos hauling ass down Hwy. 101 to Ventura.

We had the whole crew set up cheap as we were the warriors who would actually be skating in the Vert Ramp contest. $25 bucks got us entered and a guest in to the show. I also scored the press pass via Louie at Sk8shop.com but I didn’t use that until later in the day.

About 11:30 and we were walking in passed all the bands tour busses with a nice ocean breeze in our faces. Within 15 minutes we were already attacking the vert ramp which was straight across the parking lot from the Main Stage. It is a great vantage point to watch the action go down. The bands were soon off and jamming and before long the crowds had swelled sizably. Since we were tied down to the vert ramp most the day we made the best of skating the ramp. McKinnis was in good form and Rich Sanchez was chronically changing his shirt but ripping like he was a veteran pro doing a demo for the masses.

Flea and Lee Ving

All the music was a yawner until Fear took the stage and announced they were there for REAL! We then proceeded to have us clear the ramp and go out into the pit and grab a couple pics and such. They ruled! Even Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers joined them for a song on bass. After that, Todd and myself went to go exploring the scenery out and found the street contest area inside a big hanger. It was too bad the obstacles sucked ass though because it looked like a few guys really knew how to keep a tight line.

A trip to the beer garden (Yes, for all you 21+ out there you can get a $5 beer) was next on the agenda. I was hoping to have the alcohol smooth out the various pains I had received from the ramps abuse on me. I thought it was working until I had to drop in again. But the pain was still there and it was more difficult to concentrate. They started a jam style competiton and we were stuck watching the groms eat up all the time with kick turns and fakies below coping. (A couple of the groms were awesome to watch don’t get me wrong) So I grinded into a tie for 3rd place and McKinnis backside aired into 2nd while Rich flew everywhere and won the whole thing.

The Music by this time was about as lame as I can take it and the pro demo on the vert ramp wasn’t going to be very happening since riding one wall meant looking directly at the sun. I got in a quick chat with Rick Thorne about his being on the t.v. shows and he’s a cool guy then we slowly meandered out.

My only regret is that we didn’t stick around for a couple of the last bands.