We’re off for Day 2 at Vans Warped tour, and looking at my potential schedule, this one will be a lot more on the heavy side than yesterday.
Four Year Strong
We start the day with Massachusetts’s own Four Year Strong. The band brought a much needed energy boost in this Saturday’s “almost end of morning” timeslot. They did what most bands on the lineup did in terms of setlist; a mix of everything, but with the focus more on their two latest albums “Brain Pain” and “Analysis paralysis”.
Bruiserweight
Now to the Paget stage for some local hardcore. Bruiserweight has only been around for a few years (with only 2 EPs), but already made a name for themselves in the hardcore sphere, even opening for the legendary Despised Icon (who we will hear from them later on). The band came in and completely took over the stage with the “under the tent” crowd ready to throw down and mosh like never before at 2PM.
Mulch
Let’s stay at the Paget stage with another local band; Mulch. Now to categorize the band is a tough task. I guess we can consider them “punk” but also got that “noise rock” element mixed with the screaming of lead singer Rose Cormier. While not as “brutal” as their predecessor, the heaviness was still present and the crowd got really into it the more the set went on. It was more a “bopping your head” type of mood. That set only made me crave for more music for them, as it’s been almost 2 years without any new stuff.
Big Ass Truck I.E.
Now it’s time for some BIG ASS music with Big Ass Truck I.E. To describe them is very easy, just look at their name, and imagine what type of music it would be and that’s it! The subtlety is pretty much gone with them, it’s truly the type of music a monster truck would do if it could play music. With songs like “Big Ass Beer”, “Big Ass Dog”, “Big Ass Truck”, and the new one “Big Ass Gun”. To finish off with “Beef” made the crowd very happy and got everyone head banging at every note!
Desecrate
Back to the local stage but this time with Desecrate! Fresh off their new EP that came out earlier this year “Old Ghost”, the Montreal band just went there and completely took over the small Paget stage. With the crowd still recuperating from the previous few brutal sets, they didn’t miss a beat. While the stage itself wasn’t very big (under a tent for maybe 50 people), it was cool to see the more and more people gathering around the tent, mostly were first walking to another stage, but decided to stop and catch a brand new band, which is what the Vans Warped tour is all about!
Lolo
Ok, let’s calm down just a lil bit with Lolo. At first look, you could think that she’s just an Avril Lavigne rip off, and while the style can be similar at times with her, the more her set went on, the more she differentiated herself from the Belleville born singer. She brings a more edgy style through her lyrics, but also gets a more punky sound with her backing band that brought a much different energy than what we were used to witnessing since the start of the day. It was also a cool sight to see all the big “metal/hardcore” crowd dancing to “Debbie Downer” or “u turn me on (but you give me depression)”.
Scorching Tomb
But that sweetness didn’t last for too long as it was now time for Scorching Tomb. The Death Metal band from Montreal caught the eyes of a LOT of people walking nearby. It was a breath of fresh air music wise as they blasted through their set with the crowd not stopping moving for a single second, except for making sure that everyone was okay when someone fell or wasn’t feeling well. They played mostly songs from their latest and excellent album “Ossuary”, they were the perfect band to get the crowd ready for some Montreal legends later.
Bad Cop Bad Cop
The Ghost stage was already rocking with female punks Bad Cop Bad Cop. The Californian punk band sounded exactly like what a Californian punk band would sound from a female perspective. With songs like “Womanarchist”, “Pursuit of Liberty” and “Safe and Legal”, they bring that Riot grrrl movement that was missing in the lineup this year.
Ice Nine Kills
We’re on to the final stretch of the day and my last foray into the Main stages with Ice Nine Kills. Right off the bat, I noticed something unusual; they all dressed up “normally”. No suits, also something seems to be missing, but from the first note of The American Nightmare, those questions were put in the backside and the “horror” settled in. It’s only after the 2nd or 3rd song that lead singer Spencer explained everything. Basically most of their stuff/gear didn’t make it in time and had to resort to other bands (Than you to Chiodos, The Devil Wears Prada and Mayday Parade) to lend them their gear in order to get the gig going. And while yes the fact that the whole “theater” aspect that made Ice Nine Kills famous was surely disappointing, we also got to witness a more stripped down performance that musically was top notch. Even pulling the classic “lets do a NoFx song during Warped tour” when they covered “Linoleum” to the delight of the more “punk” crowd. All and all it was an amazing performance, to the point that right after I was checking their tour itinerary to see if there would be some nearby dates for the future. Sadly nothing yet, but we can still hope…
Despised Icon
A lot of people were waiting for that one. Local hero and Core legend Despised Icon were making a hometown comeback for their first local show since last December. With an amazing latest album (Juno winning as well) Shadow Work, the boys came, saw and brutally conquered! Inviting some of their friends for a few songs, it was truly a coming home party where every fan never wasted an opportunity to catch them and start some of the meanest pits I saw from the whole weekend. While playing a chunk of their new album, they didn’t forget the old school fans with a final stretch of oldies (“The Aftermath”, “MVP” and “Purgatory”). It was exactly what we needed to release the final stretch of energy any metal/hardcore had in their tanks!
Beton Armé
Now my original plan was to chill a lil catching Beton Armé and then get a good spot during Bowling for Soup and be ready for the final band of the night, but with only one “way” to the Castor stage, it ended up being a huge bottleneck of people hoping to see Bowling for Soup. So in the end, I just decided to catch the entire set of Montreal Punk rockers. While their name could make them “heavy” (Armed Concrete), the band play a fast and energetic mix of punk with some rock sprinkles. At some point I was thinking I was watching a french version of Pennywise. It’s not surprising that the band has slowly been building up a reputation and fanbase which I’m sure will go over the language barrier very shortly.
Strung Out
So after Beton’s set, and having to wait until all the Bowling for Soup’s fans left the area to catch Simple Plan, it was time to watch my final band of the festival. The California band was on their 27th visit in Montreal (and that’s not counting the two dozen other times they played elsewhere in the province of Quebec), the band already had the crowd (myself included) at the palm of their hands and ready to rock with us one final time this weekend. This was a pure “Best Of” setlist, playing only one song from their latest album Dead Rebellion (2024), with most of the setlist from their epic album “Exile in Oblivion”. The 50 minutes that they were allowed flew by so quickly with the crowd asking for more. Lead singer Jason Cruz simply finished the show by saying “See you soon”, and for once, we knew he was telling the truth.
And that’s a wrap for the 2026 edition of the Montreal Vans Warped tour. A festival that still shows that fast, simple and heavy music still have their places in the music world, and there’s a crowd that still remembers those days and also it was cool to see all the parents (who were there for the early years) taking their kids and showing them what they were listening to when they were young and seeing their kids becoming fans at the exact moment the first song was played.