California

After three weeks of Warped Tour it seemed appropriate to keep you all informed about what has happened lately. This year the Warped Tour kicked off with three shows in California, however, this was the first time that Bad Religion entered the stage without Brett since he and his wife Gina were expecting their baby daughter Nico (born on July 4). After one day of touring, Brian and Jay recorded a funny video for Bay Area Backstage TV:
 

Unfortunately day two of the tour ended with a the break down of BR's tour bus. Luckily the guys from NOFX were willing to share their busses. Jay, Brooks and Greg Hetson left early, while Brian stayed in San Fancisco with Eric Melvin and Fat Mike to join Punk Rock Karaoke on stage. Here's what Jay had to say about it in our forums.

Arizona

After three days of touring, the band finally got a day off to relax in Phoenix, Arizona. However, there was not much time left for relaxing since the band had to take part in the 2nd Annual Vans Warped Tour / T.J. Martell Foundation Bowling Tournament. To raise money for the T.J. Martell Foundation, fans could bid on ebay for a place in the team of their favorite band. Winner of the Bad Religion ebay bidding was Tatyana who placed a bid of $535 and joined the BR team. By the end of the evening the BR team managed to qualify itself for the final round together with six other teams: Sing It Loud, Less Than Jake, Anti Flag, the Warped Staff, Vans Off The Wall and the Edge Radio Station. Eventually the Vans Off The Wall team conquered the night and won the tournament. Less Than Jake followed with a second place and local radio station Edge Radio Station ended up third. Watch the video below to get an impression of the night and hear what Greg Graffin had to say about it:

Some pictures of the event:

New Mexico

Next stop: Las Cruces in New Mexico. This show might be marked as the show in which the band played a song
unrehearsed in 15 years: Against The Grain. However, we can reveal that Greg Graffin cheated a little during this
song since he used his hand as a cheat note by having written down a couple of words on it. See for yourself in the
two pictures below.

Another very surprising moment during this show was Emily, one of our frequent visitors of the site who is known for
her fantastic acoustic covers on youtube, doing the rap breakdown on Let Them Eat War. Jay personally asked her if she was willing to do it and once again, she did a great job! More reviews, photos and videos of this show can be found in our Tours & Shows section.

_{Emily doing the rap breakdown}

Ohio

Talking about rare songs and guest appearances; according to brokenheadphones.com Bad Religion played in
Cleveland, Ohio, another song that hasn't been on the setlist for years: New America. Here's what brokenheadphones.com has to say about Bad Religion's performance:

"Bad Religion being one of my all time favorite bands was a highlight to my day and I made sure I would stay for the
whole set. Having seen them every time they have played a Warped Tour I would have to say this was one of their better performances. Rocking through songs old and new the band sounded amazing. During “Let Them Eat War” one of the members of Aiden (as stated by Greg Graffin) filled in for the vocals usually sung by Sage Francis on the album version. Other songs during their set included “New America”, “Supersonic”, “American Jesus” as well as “Generator” and “Sorrow”, two of my personal favorites. For a band that been around for over twenty years they looked so comfortable on stage and played better than a lot of the younger acts that day. Their live performance reminded me why it is I love punk rock music so much."

[Full article can be read here]

During the Cleveland show, Jay Bentley was interviewed by Nick Ghanbarian, bass player in Bayside. Watch the Vans Warped Tour Update NO.7 video to see what they have to tell about their bands, setlists and sports.

Canada

After 11 Warped shows in the U.S., the tour crossed the border to settle in Canada for two days. Even though the rain came pouring down, the crowd was as enthousiastic as the crowd during the U.S. shows according to Greg Hetson, who currently keeps a blog at the Warped site. Read some funny and interesting stories and get a look in Greg Hetson's life right here.

Also, during the Montreal show Greg Graffin apparently mentioned that the band will come back in September or October. We already knew that there will be two more shows in Canada next month (Calgary and Vancouver). However, we don't know exactly when and where these other dates will be, so be patient and we will keep you informed as soon as we know more about it.

Before we move on again here's a nice video for those who ever wanted to hear Jay singing a canadian children's song. Right in the middle of Generator Jay starts to sing a song called "Aloutte", which basically is about plucking the feathers off a skylark (tiny bird).

New Jersey

To conclude this first Warped Tour Special, here's what Greg Graffin has to say about making new music in an interview in the Burlington County Times:

"The bottom line is making new music, [...] nobody in the band wants to be part of a nostalgia act. It's about being relevant and having something to say. Fortunately, we love being part of this band or we would do other things. [...] We could be doing other things and we do other things but we keep coming back to this. There's no reason to stop now."

[Read the full interview here]

For more info on the Warped Tour shows, reviews, pictures and setlists, please check our Tours & Shows section.  For more info about Bad Religion's set times check out their Twitter.