Earlier this month, three friends and I made the trek to Riverport/UMB Bank Pavailion/ Verizon Wireless Ampitheater/[insert corporate conglomerate here] to take part in this year’s installment of the traveling punk-rock summer camp.

Although others will undoubtedly disagree, in my opinion Warped Tour is the best concert deal going today.

Here’s the breakdown:

Pitchfork - $65/40 bands = $1.63/band
Lollapalooza - $190/123 bands = $1.54/band
Pygmalion - $50/63 bands = $0.79/band
Warped - $37/67 bands = $0.55/band

Now, obviously, all of these are phenomenal deals – especially Pygmalion once you add in travel and hotel costs to the other events. And I know there’s a lot I haven’t taken into consideration with this argument, such as the quality of the music, but on the basis of price alone Warped is the clear winner. And I even spotted the other festivals the $6 Ticketmaster convenience charge.

But I digress.

This being my fourth consecutive year in attendance, I wasn’t expecting too many surprises and didn’t really get many – except for one particularly intense incident which took place at the tail end of the day. So stay tuned for details on that.

For the most part, the big pieces of the puzzle remained the same: the six stages were all in the same locations, water was still $4/bottle and goth kids still mingled somewhat peacefully with their more emo counterparts.

However, there were a few subtle differences that soon became apparent. For one, charity and activist organizations (such as PETA, Action For Animals, To Write Love On Her Arms, etc…) assumed a much larger role in the event than in years past – enough so to command an entire section of the venue grounds with their tents. And if I was asked once to register to vote by Obama supporters, I was asked 20 times.

Also, the number of freebies I was able to commandeer dropped considerably from previous trips. In these tough times for the music industry, posters and stickers were at a premium. Well, I guess they were usually only a dollar (or free with a merch purchase). But still. Even free label samplers were hard to come by. In years past I could always count on coming home with a stack of new tunes from Fueled By Ramen, Equal Vision, Fearless, Vagrant and so on, but on this afternoon only an Epitaph compilation found its way into my hands .

Nevertheless, I did come away with some digital download cards (for anyone interested in hearing some up-and-coming pop-punk acts, head to theSoundsofSummer.com for a great assortment of free songs), a MySpace bandana (cooler than you might think) and some unique memories.

The tour swings through Tinley Park on Saturday, August 2nd, so if all three days of Lollapalooza won’t fit into your budget, Warped is a cheap(er) alternative to consider.

A slice of the highlights:

• Every Time I Die frontman Keith Buckley throwing a stuffed unicorn (that the band had won the night before at Six Flags) into the crowd and demanding the head be returned to him by the end of the song

• Paramore, on their first day on the tour, drawing the largest crowd of any band despite having a supersized photo of a horse licking a man’s head propped up in front of their drummer

• The Academy Is… (my favorite band) getting to play an extra ten minutes thanks to an online fan vote, a set which included two uber-catchy new songs: Forever Young and About A Girl

• My friend telling me that he had seen the police officer walking ahead of us browsing through the merchandise at The Bronx tent, a conversation which the cop overheard and replied, “Hey, we’re just normal people, too.” Uh, have you seen the cover of their debut album?

• Indie hip-hop group Gym Class Heroes performing a cover of Lamb of God’s “Laid To Rest,” complete with lead singer Travis McCoy on a wireless Guitar Hero controller

• Of course, the headline-making moment of the day also belongs to McCoy, who, after being called an “ignorant n****r” by a member of the crowd, invited the offender (who was also black) on stage and hit him on the head with his microphone (thereby breaking it) just as the man reached the barricade. McCoy then pulled him up by his hair and punched him repeatedly until security broke the two apart and dragged the other guy away.

After gathering himself, McCoy attempted to break the tension with his statement, “I guess ignorance is bliss” and apologized to the audience before continuing the set. As the 30 minute time limit neared, a crew member off stage held up a stage that read “1 more song. Cops.” and after the show McCoy was arrested, charged with third degree assault and released on bail the following morning.

Talk about a live show packing a punch! Ok, I’m done.

Bands I saw: Relient K, Broadway Calls, Mayday Parade, The Maine, Every Time I Die, Jack’s Mannequin, The Academy Is…, Story Of The Year, Against Me!, Set Your Goals, Paramore, Say Anything and Gym Class Heroes

Bands I would’ve like to see: Jet Lag Gemini, Cobra Starship, The Color Fred, We The Kings, A Day To Remember, Anberlin, Forever The Sickest Kids, The Secret Handshake, Angels And Airwaves, We Shot The Moon, 1997, You Me And Everyone We Know, Valencia, Farewell, and the Audition