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We finally sat down, went through the set list and boiled it down to our favorite acts for Warped Tour 2009 at Darien Lake. Here are our recommendations:
Thursday brings an epic 15-year anniversary Warped Tour to Darien Lake-we're still fruitlessly trying to map out who our must-sees are-but the greatest live music deal this summer is coming to the Water Street Music Hall on Wednesday night. The Bird Circuit, 
with openers the Beaumonts, are coming to rock your faces for a total cost of $3 ($5 day of show).The Beaumonts fuse together rock, ska and psychobilly to create a fun but very chill mix. Know both for originals and eclectic covers, this sextet is sure to please.
A smooth-sounding 5-pack, The Bird Circuit, brings a more indie rock vibe, but still knows how to turn out a catchy tune. Their song Dry your eyes got lots of play on WBER last year. Comfy grooves.
Doors at 8.
This weekend welcomes two of the best Rochester summer festivals: East End Music Fest (2) and the Corn Hill Arts Festival. But with the hours of events and multiple stages to watch, here's our take on what's coming, and what you can't miss.
East End Music Fest Part Deux- Friday night. The second of the summer series, six stages feature many bands across several genres from 5:30-9:45. We once again recommend planting yourself at the Metromix/Insider stage on Broadway for the whole night. Don't miss: Battle of the Bands winner, Avenue You and local favorites, The Hoodies. Both are an undeniable mix of punk, pop and attractive band members. Headliner is Rochester natives, the Sunstreak.
The Hoodies
food vendors and rocking out to some very chill bands. Nearly the whole weekend is packed with salt-of-the-earth music- blues, folk, jazz, Americana and funk.
Don't miss: Saturday at 3:30 Po’ Boys Brass Band- Funky New Orleans horns. Their cover of Led Zepplin's Black Dog makes us want more. Sunday at 10:15 brings the bluesy, funky, mellow sounds of The DeLinquents. Perfect for the discerning ear, and pounding hangover headache.
Rain and gloom greeted us at CMAC on Tuesday. 
Even the hugely arching rainbow over downtown Canandaigua couldn't shake our fears of standing in the pouring rain to see what was to be two punk powerhouses rock the crowd. However, rain on a sloped lawn gives way to the best accessory for a mosh pit: mud.Dropkick Murphys bleated their arrival with bagpipes, cutting through the chants of "Let's go, Murphys!." A crowd that was decidedly at CMAC for DKM, and only DKM, the audience chimed right in as they lead us through the set, peppered with Tooraloorahs and anthems about drinking and fighting.Though their pit 
was muddy and moshers aggressive as expected, they settled and embraced each other for the ballads. Far away coast was an especially cutting song given that we have several friends overseas currently. But, our favorite was when they closed with Kiss me, I'm shitfaced: the perennial anthem of picking up drunk girls at the bar. The whole pit, arms around one another, swayed and crooned the chorus while shirtless and likely hammered themselves.The Offspring took the stage, and we were hoping that they still had the magic that we remembered 11 years ago. The opening song, introducing their Shit is F-ed Up Tour, followed their standard formula: dramatic drum solo, then bring in the screaming guitar parts after several bars. From there they knocked out their latest top-40 hits, and got down to business with the oldies-but-goodies.Besides picking 
over 5 songs off the Americana album itself, they also rocked a few lesser-known songs, such as Original Prankster. Keep 'em separated is always a crowd favorite, but they also resurrected All I want, which restarted the mosh circle, as well as the rest of the audience, thrashing.The highlight for us was Dexter's acoustic piano rendition of Gone Away. Suddenly, with all the punk music parts stripped away, the lyrics were the star of the show. Our only real thumbs-down was that the band didn't dare step outside their tried and true songs for more varied takes on the hits.
My first real concert was the Offspring in Buffalo during the eighth grade. Sitting there in the bleachers of some university's multi-purpose gymnasium, they kicked off the set with their title song, Americana, and taught me about the thrill of live shows. Tuesday the 30th they return to Upstate NY at CMAC with opener Dropkick Murphys.
We finally sat down, went through the set list and boiled it down to our favorite acts for Warped Tour 2009 at Darien Lake. Here are our recommendations:
