Warped Tour: Somebody get Paramore and Pennywise a bigger stage

Paramore kicked up more than some late-afternoon dust. They had a "Riot!" -- the title of the Tennessee band's new album -- which a good portion of the crowd copped to already owning during their main stage set. It was hard to get close, but you could spot the buoyant Hayley Williams, with her bright orange hair, from a long way off.

It was clear than Paramore had won its fans, and the Utah quintet Meg and Dia (below), their voices cutting through the afternoon clamor, showed they were well on their way.

On the way to the other end of the field, I checked out O.C.'s New Year's Day on a sidestage. They're a band you might want to meet -- if for no other reason than to find out what its stylist had in mind with singer Ashley Costello's get-up. What to make of her tattered look? Lovelorn? Love-torn? The music, to say the least, was well-worn, spiky pop-punk delivered with the requisite energy and an excess of vamping by Costello.

Linger not, however, for Pennywise was about to hold forth on the main stage. The South Bay veterans acted like they owned the place, which they essentially do. They ripped through a greatest-hits set and sparked at least three moshpits, one so far from the stage you could barely hear the music.

It had been a couple years since the band had played the Warped Tour, but one thing's for sure: They work as well here as sunscreen.

Below, a long-distance moshpit.

And below: Pennywise, ground foolish.