Home Read Classic DVD Review: Various Artists | Riding in Vans With Boys

Classic DVD Review: Various Artists | Riding in Vans With Boys

An unknown opening band upstages some acts you'd actually like to watch.

This came out in 2004 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):

 


As concepts go, it’s pretty punk, not to mention pretty unique: Give the unknown opening band on a pop-punk mega-tour a bunch of video gear and let them document the whole affair from their unsullied, street-level perspective.

That is exactly what the band Kut U Up did while on tour with Green Day, Blink-182 and Jimmy Eat World last year. But here’s the problem: What you end up with is a DVD about guys you’ve never heard of playing on side stages, acting like rock stars and interacting occasionally with the bands you’d actually like to watch. That may be kinda punk, too. But it’s also kinda lame.