By MIKE BELL, Calgary Sun

Let's call it the pause that refreshes. Contrary to what many people said before it hit town, Vans Warped Tour came at just the right time.

The touring one-day punk rock festival, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year, rolled into Race City Motorsport Park yesterday afternoon offering the perfect antidote for the Stampede, maybe even making bearable the homestretch of the annual excuse for middle-aged accountants and/or oil company employees to go on a 10-day bender.

The bands that brought out the hordes specifically were Thursday, Taking Back Sunday and The Sounds.

Unfortunately the latter act, superb Swedish pop act The Sounds, were last-minute scratches from the lineup, bumped from the bill because vocalist Maja Ivarsson was a little under the weather.

Oh, well -- a disappointment, but one you could hardly dwell on considering all of the other acts of varying qualities and styles on the almost dozen stages.

The CalgarySun