Warped

WTF? Tried to to get to the Warped Tour in Ladson, SC this week, only to find that they weren't letting anyone into the grounds after 8.30.

Granted, the tour was primarily for young 'uns (judging by the punters I saw), the 80-odd punk & rock bands had to get to Raleigh, NC the next day and the geriatric Buzzcocks were playing (8.30's way past their bedtime). But the event was advertised as running "through the evening and all night."

What about the poor music lovers who don't get off work till late afternoon? Or, in my case, the guys who work weird hours writing, filming and babysitting?

It's a symptom of a state where the pubs close at 11 and everyone's tucked up in bed by midnight - which at times makes Charleston's idea of "party town" seem modelled on a Chuck E. Cheese birthday bash.

Sometimes it's tough making the transition from Edinburgh (where there various bar opening times overlapped so there was always somewhere to go for a drink, 24 hours a day) to the sleepy South.

It's all for our own good, of course, to stop us over-indulging ourselves. Quite right too. We need a lot of looking after, whether we're Buzzcock-aged or not.