Chica-go, Chica-going, Chica-gone.

Today became the quintessential example for why Warped Tour is such a great environment. Forget for a second that the weather in Chicago was absolutely perfect (80 degrees and nary a cloud in the sky), or that the kids were going just as nuts for Story Of The Year early in the day on the Hurley.com stage as they were for Reel Big Fish at the end of the night on the Route 66 stage, or that our signings with Ludo, the Academy Is... and Four Year Strong were tremendous. What really made today special was Say Anything's Highway 1 stage-closing set tonight. Apparently Max Bemis, SA's singer, came down with some sort of bug and was bedridden today, but instead of canceling their set, the band recruited a host of guest singers and played a full half-hour (with many of the songs having not been performed on Warped this summer yet). It was incredibly special, if a little comical at times, but the crowd was feeling it and singing along plenty. Here's the setlist and who sang each song:

Alive With The Glory Of Love w/Motion City Soundtrack's Justin Pierre
Every Man Has A Molly w/Norma Jean's Cory Brandan
Feudal w/Relient K's Matt Thiessen
Woe w/Every Time I Die's Keith Buckley
Wow, I Can Get Sexual Too w/Anberlin's Stephen Christian and the Bled's James Munoz (who was there only because he lives in Chicago now, apparently)
Belt w/The Color Fred's Fred Mascherino (with the finale sung by every guest singer plus Dr. Manhattan)

(Of course, as soon as I tried to shoot a few videos of this once-in-a-lifetime set, my cell phone's battery died, so I apologize for the lack of exclusive footage, but I'm sure there will be plenty of videos on YouTube soon.)

It's moments like this which really show how special Warped Tour is. Instead of disappointing thousands of kids by not playing, the entire tour rallied behind the band to put together something that will most likely never happen again. It puts the biggest smile on my face just thinking about it.

Our bus is currently speeding up the highway toward Minneapolis, my final show with the tour this summer. I can't believe how fast this week has flown by. I feel like I've been out here forever (and I mean that in a positive way). I know I'm going to miss this lifestyle as soon as I get back to Cleveland. My top mission for tomorrow? I have to watch Set Your Goals, no matter what. I still haven't caught SYG live since I've been here, and I'm determined to change my luck tomorrow. I'll let you know how it goes in 24 hours!