Vans Warped Tour is the longest running North American festival concert tour. It was announced that 2018 was going to be the last year of the tour which disappointed many of its long-time fans and performing acts alike. The big question was how could it end after 24 continuous years? The answer is simple, it couldn’t! Kevin Lyman and his production company had to bring Warped back for one last (limited) run to make it through its 25th anniversary.
This year there are only 3 stops on the tour, June 8 in Cleveland, Ohio, June 29 & 30 in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and July 20 & 21 in Mountain View, California. Music Madness Magazine was fortunate to catch up with the tour at their Atlantic City stop. The late June weekend consisted of 4 stages, a skate / bike ramp, a free-style motocross course, a wrestling ring, and vendors upon vendors selling all sorts of cool gear. There was also a Warped Museum featuring memories of Warped Tours gone by.
It was hot and humid when things kicked off on Saturday. Many festival goers took to cooling off in the Atlantic Ocean or hanging out beneath Playground Pier in the times between seeing their favorite bands. The weather took a turn as the day went on. Some typical Summer thunderstorms moved into the area. As a result, festival personnel made the call to temporarily shut things down for awhile. They asked everyone to evacuate the beach area and seek shelter at the casinos. As the old show-biz saying goes, “the show must go on!” The festival continued on at 7:15 with some shortened set times but every band took the stage to the delight of the fans.
Sunday was a warm day but significantly less humid. For most, nothing got in the way of a day of great music! The tour did their best to avoid heat issues by providing a cooling misting tent and free water bottle filling stations. No matter, there were some folks on both days who fell victim of the heat. Emergency crews were well equipped with over sand ambulance vehicles and plenty of personnel to handle any medical needs.
The music was fitting to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Warped. The main stage was peppered with big name acts including Less Than Jake, Good Charlotte, Bad Religion, The Offspring, and Blink 182 to name just a few.
The other three stages hosted some amazing bands as well! Memphis May Fire, Bowling For Soup, CKY, Hyro The Hero, Sleeping With Sirens and many many others brought their ‘A’ games to this very special event. Music styles varied widely through the rock realm so there was something for most everyone. For the uninitiated, the folks setting up the stages do a great job. Because of the way they set up the stages, the sound doesn’t overlap from one stage to the next.
There are many reasons Warped Tour is such an important festival. For one, people come to see their favorite bands and end up seeing several favorites at one location. Another reason is people end up discovering new bands (to them) that they absolutely love.
Warped has an all inclusive family atmosphere and people can feel comfortable no matter their orientation or beliefs. One of the most important aspects of Warped has to do with friendships. Because Warped brings so many people who love music together, new friendships are made as well as old friendships renewed.
It’s hard to believe this year is the last year for this iconic event. Word has it that there could possibly be a Warped Cruise in a couple of years but that remains to be seen. Will Rockstar’s Disrupt Festival or some other traveling festival grow to the iconic status of Vans Warped Tour? Time will tell. Until then, the memories will continue on as we mourn the end of the most famous traveling music festival!
