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Warped Tour

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File:Vans warped tour.JPG
Warped Tour Logo

Warped Tour is a touring music and extreme sports festival. The tour is held in venues (generally parking lots or fields upon which the stages and other structures are erected). The BMX/skateboarding shoe manufacturer Vans has sponsored the tour among others every year since 1995 and it is often referred to as the Vans Warped Tour.

As of the mid-2000s, the Warped Tour has featured as many as 100 bands per show. The bands play for up to 30 minutes over approximately 10 different stages, although the biggest bands generally play the two "Main" stages. A typical day would have bands starting at 11:00am and end at 9:00 p.m. with several bands playing at once. The individual band times and stages where each band play is marked on a large board usually centered in the middle of the venue. The full area is set up to prevent music from one stage disrupting other active stages. One band, by fan vote, is allowed to play ten extra minutes at each show.

Every year there is a "BBQ Band," which, in exchange for the privilege of playing on the tour, must prepare food for the bands and crew for the barbecue which is held most evenings.[1] Similarly, one band, Animo (formerly DORK) has been permitted for the past four years to play on the tour in exchange for work on the setup crew.

The tour started as a skate punk, and third wave ska tour, but later began to feature mostly post-hardcore, pop punk, and metalcore acts. On a more purist side there are also some hardcore punk and street punk bands that still play Warp Tour.

History

The Warped Tour was created in 1994 by Kevin Lyman, who got the idea while working on skateboarding shows such as the Vision Skate Escape and Holiday Havoc which included music with skateboarding contests. The Warped name comes from the short-lived Warp Magazine, published by Transworld, which covered surfing, skateboarding, snowboarding, and music.

In 1998, the tour went international, including venues in Australia, Japan, Europe, Canada, and the United States.

In 1999, the tour started off in New Zealand and Australia in the New Year. It then started up again in the United States for the northern hemisphere summer before ending up in Europe.

As well as music, this tour brings many attractions, including a half pipe for skaters and bikers. The tour also features many booths creating a flea market-like atmosphere, having tents for each of the bands to sell merchandise, independent record labels, magazine publishers, non-profit organizations, and sponsors looking to market their products to the tour's audience. Many of the bands will retreat to their tents after their performance in order to meet up with the fans and groupies, and sign autographs which is just another added perk of attending the tour.

The Warped Tour also benefits up-and-coming bands and those looking to gain more recognition. The tour provides a direct market in order for these bands to obtain or extend their fan base. The bands can set up tent areas and are able to talk with those atteding the tour and sell their merchandise as well as give away promotional freebies.

Various illustrators are contracted each year to design promotional artwork. In 2006, The Vans Warped Tour hired New York's Punk Artist Joe Simko (Sweet Rot) to create all the character designs, Official tour poster, back stage passes (image shown below), and official 2006 logo. Simko's Warped Tour artwork has been attached to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame marketing campaign.

Several backstage VIP passes are placed for auction on eBay, allowing access all summer long. Sponsors are issued a number of "Sponsor" laminate passes or wristbands, and in 2006 and 2007, there were promotions announced, tied to blood donation, which allow access.

This year was the lucky 13th.

Tours

See also: Previous Warped Tour bands

Stages

Current stages

Warped features several stages, among them

  • Main Stage (There are two main stages, formerly designated "Main Stage Left" and "Main Stage Right", but in 2007 called "Lucky" and "13". In the past, they have borne other names, such as "Brian" and "Teal").
Warped Tour 2006 All Access Pass
  • The Hurley Stage
  • The Hurley.com Stage
  • The Smartpunk Stage
  • The Ernie Ball Stage
  • Hot Topic/Kevin Says Stage
  • East Coast Indie Stage (select east coast shows only)
  • Stage Ocho (Lucky 13 Mini Ramp Stage)
  • Skullcandy Mix Tent Stage
  • Family Clothing Stage (outside of the tour each morning)
  • the old school stage (8/25)
  • All Girl Skate Jam Stage (8/25)
  • Jersey Stage (8/5)
  • Union Stage (8/11-8/12)

Past stages

  • The Volcom Stage
  • The Code of The Cutz Stage
  • The Shiragirl Stage
  • Vagrant/Major League Baseball Stage
  • The DIY Stage

The stages are usually temporary structures that fold into one or more trailer loads. If the venue is an amphitheatre, the amphitheatre stage is often used--in 2006, the two sides of the amphitheatre stage were often shared between the Volcom and MLB Vagrant stages. This year, amphitheatre stages are shared between the Smartpunk.com and Hurley.com Stages. However, at Cleveland's Tower City Amphitheatre venue, which has a relatively narrow stage, the stage was used for Main Stage Right.

[1]

Band conflicts

A few bands have left the tour due to conflicts they had with the tour or with other bands:

  • CKY, on their second Warped Tour, were kicked from the 2000 tour after a protest of how much the vendors were charging.
  • Alien Ant Farm complained in 2001 that they were still playing side stages even after their single began receiving mainstream attention. They criticized the fact that H2O were on a main stage when no one knew who they were.
  • The band Guttermouth was supposedly removed from the 2004 Warped Tour for insulting My Chemical Romance. The band later stated that they left themselves due to "that '10 or so' unnamed bands didn't jive with Guttermouth's way of doing business, and in some cases, threatened them with violence."[2]
  • According to Fat Mike, on the 2006 tour, From First to Last was upset about not being able to play before 2:00pm on the main stage, and refused to play if they were not guaranteed that.[3] From First to Last stated they left the tour due to vocalist Sonny Moore having nodes on his vocal chords.
  • Scary Kids Scaring Kids was suspended for one show (Pomona) in 2006 for lending their laminate passes to friends at the San Diego show. They were reinstated for the San Francisco show and stated, "Nothing can stop us from playing."
  • In 2006 NOFX frontman Fat Mike was making fun of Underoath and their religious beliefs and criticizing their stance on gay marriage, but emphasised that he befriended Underoath's band members at the start of the tour, had very civilized conversations with various members right up to Underoath's departure.[4] A statement from the band claimed that the members "felt it necessary to take some immediate time to focus on our friendship, as that’s more important than risking it for the sake of touring at this time."
  • Kevin Lyman acknowledged that on the 2007 tour some of the more seasoned bands were irked by newer bands with rock-star attitudes, and also that there was some tension between punk bands and Christian groups.[5]
  • US Bombs were thrown off the tour several times because of singer Duane Peters' drug addiction. They were given numerous chances at the urging of Rancid.
  • In 2007, a fire was set in the parking lot at the Mansfield, Massachsetts show, and Lyman posted cash reward posters, no questions asked, threatening to cancel all remaining post-show barbecues. While a BBQ band was turned in, and expelled from the tour, it later turned out that the perpetrators were individuals affiliated with Avenged Sevenfold.

Criticism

While many punk purists decry the tour’s rampant commercialism, high concession prices and watered-down music, some defend the changes in the production of the tour through the years. “Warped Tour is a place for teenage kids to go and hear all their favourite bands in one day,” says Rob Pasalic, guitarist for the Saint Alvia Cartel. “It wouldn’t make sense for it to be the same tour in 2007 as it was in 1997. These are the bands that kids like, and the tour is smart enough to grow and adapt to that. You still get bands like Bad Religion playing, so it’s not like it’s lost all its roots.” [6]

Joe Queer of The Queers stated that

"You play music because there’s something inside of you that says you have to play music. Now you get bands like Fall Out Boy that are basically created in the studio. The Warped Tour changed it. Fuck it. I just don’t like that shit. All the guys in the bands remind me of the jocks I hated in high school. To me a punk gig is a small sweaty club with the audience right in your face knocking over the mic stand and boogying off the energy."[7]

On the other side of the coin many in the punk scene (in particular fans of hardcore punk and Street Punk) do not consider pop punk bands like The Queers to be punk "purists" and have criticised acts like them for "corrupting" punk rock music by moving away from the DIY punk rock ideology, embracing commercialism and adopting a "pop like" sound.

The band Propagandhi lashes out at the tour in their song "Rock for Sustainable Capitalism", which contains lyrics categorising the tour's bands as "shitty" and criticising the Vans sponsorship due to the Vans company's use of foreign labor.

Brendan Kelly of The Lawrence Arms said that it kills smaller concert venues, since all the big bands go on one tour together. The band alleges that this also caused The Lawrence Arms to get permanently banned from Warped Tour when Brendan Kelly said this on stage. On The Lawrence Arms 2006 album Oh! Calcutta! there is a song entitled "Warped Summer Extravaganza (Major Excellent)," a reference to the band's experiences on the Warped Tour.

Compilations

Every year, a record label draws songs released by many of the bands that perform during the Warped Tour, and release them in an Warped Tour Compilation. The compilations have been released by SideOneDummy Records. The 2006 edition was released before the Warped Tour started unlike past compilations. This allowed people to buy the CD, listen to the songs, and choose which bands they would want to hear if and when they go to their stop on the tour. The following is a list of links to the individual Warped Tour Compilations:

  • A DVD about the experiences of a PETA representative while advocating for his organization on the Warped Tour, Wake Up Screaming,[8] was created after the 2005 tour.

Mishaps

The tour has postponed been several times subject to weather-related delays and cancellations. Most recently, at the 2007 Houston show on Sunday, July 15th, 2007, in the early morning, there was a lightning storm during set up. Since the delay in set up meant that it would not have been possible to start the show until mid-afternoon, the tour announced that the event was postponed Monday, July 16th, 2007, moving the venue into Reliant Arena rather than the Reliant Center Parking Lot. The tickets say rain or shine, and during storms the tour can still be held, such as the August 2nd, 2007 show in Cleveland, Ohio. When the storm can possibly electricute bands, or interfere with well-being of attendees, it's way too dangerous to risk. Several bands could not play on Monday due to prior commitments, including: Paramore, The Almost, Haste The Day, It Dies Today, Chiodos, and Throwdown.

Footnotes

  1. ^ Charleston.net
  2. ^ http://www.aversion.com/news/news_article.cfm?news_id=2782
  3. ^ http://serviette.ca/radio_show/nw20060818b.mp3
  4. ^ http://www.punknews.org/article/18930
  5. ^ http://www.shepherd-express.com/1editorialbody.lasso?-token.folder=2007-07-26&-token.story=177818.113121&-token.subpub=
  6. ^ "Warped Tour Keeps Skating Straight Ahead". Retrieved August 23. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  7. ^ http://www.wirenh.com/Music/Music_-general/Joe_Queer:_the_face_of_punk_200610241597.html
  8. ^ http://www.wakeupscreamingmovie.com

References

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