Since 1995, Vans Warped Tour was a mecca for bands across the musical spectrum of punk-rock, hip hop, pop, reggae, emo as well as the undefinable. For many years, Warped Tour was one of the most important events in music, but that all comes to an end as creator and show-runner Kevin Lyman has announced its farewell line-up for 2018.
Unfortunately the farewell line-up isn’t the nostalgic mix of bands that we see performing at a festival like Back To The Beach or It’s Not Dead. The Interrupters, Reel Big Fish and Less Than Jake highlight a farewell tour that includes headliners 3OH!3, The Amitty Affliction, As It Is and others (I’ve honestly never heard of). Less Than Jake & The Interrupters aren’t even on it for the entire tour, they’re just special guests at select dates, but Reel Big Fish will be on the whole tour.
The tour will start June 21st in Pomona, CA before concluding on August 5th in West Palm Beach, FL. In all, there will be 38 total dates across 25 states, including a stop in Toronto. This tour will be 
supporting more than 60 bands and artists and will undoubtedly be the last festival of its kind as it transitions into its new phase.
It was back in November when Lyman made the official announcement, declaring Warped Tour would no longer be a cross country festival: “I have been a very lucky person to have traveled across the country and sometimes around the world as one of the founders and producers of the Vans Warped Tour. Today with many mixed feelings, I am here to announce that the last full cross-country run will take place in 2018.”
So while Warped Tour may still exist beyond 2018, it wont be in a cross-country touring capacity that we’ve grown accustomed to. What the future will look like for the heralded festival is unclear, but as of today, we do know what 2018’s line-up will look like — For a farewell tour, it would have been nice to see Green Day, Jurassic 5, No Doubt, Bad Religion, Pennywise or a good combination of 2018’s Back To The Beach and 2015’s It’s Not Dead festival lineup. Warped Tour deserves the send-off of household names who entered our households the last 20+ years because of Warped Tour.
Sublime‘s first big tour following the break-out success of “Date Rape” was Warped Tour’s first year in 1995 with most of Sublime’s live-show documented in video by Josh Fischel that was later celebrated in Sublimes documentary Stories, Tales, Lies & Exaggerations. No Doubt also performed during that first 1995 Warped Tour and Brad Nowell would come out to sing with No Doubt on the song “Total Hate.” Long Beach Dub Allstars would perform for the festival 5 years later and even Pepper got their start from touring the Warped Tour having to set up and tear down the Volcom stage in the early 2000’s.
My first Warped Tour was in San Diego, 1998, at the end of the 3rd wave ska movement with a line-up that included The Specials, Save Ferris, The Aquabats, Hepcat, Cherry Poppin’ Daddies, Pietasters, Mad Caddies as well as some epic punk-rock from Bad Religion, NOFX, The Vandals and Rancid. This was my second ever live-show of any kind. As you can tell by the existence of The Pier, it kind of left an impact.
Thank you Kevin Lyman, Vans and everyone else who made this touring show possible! You can purchase tickets March 8th at VansWarpedTour.com.
Watch: Vans Warped Tour: Last Call
Related Links:
Vans Warped Tour Website
Vans Warped Tour Facebook
Article By: Mike Patti
Photo By: In The Barrel Photo
Live: No Doubt – Total Hate (Warped Tour 1995)
