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All 25 Warped Tour Lineups, Ranked

Warped Tour is one of the biggest names in the concert canon. Those who haven't gone want to and those who have gone wait for the day they can go again. For a majority of its run, it was the largest traveling music festival in the United States. A number of past Warped Tour lineups have been impressive, but which year was the best? Help decide below! 

Starting as an eclectic alternative rock festival in 1995 and gradually morphing into a punk rock festival by the next year, the tour gained momentum when Vans, the wildly popular shoe manufacturer, was signed on as the tour's main sponsor in 1996. As Warped Tour became increasingly popular with each passing year, more sponsors signed on, slowly growing the tour's scope of influence. Sadly, 2018 proved to be the final year of the famous tour as announced by Warped Tour's founder, Kevin Lyman. 

You'll find every Warped Tour lineup here! Vote below on the best Warped Tour lineups, keeping in mind factors like the bands performing, production value, and overall spectacle. If you're an avid concert-goer, you can also check out this list of the best Coachella lineups ! (Disclaimer - some years certain dates had slightly different lineups). 

Warped Tour 2005

Notable Peformers: My Chemical Romance, Fall Out Boy, Thrice, Billy Idol, The All-American Rejects, Bowling for Soup, Dropkick Murphys, Hawthorne Heights

Dates: June 18 to August 14

Warped Tour 2004

Notable Performers: NOFX, My Chemical Romance, The Used, Fall Out Boy, Billy Talent, Yellowcard, Motion City Soundtrack, New Found Glory, Good Charlotte, Anti-Flag, Bowling for Soup 

Dates:  June 25 to August 19

Warped Tour 1998

Notable Performers:  Bad Religion, Godsmack, Rancid, Less Than Jake, Blink-182, Beck (some dates), Unwritten Law, Reverend Horton Heat, Incubus 

Date:  July 4 to August 9

Warped Tour 1997

Notable Performers:  Blink-182, Reel Big Fish, Descendants, Less Than Jake, Sugar Ray, Pennywise, Social Distortion, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones 

Dates:  July 2 to August 5

Warped Tour 1999

Notable Performers: Cypress Hill, Blink-182, Dropkick Murphys, Pennywise, Black Eyed Peas, Suicidal Tendencies, Less Than Jake, Bouncing Souls

Dates:  June 25 to July 31

Warped Tour 2000

Notable Performers:  Weezer, Flogging Molly, Green Day, Anti-Flag, No Doubt, Papa Roach, The Muffs, Suicide Machines, NOFX, Good Riddance

Dates: June 23 to August 6

Warped Tour 2001

Notable Performers:  Pennywise, New Found Glory, Dropkick Murphys, The Vandals, Sum 41, Rancid, Less Than Jake, The All-American Rejects, Good Charlotte 

Dates:  June 29 to August 12

Warped Tour 1995

Notable Performers:  Sublime, No Doubt, Quicksand, Fluf, Deftones, No Use for a Name, Supernova, CIV, Deftones

Dates: August 4 to September 5

Warped Tour 2007

Notable Performers:  Bad Religion, Pennywise, Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, Killswitch Engage, Yellowcard, Ambelin, Flogging Molly, Hawthorne Heights

Dates:  June 28 to August 25

Warped Tour 2006

Notable Performers: Joan Jett and the Blackhearts,   Less Than Jake, The Academy Is..., Anti-Flag, Billy Talent, Motion City Soundtrack, Paramore, Rise Against, NOFX

Dates:  June 15 to August 13

Warped Tour 2018

Notable Performers:  Korn, Prophets of Rage, Limp Bizkit, Reel Big Fish, Pennywise, All Time Low, Taking Back Sunday, We The Kings

Dates:  June 21 to August 5

Warped Tour 2011

Notable Performers:  Paramore, Jack's Mannequin, Bowling for Soup, Relient K, MC Lars, Less Than Jake, Anti-Flag, Simple Plan 

Dates:  June 24 to August 14

Warped Tour 2003

Notable Performers:  The Ataris, Dropkick Murphys, Rancid, The Used, Pennywise, Less than Jake, Suicide Machines, Andrew W.K., Yellowcard, Glassjaw 

Dates: June 19 to August 10

Warped Tour 2002

Notable Performers: New Found Glory, Simple Plan, Flogging Molly, Anti-Flag, Reel Big Fish, Yellowcard, Goldfinger, NOFX, Jimmy Eat World, Bad Religion, Good Charlotte

Dates:  June 21 to August 18

Warped Tour 2008

Notable Performers:  Katy Perry, Amberlin, Jack's Mannequin, Angels and Airwaves, Reel Big Fish, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Broadway Calls, The Devil Wears Prada 

Dates:  June 20 to August 17

Warped Tour 1996

Notable Performers:  Fishbone, Pennywise, CIV, Rocket From The Crypt, Dance Hall Crashers, Down By Law, The Figgs, Guttermouth, Blink-182, Fluf, Red 5, Sensefield, Far 

Date:  July 4 to August 8

Warped Tour 2016

Notable Performers:  Falling In Reverse, Less Than Jake, Good Charlotte, Sleeping With Sirens, New Found Glory, Yellowcard, Ghost Town, Bad Seed Rising, We The Kings

Dates:  June 24 to August 13

Warped Tour 2013

Notable Performers: Chiodos, New Beat Fund, Gin Wigmore, MC Lars, Craig Owens, Dia Frampton, Charlotte Sometimes, Big Chocolate, Echosmith, Motion City Soundtrack, Reel Big Fish 

Dates:  July 15 to August 4

Warped Tour 2019

Warped Tour 2010

Notable Performers:  Alkaline Trio, Motion City Soundtrack, Anti-Flag, Dropkick Murphys, Andrew W.K., Penny Wise, Reel Big Fish, The All-American Rejects, Suicide Silence, We The Kings

Dates:  June 25 to August 15

Warped Tour 2012

Notable Performers:  Falling in Reverse, The Used, Yellowcard, Dead Sara, Rise Against, Yellowcard, MC Laws, Machine Gun Kelly, Anti-Flag

Date:  June 16 to August 5

Warped Tour 2009

Notable Performers:  Less Than Jake, Underoath, Bad Religion,  T.S.O.L., The Adolescents, Sing it Loud, TAT

Dates:  June 26 to August 23

Warped Tour 2014

Notable Performers:  Breathe Carolina, Falling in Reverse, Mayday Parade, Less Than Jake, We The Kings, Yellowcard, The Ghost Inside, The Mighty, Finch

Dates:  June 13 to August 3

Warped Tour 2017

Notable Performers:   Andy Black, Beartooth, Dance Gavin Dance, I Prevail, New Years Day, Falling In Reverse, Streetlight Manifesto, Neck Deep

Date: May 27 to November 1

Warped Tour 2015

Notable Performers:  As It Is, Bebe Rexha, New Years Day, Knuckle Puck, Metro Station, Candy Hearts, Motion City Soundtrack, Memphis May Fire 

Dates:  June 19 to October 18

Lists about the phenomena of the summer music festival - who to see, how to dress, and what to expect beyond heat, crowds, and bigger crowds.

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How 23 Years of Warped Tour Changed America

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After almost a quarter of a century, and having showcased upwards of 1700 bands, Warped Tour as we know it will come to an end when summer 2018 does. For the most mainstream of Americans who never attended, the tour always looked like an outlier -- a noisy summertime day out for the same kids that shopped at Hot Topic, wore too much eyeliner, and learned HTML by editing their MySpace profiles. Truthfully though, Warped Tour's impact on mainstream pop culture was enormous.

Warped Tour started out scrappy. It was 1995, pop punk was just starting to explode out of the underground -- thanks to Green Day's major label debut, Dookie -- and founder Kevin Lyman , having spent three years working on the Lollapalooza tour, recognized a gap in the festival market. That first Warped was 25 dates -- a breeze for bands and crews who later got used to the jaunt going on for twice as long. No one could foresee back then just how big -- or long-running -- this juggernaut would become.

While Warped's biggest impact has been taking underground culture and smearing it across America in broad daylight every summer, what is so often forgotten is that this was also the venue used by the likes of Katy Perry and Eminem to launch their careers to wider audiences. It's where Sonny Moore started out (in a band named From First to Last ) before he metamorphosed into EDM megastar, Skrillex . It's where No Doubt spent their summer the year before they exploded on a global scale.

Dominic Davi , Oakland-based bassist of  Tsunami Bomb , has been attending Warped since 1995 and playing it since 2001. "It's so easy to forget now," he says, "but when it started, and for a long time into it, the bands Warped Tour was assembling did not get played on the radio. They were not featured on festival lineups. Kevin Lyman helped shine a light onto all these bands that were drawing various amounts on their own, but together could fill a festival. That took a lot of vision."

"In the end," Davi continues, "Warped launched all these careers and was directly responsible for the punk rock explosion that happened in the early 2000s. That's quite a feat."

Warped Tour, especially in its earliest years, acted this way, year upon year, launching artists out of obscurity and into the eyeline of the mainstream. Blink 182, a band that was long considered too crude and provocative for mainstream success, appeared on three out of the four Warpeds between 1996 and 1999. It's no coincidence that by 2000, they were one of the biggest bands in the country.

Not only did Warped change how punk rock was treated by mainstream music culture, it had an indelible impact on the lives of the thousands of people who lived and worked on the tour over the years, some of whom came back annually, without fail. Along the way, it also helped to further unify a nationwide community of punks, rebels, and renegades.

Dominic Davi compares spending a summer on the tour to "running away with the circus." Photographer Lisa Johnson , whose work documenting Warped Tour has been featured on the covers of several official compilations, as well as in the book, Misfit Summer Camp: 20 Years on the Road With Vans , elaborates: "Warped Tour is a place where seemingly anything is possible. Utopia. Hard work and happiness, plus some fun in the sun. There is just always something magic in the air."

The unique spirit of Warped is precisely why hundreds of people have stepped up, year after year, to work in unbearably high temperatures, notoriously dusty environs, facing parking lot after parking lot with few views of the outside world (unless you count the occasional midnight trip to Wal-Mart) for weeks on end.

It's difficult to fathom why anybody would want to spend an entire summer in those conditions -- until you actually do it. In 2006, I joined Warped Tour for five days to write a story for a British rock magazine. Somehow, five days turned into seven weeks. I skipped my flight home to sell merch for one of the bands I had met along the way, and had zero regrets about hitting 'pause' on the rest of my life to do so.

For thousands of us, Warped has always been that way -- once you get caught in its vortex, it's hard to extricate yourself from it. "It's this huge production," Davi says, "with so many moving parts. It's hard work. You are moving all day. I think you have to be a particular personality to love that life. I always did."

The video below that Lisa Johnson took at a backstage party in 2014, effectively sums up the hilarity, unified chaos, and good-natured anarchy of Warped Tour (and also why the nightly after-show barbecues have become the stuff of legend). Take into account that the people you see in this clip are the people working the tour -- crew members, band members, merch people, stage hands. Work days may be long and conditions may sometimes be hard, but on the best nights, this is what happens once the ticket-buying public leaves:

There's no doubting that in recent years Warped Tour has, to some degree at least, lost its niche, while also weathering some damaging storms. "In many ways," Davi notes, "I think when the bands on the tour became bands that the radio and MTV embraced, it became harder to preserve that core exclusivity and unique feeling that Warped Tour had. At first it made the tour bigger, but having to chase the trends and adapt to bands with more exposure, I think made it more difficult to make the tour a special experience. By trying to please everyone they had a harder time pleasing anyone."

The summer tour's time might be drawing to a close, but Warped promises to live on in other capacities: there will be some sort of 25th anniversary celebration, and the first Warped Rewind at Sea cruise just happened last month. More than that though, the tour leaves behind a legacy. It impacted a couple of generations of punk, emo and hardcore bands, as well as their fans. Warped brought a newfound acceptance of alternative culture to all corners of the country. It was a confidence builder for teens who felt alienated in their suburban high schools; it was a training camp for small bands, and a springboard for larger ones; and, for a long while there, it fundamentally changed the fabric of alternative music in America.

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75 Warped Tour acts that made the tour legendary

• Published: Jul. 18, 2018, 7:05 a.m.
• Anne Nickoloff and Troy Smith, Cleveland.com

Bryan Bedder

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Over 20 years, countless bands have played parking lots to amphitheaters on the Vans Warped Tour.

For much of that time, Warped has carried the torch for traveling rock festivals. Though, all good things must come to an end.

In honor of this year being the final for the Warped Tour, we look at the 75 acts that made it so hard to say goodbye.

Kevin Winter

1. Paramore

Paramore is a Warped Tour success story. The band started at the small female-fronted Shiragirl stage in 2005 with its first-ever tour and grew to become one of the biggest headliners in its subsequent five Warped Tour performances.

Paramore’s sound has undoubtedly changed over the years, but some of its most iconic releases (2005’s “All We Know Is Falling,” 2007’s “Riot!” and 2009’s “Brand New Eyes”) all arrive during the band’s punky Warped Tour years.

Johanna Leguerre

2. Simple Plan

Simple Plan has played Warped Tour a dozen times, making the trek an essential part of the Canadian band's career, from its rise in the early 2000s to its recent resurgence.

Jason Merritt

3. Blink-182

There is no band more responsible for the popularity of the music featured year after year on the Warped Tour than Blink-182. The band only played the tour four times, but you could find copycat on the bill every year that followed.

Combining elements of skate punk, ska, hardcore and punk, NOFX has been one of the steadiest presences on Warped going all the way back to its early years. The band has served as a must-see on the tour seven times.

5. New Found Glory

What would a summertime party be in the 2000s without some New Found Glory? The band’s fun pop-punk songs and exuberance earned it multiple headlining spots on Warped Tour.

6. Less Than Jake

Although Less Than Jake has performed at Warped Tour 10 times, nothing can tire out the ska-punk band. With colorful outfits, inflatable balls and boundless energy, Less Than Jake has always had a ton of fun on the summer tour.

Atilla Kisbenedek

Sum 41 has a unique Warped Tour. At its peak, the band was one of the most popular acts on the tour. Then things fell apart. But Sum 41's comeback has been staged on the tour the past few years, which has been great to see.

Marsaili McGrath

8. Motion City Soundtrack

Half of Motion City Soundtrack’s lifespan as a band existed in Warped Tour. The band was around for about 20 years and it played the tour for 10 of them, becoming a staple on the lineup.

Mauricio Santana

9. Bad Religion

As pioneers of the pop punk genre, it was essential to have Bad Religion as part of Warped. And the band delivered, performing six times, including two spots ni during important late 1990s runs.

Tina Fineberg

10. Yellowcard

When it comes to stage acrobatics, few Warped Tour bands could beat Yellowcard. Every show, audiences knew to wait for violinist Sean Mackin’s backflips.

Laura Roberts

11. All Time Low

All Time Low burst onto the Warped Tour scene in 2007, but quickly earned fans around the country with its fresh pop-punk sound. The newcomer quickly became a staple for Warped Tour, going on to perform five different fests.

12. Pennywise

Pennywise joined punk acts of Green Day, Rancid, Bad Religion and Blink-182 in gaining mainstream success during the 1990s. Pennywise spread that out over nine warped tours, more than any of those aforementioned acts.

13. Deftones

Deftones were an important addition during the Warped Tour's early run, offering up another name act as the tour was just beginning to take off.

John Davisson

14. Reel Big Fish

It’s hard not to dance at a Reel Big Fish show. The ska-punk band’s infectious, horn-driven sound fits right in with Warped Tour’s punky roots.

It's okay if you've never heard of CIV. Just know they've influenced a ton of punk acts and played Warped three of its first five years.

16. Bowling For Soup

Angsty kids had a soundtrack with Bowling For Soup in the 1990s. Songs like “1985,” “High School Never Ends” and “Girl All The Bad Guys Want” are humorous reminders of the rebellious days of ‘90s kids. The band has continued to play Warped Tour past its heyday, performing throwback tunes for eager fans.

17. Face to Face

Another early Warped pioneer, Face to Face played two of the first three years of the festival. And the California punk band was a solid draw during that time thanks to its hit "Disconnected."

Imeh Akpanudosen

18. Anti-Flag

Anti-Flag has been one of the steadiest acts on Warped during the 21st century, playing the tour no less than 10 times and giving the tour a political charge.

Robb D. Cohen

19. Silverstein

Silversten were a product (influence wise) of several popular Warped acts of the 90s. That made the Canadian post-hardcore outfit a force on the tour nine times, from 2004 to this farewell trip.

20. Katy Perry

Katy Perry played Warped Tour just one year -- 2008. But she made quite the impact. With her single "I Kissed a Girl" No. 1 on the charts, Perry routinely drew the biggest crowds. Another fact: She was dating Gym Class Heroes frontman Travis McCoy at the time and he would carry her out on stage.

Mark Metcalfe

21. Motionless In White

Goth kids can rock, too. And Motionless In White has long catered to the audience members wearing all black on a hot summer day. The gothic metal band has played its heavy, dark music on Warped Tour nine different times.

Noel Vasquez

22. Flogging Molly

Celtic punk band Flogging Molly is one of the biggest leaders of the genre in America. The band played its dancey rock songs to Warped Tour a whopping seven times.

23. The Used

There was a stretch where the emo/screamo sound of The Used was as good a draw as any act on Warped Tour. The band's early albums remain essential parts of canon.

24. The Ataris

The Ataris became the true boys of summer the six times they played Warped Tour. The emo pop band formed in 1996, but continues to tour today (and even played Warped last summer).

25. Green Day

What a treat it was to have Green Day, the band that feels like the godfather of every Warped act, on the tour in 2000.

26. Mayday Parade

Emo rock band Mayday Parade are on Warped Tour’s lineup again for 2018, and it’ll be the seventh time it has played the fest. Fans always eagerly await the band’s best-known hits like “Jamie All Over,” “Miserable At Best” and “Terrible Things.”

From the late 1990s to early 2000s, MxPx spent every other year on the Warped Tour, making itself at home and adding to the tour's skate-punk vibe.

28. Avenged Sevenfold

As Avenged Sevenfold got bigger and bigger in the early 2000s, Warped Tour became the place where fans could enjoy the act in a live setting.

Charles Sykes

29. Fall Out Boy

Fall Out Boy played Warped Tour twice, in 2004 and 2005, before it grew too large for the fest. The band’s 2005 album “From Under The Cork Tree” started snowballing fame for Fall Out Boy that continues today, creating top hits that have crossed over into mainstream success.

Scott Gries

Before Eminem took the world by storm, he played Warped Tour. Yes, you read that right. The Real Slim Shady drew massive crowds in 1999. He would soon get too big to ever return.

31. Good Charlotte

Brothers Joel and Benji Madden have led Good Charlotte into pop-punk stardom since its formation in 1996. The band only played Warped Tour four times, but often led the fest in high headlining spots.

32. The Mighty Mighty Bosstones

Thanks to bands like The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Warped Tour always had a diverse feel to it. It wasn't just about post-hardcore or pop punk, giving ska rockers the chance to shine as well.

33. Chiodos

Chiodos were one of the defining bands of the pop-screamo subgenre, and it mashed together the energetic, melodic rhythms of emo pop, with vocalist Craig Owens’ hellish screams bringing a heavier element. The result: prime tunes for Warped Tour mosh pits.

Duane Prokop

34. A Day to Remember

Warped Tour can be a rowdy day, and that’s especially true with A Day To Remember. The metalcore band had a way of riling up its audience all five times it played the festival.

35. Dropkick Murphys

Infusing traditional Celtic songs with punk rock, Dropkick Murphys added some flavor to Warped Tour’s lineup the five times it participated.

36. We The Kings

Songs like “Check Yes, Juliet” and “Skyway Avenue” are basically Warped Tour anthems. That’s because We The Kings’ infectious, upbeat energy were a fixture in seven different tours.

Chung Sung-Jun

37. Story of the Year

Story of the Year spent most of its time on Warped Tour in the early 2000s, establishing itself as a star of the lineup. The band had just released its hit songs like “Until The Day I Die,” “Anthem Of Our Dying Day” and “And The Hero Will Drown.”

38. The Maine

The Maine formed in 2007, but its first big step into the alternative rock scene was with the 2008 and 2009 Warped Tours. The band released its first album, “Can’t Stop Won’t Stop” in 2008, and has gone on to release five more successful albums since then.

Kellie Warren

39. The All-American Rejects

Only a handful of Warped Tour acts have been crossover success in the mainstream music world, and The All-American Rejects are one of them. The band’s songs “Dirty Little Secret,” “It Ends Tonight” and “Move Along” all became famous after its time on Warped Tour.

40. Sleeping With Sirens

Kellin Quinn, the singer of Sleeping With Sirens, is one of the most talented voices in emo rock, with soaring vocals and scratchy growls. He debuted on Warped Tour in 2012, just a couple of years after forming Sleeping With Sirens, and played the fest for five years straight until 2016.

Peter Kramer

Anytime Thrice was on Warped Tour, the band was a big draw. It's complex style brought solid musicianship to the tour and allowed fans to watch the evolution of a band that wasn't afraid to switch things up.

42. Taking Back Sunday

When emo music started to rise up in the 2000s, Taking Back Sunday was one of the most popular bands. Songs like “MakeDamnSure,” “Liar” and “Cute Without The ‘E’” helped to define the genre, and also to define Warped Tour’s distinct sound.

43. Sublime

Sublime co-headlined the second Warped Tour, which was the first time the tour went full-on coast to coast. The band quickly earned a reputation for its naughty behavior, but remained a huge draw.

A mainstay int he West Coast punk rock scene of the early 1990s, Fluf supported Warped during two of the the first three years and helped shape the pop-punk sound.

45. Black Veil Brides

Originally, Black Veil Brides rocked out with big hair, black makeup and tight black outfits, bringing a throwback glam metal vibe to metal music. Over the years, the band has toned down its style a bit, but continued to release heavy, dark music that’s a hit at Warped.

46. Every Time I Die

Since the early 2000s, Every Time I Die has been involved in mini Warped Tour shows. But it wasn’t until 2006 that the band took on a full summer of intense concerts. Since then, the band has played Warped Tour regularly, and is currently on the final fest tour.

47. The Starting Line

One of the most beloved pop-punk acts of all time, The Starting Line played Warped four times during the band's peak period.

Barry Brecheisen

L7 gave girl-rock a face during Warped's early years, helping set the stage for future acts like Paramore and New Years Day.

49. Senses Fail

Senses Fail has played Warped Tour six different times, and the lineup was different many of those times. Yet, despite the turbulence in the band, singer Buddy Nielsen always put on a show, leaping around on the stage with endless energy.

50. No Doubt

It can be hard for a tour to get big acts early on. Fortunately, No Doubt hadn't quite blown up when it played the festival. Gwen Stefani and company would return in 2000 for just one show.

51. Pierce The Veil

Over a decade ago, Pierce The Veil burst onto the emo rock scene, and moved its way up the ranks in Warped Tour. The band started off by playing just one date in 2007, then ended up on the fest’s main stage for the full tour in 2012.

52. Sick of It All

Hardcore rock band Sick of It All played Warped early on but didn't forget its roots. The band returned last year for a standout run.

53. My Chemical Romance

Many Warped Tour fans were hoping My Chemical Romance would reunite to play 2018’s festival. Unfortunately the band, which broke up in 2013, isn’t getting back together any time soon. Yet, MCR’s two performances on Warped Tour were impressionable enough to leave fans begging for more.

54. New Year's Day

When it comes to fans, New Years Day beats a lot of other Warped acts. The band’s fans go all-out with a massive crowd wearing mostly black. At Warped, girls and women can also be seen rocking the half-red, half-black hair pattern made famous by singer Ash Costello.

55. Gym Class Heroes

Gym Class Heroes scored a series of hits in the 2000s and played them live at Warped, giving the tour a steady hip-hop presence.

56. Quicksand

Post-hardcore act Quicksand served as one of the standouts on the first Warped Tour. However, the long trek proved too much for the band who wound up breaking up soon after.

57. Falling In Reverse

Bad-boy singer Ronnie Radke has been in the public eye for several run-ins with the law, at one point serving over two years in prison. That was where he started working on Falling In Reverse, a band that’s played Warped Tour a total of six times and has garnered one of the biggest fanbases of modern metalcore music.

58. Alkaline Trio

Stephen Shugerman

59. Something Corporate

Fronted by pianist and singer Andrew McMahon, Something Corporate put out poppy rock songs that pumped up the crowd all three times the band played Warped Tour. The band was only around regularly for six years, until McMahon continued on with his other band Jack’s Mannequin.

60. Andrew W.K.

Andrew W.K. can pretty much play any kind of festival. But when he brings his wacky set to Warped Tour, it's a one of a kind experience.

Rob Grabowski

61. Dillinger Escape Plan

Don't sleep on metal at Warped Tour. Bands like Dillinger Escape plan have brought their complex mathcore to Warped multiple times.

62. No Use For Name

As one of the most seasoned acts on Warped Tour during the 20th century, No Use For a Name transitioned from hardcore punk to a more melodic sound over the years.

As one of the essential punk rock acts of the 1990s, you knew Rancid would make this list. Tim Armstrong and his trademark guitar joined the tour just three times. But each run was memorable.

64. The Vandals

The Vandals are best known as one of the first rock bands to incorporate turntables into its sound. The band was a steady force on Warped Tour during its peak.

65. Bouncing Souls

Bouncing Souls doesn't get enough credit for its influence on various punk genres 1990s. But anyone who saw the band during at least one of its six Warped appearances knows just how good they were.

Roger Kisby

66. Coheed and Cambria

Coheed and Cambria played Warped three times. But each time the band stood out. Coheed's technical musicianship was unlike anything else at Warped but its bouncy collection of hits was enough to draw impressive crowds.

Astrid Stawiarz

67. Plain White T's

Plain White T’s only played Warped Tour twice. However, the band spiced up the loud, punky event with a softer side, with songs like “Hey There Delilah” and “Rhythm Of Love.”

Karl Walter

68. Underoath

Underoath was a huge part of Warped Tour during the mid-2000s. The band returns to say goodbye in 2018.

Matt Winkelmeyer

69. Saves the Day

Saves The Day formed while singer and guitarist Chris Conley was still in high school, but the band’s sound quickly matured in the form of two full-length albums in the late 1990s. The band’s unique hardcore sound propelled them onto Warped Tour three different times in the festival’s history.

Ethan Miller

70. Unwritten Law

Unwritten Law has toured a lot since the early 1990s and the band has managed to make Warped a part of that four times.

71. Glassjaw

Unfortunately, Glassjaw didn't play Warped Tour during its early years. But the band more than made up for it when it finally joined the tour for a raucous showcase, twice in the mid-2000s.

Katie Darby

72. Four Year Strong

Four Year Strong? More like 17 years strong at this point. The post-hardcore band puts out intense, aggressive music that gets mosh pits going at Warped Tour. Four Year Strong has played the festival six times, including this current summer.

73. Neck Deep

Neck Deep has played a huge role in the more recent pop-punk revival, creating popular albums since 2012’s “Rain In July.” It’s brought that refreshed sound to Warped Tour four different times with massive audiences full of fans.

74. Rise Against

No stranger to any kind of rock showcase, Rise Against's brand of melodic hardcore felt at home all four times the band hit the stage at Warped.

75. Bayside

Bayside has a knack for putting out the catchiest punk and emo songs, like “Sick, Sick, Sick” and “Devotion And Desire.” Those songs proved popular with the Warped Tour crowd—Bayside went on Warped Tour four different times, and frontman Anthony Raneri played the fest one additional time as a solo artist.

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Punk's not dead? How Vans Warped tour jumped the shark

The festival defined noughties pop-punk and united America’s outcasts – but as it shuts for ever, we ask: did it fail to champion diversity?

T he sun is blazing mercilessly in Columbia, Maryland, on a Sunday in July. It is not yet noon, and the nasal singer of a jet-black metalcore band is crying out: “Will you miss me when I’m gooone?” Already this weekend, I have seen hair-dye jobs in impossibly electric hues of bubblegum pink and highlighter-pen lime. I have seen ripped fishnets and Tim Burton mini-backpacks and earlobes stretched as big as the rims of drinking glasses. I have perused the wares of outfitters called Mall Goth Trash and Sad Boys Club. I can confirm that the campaigns to “Stay Positive and Hail Satan” and ensure that “Ska’s Not Dead!” have endured in some corners of America.

I am on my third consecutive day inside the misfit carnival that is Vans Warped tour, which, after 24 years, finished its final run as a national touring festival last week. While American festivals such as Lollapalooza have long retired their caravans and turned into annual fixed-site weekenders, Warped persevered as a roving punk-themed circus. The brand will probably continue with abbreviated tours, says Kevin Lyman, its founder. An exhibition about Warped’s history will open next year at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio. But it is the end of an era for the generation who invented “mall punk”.

Now 58, Lyman says he felt like an outcast as early as junior high. He was partial to British street punk, reggae and the Clash’s Sandinista! album. Socialising with the band geeks and theatre kids – “You got food thrown at you in school,” he says. “I was always the guy who said, ‘Let’s unite and throw food back.’” After several years working behind the scenes at Lollapalooza, Lyman founded Warped in 1995.

Warped made its name packaging the more brashly commercial strains of pop-punk, emo, hardcore and ska that peaked in the early- to mid-2000s, though the tour has also featured household names including Limp Bizkit and Eminem (and, early on, Katy Perry). It had no identified headliners: the schedule changed daily and was not announced until gates opened. To ensure you would see your favourite band, you simply had to arrive by 11. “No one did things the way I did, and no one has since,” says Lyman. “This was the last festival for the people.”

Lyman sought to “put punk rock in the sunshine”, to escape the violence of clubs, which he thought distracted from the genre’s radical message. But Warped ultimately became a shorthand for an easily digested candy-coated version of rebellion. The spirit of commodified dissent was exemplified by its name – sponsored by Vans shoe company, in a checkerboarded break from punk’s historically anti-capitalist ethic. Warped’s scale meant it dealt bands like gateway drugs, which plenty of young people need. My three days following the tour evoked a complete scene of maladjusted suburban youth: the car park, the mall, the skate park, the mosh pit.

In contrast to its diverse audiences, Warped’s lineups were shockingly male and white and, at times, the tour presented worrying streaks of conservatism – in Maryland, I saw a recruiting tent for the US Marines. Warped came under fire in 2015 for allowing a performance by Front Porch Step after he had been accused of sexual misconduct and preying on young fans. This prompted Paramore’s Hayley Williams, one of Warped tour’s most renowned alumni, to tweet: “What happened to our scene?”

Lyman says: “If I look back at Front Porch Step, probably I made a mistake. With hindsight, I probably wouldn’t have let it happen.” Lyman says he’s open to criticism, though he seems allergic to the way it plays out online. “Maybe that’s why I’m ending it,” he says. “We all used to be a community that figured things out. Now people prejudge so quickly on the internet.”

Only 7% of bands on this year’s touring lineup included women, such as Australia’s Tonight Alive and ska revivalists the Interrupters. The feminist rock band Potty Mouth (incidentally once managed by Warped veterans Good Charlotte) ended up on one Californian date after tweeting about gender disparity on the tour: “We wanted access to that fan base of young girls,” says bassist Ally Einbinder. “For us, it would be breaking into a whole new audience who might not hear of us otherwise.” Lyman mentions that the production crew of Warped tour has been heavily dominated by women, and reasoned that this year’s gender disparity was due in part to the fact that he curated the festival (he still chooses the bands) as “a nostalgia tour”.

Over the years, Warped formed alliances with bands such as Less Than Jake, a Floridian ska-punk troupe who first played the tour in 1996 and have remained fixtures since. The drummer, Vinnie Fiorello, reminisces about performing, in the scrappy early days, on a stage made of plywood and cinder blocks. “Warped was supposed to be a punk rock summer camp,” he says. Less Than Jake embodied that, instigating “maximum fun” and an air of weirdness: regular mayhem at a Less Than Jake Warped set might, for instance, find “a metalhead shooting a toilet-paper gun”.

“We were never, at any point, even remotely in the cool kids’ club of punk rock,” says Fiorello. “But Warped was a common denominator among punk bands, hardcore bands, screamo and metal, ska punk. You had to play Warped tour.” Fiorello, who also co-founded the influential pop-punk and emo label Fueled by Ramen , noted that Warped was a crucial marketing tool: “Warped tour would be a huge chunk of the launch for a record or label or band. It was in the Less Than Jake marketing plan in the 90s, for sure. The end of that truly means the shrinking of some ways to market what’s out there.”

Fellow ska-punk elders Reel Big Fish have also been enmeshed in Warped since 1997. Year after year, they built their audience on the tour, though trumpeter John Christianson was not shy about the price. “There’s a lot of anxiety,” he says. “There’s five bands playing at one time. Five bands playing at one time is cacophony, and that is not any fun for me.”

Chuck Comeau is the drummer of Montreal pop-punks Simple Plan: 11 Warpeds in total. “You had this cultural movement that was happening,” he says of the scene’s 2003 peak. “And Warped had the cultural currency. If you wanted to be part of this scene, if you wanted to be respected, if you wanted to reach the audience, it was a must.”

The music of Warped has not all aged well. In Maryland, surprise guests Good Charlotte led a workmanlike singalong to Girls and Boys, their arguably sexist 2002 single about teenage materialism. Speaking backstage, Buddy Nielsen of the New Jersey post-hardcore band Senses Fail (eight-time Warped veterans, who this year performed a medley of nu-metal covers) cited childhood trauma and a bad relationship with his mother as sources of the toxic masculinity in some of his earliest material. “I don’t necessarily celebrate those songs,” Nielsen says. “I wouldn’t encourage my daughter to listen to music like that.” His self-awareness reflects a broader cultural milieu that has recently been forced to reckon with its ingrained misogyny.

I was watching a formulaic pop-punk band in matching Hawaiian shirts play a side stage when I heard a woman’s demonic roar in the distance and ran towards it. “Where my fucking ladies at?” seethed Lauren Kashan, singer of Baltimore metalcore band Sharptooth. They played Clever Girl, the title track from their 2017 debut, which culminated with a mosh-summoning breakdown and an incendiary refrain: “Dead men tell no tales,” the crowd chanted. “Dead men talk no shit.” This jolt of radical feminism felt shocking in the context of Warped tour. “The world we live in is not a safe place for too many of us,” Kashan shouted from the stage. “So this needs to be.”

Sharptooth’s sets were thrillingly righteous. Kashan issued a call to arms or systemic indictment between every song, attacking street harassment, police brutality and US border policy. She drew attention to the fact that she would be the only woman performing on that stage all day and, before a song called Left for Dead, spoke bluntly about her experiences of sexual violence. “I’ve been raped multiple times,” Kashan told the crowd. “I don’t like talking about it, but if I’m the person with the mic and I can’t talk about my trauma, how is any other survivor supposed to ask for help?”

I watched a pink-haired girl in the eye of the pit scream along with Kashan: “I can’t be silent anymore!” “Sharptooth and [2017 Warped band] War on Woman make me feel so relieved about being into music in this scene,” says Niquey, 20. “Stuff like that needs to be talked about at places like Warped tour because it’s so hypermasculine.” Niquey has come to Warped every year since she was 12 – she had only seen Hannah Montana and Jonas Brothers in concert before that – and said she looked forward to it more than her birthday.

Some have welcomed the demise of Warped and the aggressively male-dominated culture it came to represent. But after witnessing Sharptooth’s set, it occurred to me that it would be a tragedy for Warped tour to simply end, not evolve, at a moment where powerful, wide-reaching platforms are increasingly rare in rock music of any kind. Potty Mouth’s Einbinder agrees: “There is so much potential to make some changes and evolve the whole culture of the festival,” she says. “But so much of that cultural shift would have to come from the top down.”

I felt optimistic watching Doll Skin, a band of women aged 18 to 21 who play pop-punk with riff-heavy nods to classic rock, and strive to be “as raw and feminine and powerful as we can”, according to singer Sydney Dolezal. They played an original song called Punch a Nazi and a cover of Fugazi’s Waiting Room, which stood out as strongly at Warped as the flower crowns in their circle pit.

Multiple times a day, Dolezal says, young girls approach Doll Skin to say they feel inspired by their set, sometimes crying. “If there’s anyone out there who feels like they can’t be in a band – they can,” she says. “It’s attainable. You don’t have to be a super shredder – you can just play guitar. You don’t have to be soloing on drums, you can just play a beat. You don’t have to be doing runs, you can just yell into a microphone.” It’s no stretch to say this was the most punk statement I heard at the 2018 Warped tour.

In Mansfield, Massachusetts, I meet 19-year-old Felice, who wants to see more bands resembling Doll Skin at Warped. “I wish we could see more intersectionality,” she says. “I wish I could hear more queer artists or artists of colour.” Her friend Felisha chimes in: “It’s a prime time to keep going if anything.” But after Doll Skin’s Long Island set, another new fan, Katie, 26, had a firmer suggestion: “Burn it to the ground and start something new.”

A pair of 23-year-old fans on Long Island, Neena and Gabrielle, tells me they had long fantasised about forming bands. Growing up, they were enthralled by fictional all-girl groups such as Josie and the Pussycats. Neena wonders whether she might have taken up drums had she seen more female instrumentalists.

“I’m such an emo kid. You feel like an outcast sometimes,” Gabrielle says. “But when you’re in this setting, you see there are thousands upon thousands of people who are just like you. It’s so comforting.” I mention how the huge number of outsiders does not quite register until you get here, and it makes you realise – Neena finishes my sentence – “how not alone you are”.

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Warped Tour Announces Final Lineup Including Every Time I Die and Motionless in White

Today at an event at Vans' Global HQ in Costa Mesa, California, the Warped Tour announced their final artist lineup. There will be a content lineup of bands playing the entire tour, including Every Time I Die , Motionless in White , Nekrogoblikon , Simple Plan and Unearth , while other bands will perform only at certain dates.

Here's the lineup, including bands that are only playing limited dates on tour.

3OH!3 (6/21-8/5) Asking Alexandria (7/22-7/28) Beartooth (7/19-7/21) Bowling For Soup (7/6-7/16, 7/18-7/21) Frank Turner (7/24-7/26) The Interrupters (7/14, 7/15, 7/17-7/19, 7/21-7/25, 7/28-8/5) Knuckle Puck (6/21-8/5) Mayday Parade (6/21-8/5) Reel Big Fish (6/21-8/5) State Champs (6/21-8/5) SUM 41 (7/17) Taking Back Sunday (6/24) This Wild Life (6/21-8/5) Waterparks (6/21-8/5) All Time Low (6/22-6/24) Falling In Reverse (6/26-7/16) Four Year Strong (6/21-7/29) ISSUES (6/21-8/5) Less Than Jake (7/18-7/20, 7/22-7/27, 7/29-8/5) Movements (6/21-8/5) Real Friends (6/21-8/5) Simple Plan (6/21-8/5) The Maine (6/21-8/5) The Used (6/21-7/10) Tonight Alive (6/21-8/5) We The Kings (6/21-8/5) Chelsea Grin (6/21-8/5) Deez Nuts (6/21-8/5) Ice Nine Kills (6/21-8/5) Kublai Kahn (6/21-8/5) MYCHILDREN MYBRIDE (6/21-8/5) Sharptooth (6/21-8/5) Silverstein (7/17-7/20, 7/25-7/28) The Amity Affliction (6/21-8/5) Twiztid (6/21-8/5) Wage War (6/21-8/5) August Burns Red (7/29-8/5) Crown The Empire (6/21-8/5) Dayseeker (6/21-8/5) Every Time I Die (6/21-8/5) Hail The Sun (6/21-8/5) Harm's Way (6/21-7/23) In Hearts Wake (6/21-8/5) Knocked Loose (7/10, 7/18, 7/21, 7/24) Motionless In White (6/21-8/5) Nekrogoblikon (6/21-8/5) Underoath (7/16-7/18) Unearth (6/21-8/5) As It Is (6/21-8/5) Assuming We Survive (6/21-8/5) Broadside (7/10-8/5) Capstan (7/10-8/5) Chase Atlantic (6/21-7/31) Dead Girls Academy (6/21-7/8) Doll Skin (6/21-8/5) Don Broco (6/21-8/5) Grayscale (6/21-8/5) Makeout (6/21-8/5) Palaye Royale (6/21-8/5) Phinehas (6/21-7/8) Picturesque (6/21-7/8) Sleep On It (7/10-8/5) Story Untold (6/21-8/5) Trash Boat (6/21-8/5) With Confidence (6/21-8/5) Farewell Winters (6/21-8/5) Lighterburns(6/21-8/5)

Vans Warped Tour 2018 Tour Dates

June 21 - Pomona, Calif. @ Pomona Fairplex June 22 - San Diego, Calif. @ SDCCU Stadium Lot June 23 - Mountain View, Calif. @ Shoreline Amphitheatre June 24 - Ventura, Calif. @ Venture County Fairgrounds June 26 - Phoneix, Ariz. @ AK-Chin Pavilion June 29 - Las Vegas, Nev. @ Downtown Las Vegas Events Center June 30 - Salt Lake City, Utah @ USANA Amphitheatre July 1 - Denver, Colo. @ Pepsi Center July 3 - St. Louis, Mo. @ Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre July 5 - Bonner Springs, Kan. @ Providence Medical Center Amphitheatre July 6 – Dallas, Texas @ Starplex Pavilion July 7 – San Antonio, Texas @ AT&T Center July 8 – Houston, Texas @ NRG Park - Main Street Lot July 10 – Nashville, Tenn. @ Tennessee State Fairgrounds July 12 – Virginia Beach, Va. @ Veterans United Home Loans Amphitheatre July 13 – Camden, N.J. @ BB&T Pavilion July 14 – Holmdel, N.J. @ PNC Bank Arts Center July 15 – Hartford, Ct. @ Xfinity Theatre July 16 – Pittsburgh, Pa. @ Keybank Pavilion July 17 – Toronto, Ontario @ The Flats at Budweiser Stage July 18 – Cincinnati, Ohio @ Blossom Music Center July 19 – Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio @ Riverbend Music Center July 20 – Detroit, Mich. @ Meadow Brook Amphitheatre July 21 – Chicago, Ill. @ Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre July 22 – Minneapolis, Minn. @ Canterbury Park July 23 – Milwaukee, Wis. @ American Family Insurance Amphitheatre July 24 – Indianapolis, Ind. @ Ruoff Home Mortgage Music Center July 25 – Darien Center, N.Y. @ Darien Lake PAC July 26 – Scranton, Pa. @ The Pavilion at Montage Mountain July 27 – Mansfield, Mass. @ Xfinity Center July 28 – Wantagh, N.Y. @ Northwell Health at Jones Beach Amphitheatre July 29 – Columbia, Md. @ Merriweather Post Pavilion July 30 – Charlotte, N.C. @ PNC Music Pavilion July 31 – Atlanta, Ga. @ Cellairis Amphitheatre at Lakewood Aug. 2 - Jacksonville, Fla. @ The Old Cypress Lot Near Met Park Aug. 3 – Orlando, Fla. @ Tinker Field Aug. 4 – Tampa, Fla. @ Mid Florida Credit Union Amphitheatre Aug. 5 – West Palm Beach, Fla. @ Coral Sky Amphitheatre

Tickets for all of the dates may be purchased via the Vans Warped Tour website . Check the site for on-sale dates and bundle options.

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R.I.P. Warped Tour. At Least We Still Have Vans.

The skater company says goodbye to the music festival that made it cool.

By Medea Giordano

The Vans Warped Tour — the music festival that has crossed the country each year since 1995, and is frequently called a “punk rock summer camp” — is on its last run.

For 24 years, the Warped Tour created spaces for metal, punk and ska fans to meet their idols and mosh together under the hot sun: Each summer, about 70 bands and artists would play in some 40 locations, welcoming hundreds of thousands of tattooed concertgoers clad in band tees and Vans checkered slip-ons. Many musical acts that helped define the late 1990s and early 2000s graced Warped Tour’s stages, including Blink-182, Reel Big Fish and Eminem .

But recently, the show’s popularity has declined, among both bands and attendees. Some music festivals are bigger than ever — Coachella drew more than 200,000 people to the California desert for two days in April — but the Warped Tour doesn’t have the same cultural cache it once had.

“The die-hard Warped fan was still coming, but the ones for the future seemed to drop off,” said the festival’s founder and longtime producer Kevin Lyman in an email.

He said there is the possibility for other Warped Tour events down the line — including for the 25th anniversary next summer — but 2018 will be the final cross-country blowout. “I’ve done everything I can in this format,” he said. “I’m just tired. It’s time for someone else to continue or start something new.”

The final tour not only marks the end of an era in music, but of a particularly intimate brand collaboration. Vans has sponsored the Warped Tour since its second year and credits the festival with burnishing its countercultural image.

“Until we got involved with the Warped Tour, we didn’t have a national footprint to talk about who we are,” said Doug Palladini, the skate apparel company’s global brand president. “Vans is a brand that really embraces individuality, and Warped Tour is very much the same.”

Vans representatives said that the Warped Tour — which the company has a 75 percent stake in — isn’t ending because of a decline in ticket sales, and that its retirement shouldn’t be seen as divestment in music or skater culture. House of Vans, an indoor skate park and music venue with locations in Brooklyn, Chicago and London, and pop-ups around the world, will continue to host famous musicians and local, unsigned performers, and admission is free.

But the collaboration between Vans and the Warped Tour has run its course.

“We’re going to make this a part of Vans history and always hold it up as a really, really important part of who we are,” Mr. Palladini said. “It’s just the right time to put a bow on it and say thank you to all the bands and all the fans that made Warped Tour was it is.”

“One Big Family”

Vans was already synonymous with southern California skateboard culture in the 1990s when the Warped Tour started, thanks to the sneakers’ sticky soles. (They have good grip.) But the tour’s national popularity helped establish Vans as a punk brand, and that image has made the company incredibly appealing, especially to shoppers ages 16 to 34 .

In 2004, when Vans was acquired by VF Corporation — which owns JanSport, Timberland and the North Face — it was making about $325 million in sales a year. This year, Mr. Palladini said, Vans is on track to surpass $3 billion.

The first Vans store, which was known at the time as the Van Doren Rubber Company and opened its doors in Anaheim, Calif., in March 1966, was a much humbler affair. It was founded by Paul and Jim Van Doren, brothers who would take custom orders and manufacture shoes on site. Eventually the shoes’ waffle soles attracted skateboarders, and in 1976, Tony Alva and Stacy Peralta — pro-skaters who were immortalized by Victor Rasuk and John Robinson in the 2005 film “Lords of Dogtown” — designed the Era , a low-top sneaker that became a Vans classic.

There were other moments in which Vans shoes were in the countercultural spotlight, including a 1982 cameo courtesy of Sean Penn’s Jeff Spicoli character in the movie “Fast Times at Ridgemont High .” But the company’s punk identity wasn’t forged until Mr. Lyman met Steve Van Doren.

A former Lollapalooza stage manager, Mr. Lyman had put together the first Warped Tour in 1995, with bands like Sublime and No Doubt on the original lineup. But he needed financial support to keep it going and was seeking sponsorship.

Steve Van Doren, the son of the Vans co-founder Paul Van Doren, was on a different mission. Separately, he was searching for someone to help him plan an amateur skate contest that would tour across the U.S. and the world. He met with Mr. Lyman, who said Vans would draw more people to skate events if live music were on the lineup.

In “Vans: Off the Wall,” a book about the company, Mr. Van Doren said that a deal was forged between the two men within 15 minutes of their meeting. Thus, the Vans Warped Tour was born.

“ Steve Van Doren. He always got it and was the driving force early in this relationship,” Mr. Lyman said. “After our first year with Vans, Airwalk approached me and offered a bunch of money to leave and go with them. I said hell no, and it was all because of Steve. Steve Van Doren continues to be the soul of Vans in my mind.”

“The Vans Warped Tour is one big family,” Mr. Van Doren said in an interview. He recalled his first summer, in which he drove from stop to stop on the tour in a van with his daughter. Though he opted to take the relatively cushy bus after that, he said he went to every Warped Tour show for 15 years.

The People’s Music Festival

Today’s popular music festivals often charge a steep price for big-name performers. A three-day general admission pass to Coachella, for example, can run $500, or close to $1,000 for a V.I.P. ticket. The Warped Tour, by comparison, costs about $45, and there is no hierarchy to the ticketing system. Even the bigger bands are never given special treatment, Mr. Van Doren said. The whole point is accessibility: There are no extra fees to meet artists, and fans can visit bands at their tents or run into them in the crowd during another performance.

“When you monetize a handshake, it changes the whole relationship,” Mr. Lyman said.

The Warped founder guessed that, of all the tour’s performers, Andrew W.K. probably spent the most time with fans. He would “sign for six hours and then go outside and sign some more. I would have to ask him to move since we needed to load the trucks to get to the next city,” Mr. Lyman said.

“Warped is a festival for the music and for the organizations that travel with it,” said Victoria Hudgins, a 23-year-old Warped Tour fan who has attended twice before. “I feel as though the younger crowd these days are more interested in putting their picture from Coachella on Instagram than they are actually going to and enjoying the festival itself. You don’t go to Warped for an Instagram picture, you go to Warped to be a part of something so big and so crazy.”

Ms. Hudgins had planned to buy tickets for two stops on the Warped Tour this summer — one in her home state of Michigan and the tour’s final show in Florida — before she got the opportunity to work on the tour full-time. (She is working for Support Tattoos and Piercings at Work, which sets up a tent at each city the tour visits, after volunteering for the organization last year.)

“To me this is going to be a summer where I feel like I’m going to fit in everywhere I am,” she said. “This is going to be a summer meeting an entire country of people. I can be a part of something so much bigger than just myself.”

Loyalty, Loyalty, Loyalty

While the Warped Tour has declined in popularity, Vans has become a global phenomenon. Between 2010 and 2014, it saw double-digit growth every year, and in 2017, the company surpassed the North Face as the VF Corporation’s top-selling brand. The shoes are just as visible in high fashion as they are in the skate park, and they have gotten musical shout-outs from young artists like Travis Mills and Ty Dolla $ign . (In 2011, the actress Kristen Stewart literally cemented the shoes into pop culture history when she wore a pair to her Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony .)

“All of a sudden, everywhere I looked, it was Vans,” said Samantha Brown , a stylist and video director who has worked with Nylon magazine, Marc Jacobs and Oscar de la Renta. “They kind of make everything look cooler.”

But just as the Warped Tour kept its ticket prices down out of loyalty to its fan base — and even let parents in for free — Vans has no plans to charge more for their increasingly popular apparel. (Shoes run from about $60 to $100.) The company’s prevailing wisdom, Mr. Palladini said, is around inclusivity. “And a part of inclusivity is accessible price points.”

For Steve Van Doren, who is now the vice president of events and promotions, it’s important that the company not forget its roots. “Skaters in the mid ’70s adopted us, and I thank them still four decades later because they gave us meaning,” he said. “They gave us purpose.”

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Vans Warped Tour 25th Anniversary Details Announced

Also, in partnership with the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame, the traveling tour will curate a special exhibit called "Forever Warped: 25 Years of Vans Warped Tour"

As the 25 th anniversary of Vans Warped Tour gets closer, the famed punk-rock festival has announced two additional cities to hit this summer, plus new details about what fans can expect to see once they’re on site. In addition to the previously announced June 8 date in Cleveland, Ohio, Warped Tour 2019 is due to hit Atlantic City, N.J. on June 29 and 30 and Mountain View, Calif. on July 20 and 21.  

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">25 YEARS OF THE VANS WARPED TOUR<br>Feb 25 • Pre-Sale Tickets On Sale<br>March 1 • Lineups Announced<br> March 1 • Tickets On Sale<br> <a href="https://t.co/rSuGQJH0ta">https://t.co/rSuGQJH0ta</a><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/vanswarpedtour?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#vanswarpedtour</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/warpedtour?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#warpedtour</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/foreverwarped?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#foreverwarped</a> <a href="https://t.co/YZ4OUv50Xj">pic.twitter.com/YZ4OUv50Xj</a></p>&mdash; Vans Warped Tour (@VansWarpedTour) <a href="https://twitter.com/VansWarpedTour/status/1089885986493026312?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 28, 2019</a></blockquote>

<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Also, in honor of the tour’s 25th anniversary (and final traveling tour setup), fans can expect to enjoy an exhibit in partnership with the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame. Titled “Forever Warped: 25 Years of Vans Warped Tour,” the exhibit will showcase the tour’s history since it began in 1995. Instruments and other artifacts will be on display from essential Warped Tour bands including No Doubt , Rancid and Fall Out Boy . Joan Jett 's stage clothing will also be on display.

"With the [Vans Warped Tour] 25th Anniversary events, we want to bring the atmosphere of a classic Warped Tour show, but on a scale that our fans simply could not get with a national tour," Lyman said in a statement . "The bands, the special attractions, everything – we want to bring back elements that have made the Warped Tour, Warped Tour, over the past 25 years."

The lineup, which will be announced on March 1, will feature more than 50 bands over various stages. The tour will also feature skateboarding, motocross and other extreme sports.

The tour will end in the Bay Area, which "probably close to half the bands on the first Warped Tour had some tie to," Lyman said.

The Vans Warped Tour is known to be the longest-running touring music festival in North America. Presale tickets will go on sale Feb. 25. For more information, visit the Vans Warped Tour website .

Meet The First-Time GRAMMY Nominee: FEVER 333 Tackle The Tough Issues

Photo: Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic

GRAMMY Rewind: Kendrick Lamar Honors Hip-Hop's Greats While Accepting Best Rap Album GRAMMY For 'To Pimp a Butterfly' In 2016

Upon winning the GRAMMY for Best Rap Album for 'To Pimp a Butterfly,' Kendrick Lamar thanked those that helped him get to the stage, and the artists that blazed the trail for him.

Updated Friday Oct. 13, 2023 to include info about Kendrick Lamar's most recent GRAMMY wins, as of the 2023 GRAMMYs.

A GRAMMY veteran these days, Kendrick Lamar has won 17 GRAMMYs and has received 47 GRAMMY nominations overall. A sizable chunk of his trophies came from the 58th annual GRAMMY Awards in 2016, when he walked away with five — including his first-ever win in the Best Rap Album category.

This installment of GRAMMY Rewind turns back the clock to 2016, revisiting Lamar's acceptance speech upon winning Best Rap Album for To Pimp A Butterfly . Though Lamar was alone on stage, he made it clear that he wouldn't be at the top of his game without the help of a broad support system. 

"First off, all glory to God, that's for sure," he said, kicking off a speech that went on to thank his parents, who he described as his "those who gave me the responsibility of knowing, of accepting the good with the bad."

Looking for more GRAMMYs news? The 2024 GRAMMY nominations are here!

He also extended his love and gratitude to his fiancée, Whitney Alford, and shouted out his Top Dawg Entertainment labelmates. Lamar specifically praised Top Dawg's CEO, Anthony Tiffith, for finding and developing raw talent that might not otherwise get the chance to pursue their musical dreams.

"We'd never forget that: Taking these kids out of the projects, out of Compton, and putting them right here on this stage, to be the best that they can be," Lamar — a Compton native himself — continued, leading into an impassioned conclusion spotlighting some of the cornerstone rap albums that came before To Pimp a Butterfly .

"Hip-hop. Ice Cube . This is for hip-hop," he said. "This is for Snoop Dogg , Doggystyle . This is for Illmatic , this is for Nas . We will live forever. Believe that."

To Pimp a Butterfly singles "Alright" and "These Walls" earned Lamar three more GRAMMYs that night, the former winning Best Rap Performance and Best Rap Song and the latter taking Best Rap/Sung Collaboration (the song features Bilal , Anna Wise and Thundercat ). He also won Best Music Video for the remix of Taylor Swift 's "Bad Blood." 

Lamar has since won Best Rap Album two more times, taking home the golden gramophone in 2018 for his blockbuster LP DAMN ., and in 2023 for his bold fifth album, Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers .

Watch Lamar's full acceptance speech above, and check back at GRAMMY.com every Friday for more GRAMMY Rewind episodes. 

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Photo:  Rachel Kupfer  

A Guide To Modern Funk For The Dance Floor: L'Imperatrice, Shiro Schwarz, Franc Moody, Say She She & Moniquea

James Brown changed the sound of popular music when he found the power of the one and unleashed the funk with "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag." Today, funk lives on in many forms, including these exciting bands from across the world.

It's rare that a genre can be traced back to a single artist or group, but for funk, that was James Brown . The Godfather of Soul coined the phrase and style of playing known as "on the one," where the first downbeat is emphasized, instead of the typical second and fourth beats in pop, soul and other styles. As David Cheal eloquently explains, playing on the one "left space for phrases and riffs, often syncopated around the beat, creating an intricate, interlocking grid which could go on and on." You know a funky bassline when you hear it; its fat chords beg your body to get up and groove.

Brown's 1965 classic, "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag," became one of the first funk hits, and has been endlessly sampled and covered over the years, along with his other groovy tracks. Of course, many other funk acts followed in the '60s, and the genre thrived in the '70s and '80s as the disco craze came and went, and the originators of hip-hop and house music created new music from funk and disco's strong, flexible bones built for dancing.

Legendary funk bassist Bootsy Collins learned the power of the one from playing in Brown's band, and brought it to George Clinton , who created P-funk, an expansive, Afrofuturistic , psychedelic exploration of funk with his various bands and projects, including Parliament-Funkadelic . Both Collins and Clinton remain active and funkin', and have offered their timeless grooves to collabs with younger artists, including Kali Uchis , Silk Sonic , and Omar Apollo; and Kendrick Lamar , Flying Lotus , and Thundercat , respectively.

In the 1980s, electro-funk was born when artists like Afrika Bambaataa, Man Parrish, and Egyptian Lover began making futuristic beats with the Roland TR-808 drum machine — often with robotic vocals distorted through a talk box. A key distinguishing factor of electro-funk is a de-emphasis on vocals, with more phrases than choruses and verses. The sound influenced contemporaneous hip-hop, funk and electronica, along with acts around the globe, while current acts like Chromeo, DJ Stingray, and even Egyptian Lover himself keep electro-funk alive and well.

Today, funk lives in many places, with its heavy bass and syncopated grooves finding way into many nooks and crannies of music. There's nu-disco and boogie funk, nodding back to disco bands with soaring vocals and dance floor-designed instrumentation. G-funk continues to influence Los Angeles hip-hop, with innovative artists like Dam-Funk and Channel Tres bringing the funk and G-funk, into electro territory. Funk and disco-centered '70s revival is definitely having a moment, with acts like Ghost Funk Orchestra and Parcels , while its sparkly sprinklings can be heard in pop from Dua Lipa , Doja Cat , and, in full "Soul Train" character, Silk Sonic . There are also acts making dreamy, atmospheric music with a solid dose of funk, such as Khruangbin ’s global sonic collage.

There are many bands that play heavily with funk, creating lush grooves designed to get you moving. Read on for a taste of five current modern funk and nu-disco artists making band-led uptempo funk built for the dance floor. Be sure to press play on the Spotify playlist above, and check out GRAMMY.com's playlist on Apple Music , Amazon Music and Pandora .

Say She She

Aptly self-described as "discodelic soul," Brooklyn-based seven-piece Say She She make dreamy, operatic funk, led by singer-songwriters Nya Gazelle Brown, Piya Malik and Sabrina Mileo Cunningham. Their '70s girl group-inspired vocal harmonies echo, sooth and enchant as they cover poignant topics with feminist flair.

While they’ve been active in the New York scene for a few years, they’ve gained wider acclaim for the irresistible music they began releasing this year, including their debut album, Prism . Their 2022 debut single "Forget Me Not" is an ode to ground-breaking New York art collective Guerilla Girls, and " Norma " is their protest anthem in response to the news that Roe vs. Wade could be (and was) overturned. The band name is a nod to funk legend Nile Rodgers , from the "Le freak, c'est chi" exclamation in Chic's legendary tune "Le Freak."

Moniquea 's unique voice oozes confidence, yet invites you in to dance with her to the super funky boogie rhythms. The Pasadena, California artist was raised on funk music; her mom was in a cover band that would play classics like Aretha Franklin’ s "Get It Right" and Gladys Knight ’s "Love Overboard." Moniquea released her first boogie funk track at 20 and, in 2011, met local producer XL Middelton — a bonafide purveyor of funk. She's been a star artist on his MoFunk Records ever since, and they've collabed on countless tracks, channeling West Coast energy with a heavy dose of G-funk, sunny lyrics and upbeat, roller disco-ready rhythms.

Her latest release is an upbeat nod to classic West Coast funk, produced by Middleton, and follows her February 2022 groovy, collab-filled album, On Repeat .

Shiro Schwarz

Shiro Schwarz is a Mexico City-based duo, consisting of Pammela Rojas and Rafael Marfil, who helped establish a modern funk scene in the richly creative Mexican metropolis. On "Electrify" — originally released in 2016 on Fat Beats Records and reissued in 2021 by MoFunk — Shiro Schwarz's vocals playfully contrast each other, floating over an insistent, upbeat bassline and an '80s throwback electro-funk rhythm with synth flourishes.

Their music manages to be both nostalgic and futuristic — and impossible to sit still to. 2021 single "Be Kind" is sweet, mellow and groovy, perfect chic lounge funk. Shiro Schwarz’s latest track, the joyfully nostalgic "Hey DJ," is a collab with funkstress Saucy Lady and U-Key.

L'Impératrice

L'Impératrice (the empress in French) are a six-piece Parisian group serving an infectiously joyful blend of French pop, nu-disco, funk and psychedelia. Flore Benguigui's vocals are light and dreamy, yet commanding of your attention, while lyrics have a feminist touch.

During their energetic live sets, L'Impératrice members Charles de Boisseguin and Hagni Gwon (keys), David Gaugué (bass), Achille Trocellier (guitar), and Tom Daveau (drums) deliver extended instrumental jam sessions to expand and connect their music. Gaugué emphasizes the thick funky bass, and Benguigui jumps around the stage while sounding like an angel. L’Impératrice’s latest album, 2021’s Tako Tsubo , is a sunny, playful French disco journey.

Franc Moody

Franc Moody 's bio fittingly describes their music as "a soul funk and cosmic disco sound." The London outfit was birthed by friends Ned Franc and Jon Moody in the early 2010s, when they were living together and throwing parties in North London's warehouse scene. In 2017, the group grew to six members, including singer and multi-instrumentalist Amber-Simone.

Their music feels at home with other electro-pop bands like fellow Londoners Jungle and Aussie act Parcels. While much of it is upbeat and euphoric, Franc Moody also dips into the more chilled, dreamy realm, such as the vibey, sultry title track from their recently released Into the Ether .

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Photo: Steven Sebring

Living Legends: Billy Idol On Survival, Revival & Breaking Out Of The Cage

"One foot in the past and one foot into the future," Billy Idol says, describing his decade-spanning career in rock. "We’ve got the best of all possible worlds because that has been the modus operandi of Billy Idol."

Living Legends is a series that spotlights icons in music still going strong today. This week, GRAMMY.com spoke with Billy Idol about his latest EP,   Cage , and continuing to rock through decades of changing tastes.

Billy Idol is a true rock 'n' roll survivor who has persevered through cultural shifts and personal struggles. While some may think of Idol solely for "Rebel Yell" and "White Wedding," the singer's musical influences span genres and many of his tunes are less turbo-charged than his '80s hits would belie.  

Idol first made a splash in the latter half of the '70s with the British punk band Generation X. In the '80s, he went on to a solo career combining rock, pop, and punk into a distinct sound that transformed him and his musical partner, guitarist Steve Stevens, into icons. They have racked up multiple GRAMMY nominations, in addition to one gold, one double platinum, and four platinum albums thanks to hits like "Cradle Of Love," "Flesh For Fantasy," and "Eyes Without A Face." 

But, unlike many legacy artists, Idol is anything but a relic. Billy continues to produce vital Idol music by collaborating with producers and songwriters — including Miley Cyrus — who share his forward-thinking vision. He will play a five-show Vegas residency in November, and filmmaker Jonas Akerlund is working on a documentary about Idol’s life. 

His latest release is Cage , the second in a trilogy of annual four-song EPs. The title track is a classic Billy Idol banger expressing the desire to free himself from personal constraints and live a better life. Other tracks on Cage incorporate metallic riffing and funky R&B grooves. 

Idol continues to reckon with his demons — they both grappled with addiction during the '80s — and the singer is open about those struggles on the record and the page. (Idol's 2014 memoir Dancing With Myself , details a 1990 motorcycle accident that nearly claimed a leg, and how becoming a father steered him to reject hard drugs. "Bitter Taste," from his last EP, The Roadside , reflects on surviving the accident.)

Although Idol and Stevens split in the late '80s — the skilled guitarist fronted Steve Stevens & The Atomic Playboys, and collaborated with Michael Jackson, Rick Ocasek, Vince Neil, and Harold Faltermeyer (on the GRAMMY-winning "Top Gun Anthem") —  their common history and shared musical bond has been undeniable. The duo reunited in 2001 for an episode of " VH1 Storytellers " and have been back in the saddle for two decades. Their union remains one of the strongest collaborations in rock 'n roll history.

While there is recognizable personnel and a distinguishable sound throughout a lot of his work, Billy Idol has always pushed himself to try different things. Idol discusses his musical journey, his desire to constantly move forward, and the strong connection that he shares with Stevens. 

Steve has said that you like to mix up a variety of styles, yet everyone assumes you're the "Rebel Yell"/"White Wedding" guy. But if they really listen to your catalog, it's vastly different.

Yeah, that's right. With someone like Steve Stevens, and then back in the day Keith Forsey producing... [Before that] Generation X actually did move around inside punk rock. We didn't stay doing just the Ramones two-minute music. We actually did a seven-minute song. [ Laughs ]. We did always mix things up. 

Then when I got into my solo career, that was the fun of it. With someone like Steve, I knew what he could do. I could see whatever we needed to do, we could nail it. The world was my oyster musically. 

"Cage" is a classic-sounding Billy Idol rocker, then "Running From The Ghost" is almost metal, like what the Devil's Playground album was like back in the mid-2000s. "Miss Nobody" comes out of nowhere with this pop/R&B flavor. What inspired that?

We really hadn't done anything like that since something like "Flesh For Fantasy" [which] had a bit of an R&B thing about it. Back in the early days of Billy Idol, "Hot In The City" and "Mony Mony" had girls [singing] on the backgrounds. 

We always had a bit of R&B really, so it was actually fun to revisit that. We just hadn't done anything really quite like that for a long time. That was one of the reasons to work with someone like Sam Hollander [for the song "Rita Hayworth"] on The Roadside . We knew we could go [with him] into an R&B world, and he's a great songwriter and producer. That's the fun of music really, trying out these things and seeing if you can make them stick. 

I listen to new music by veteran artists and debate that with some people. I'm sure you have those fans that want their nostalgia, and then there are some people who will embrace the newer stuff. Do you find it’s a challenge to reach people with new songs?

Obviously, what we're looking for is, how do we somehow have one foot in the past and one foot into the future? We’ve got the best of all possible worlds because that has been the modus operandi of Billy Idol. 

You want to do things that are true to you, and you don't just want to try and do things that you're seeing there in the charts today. I think that we're achieving it with things like "Running From The Ghost" and "Cage" on this new EP. I think we’re managing to do both in a way. 

** Obviously, "Running From The Ghost" is about addiction, all the stuff that you went through, and in "Cage" you’re talking about  freeing yourself from a lot of personal shackles. Was there any one moment in your life that made you really thought I have to not let this weigh me down anymore ? **

I mean, things like the motorcycle accident I had, that was a bit of a wake up call way back. It was 32 years ago. But there were things like that, years ago, that gradually made me think about what I was doing with my life. I didn't want to ruin it, really. I didn't want to throw it away, and it made [me] be less cavalier. 

I had to say to myself, about the drugs and stuff, that I've been there and I've done it. There’s no point in carrying on doing it. You couldn't get any higher. You didn't want to throw your life away casually, and I was close to doing that. It took me a bit of time, but then gradually I was able to get control of myself to a certain extent [with] drugs and everything. And I think Steve's done the same thing. We're on a similar path really, which has been great because we're in the same boat in terms of lyrics and stuff. 

So a lot of things like that were wake up calls. Even having grandchildren and just watching my daughter enlarging her family and everything; it just makes you really positive about things and want to show a positive side to how you're feeling, about where you're going. We've lived with the demons so long, we've found a way to live with them. We found a way to be at peace with our demons, in a way. Maybe not completely, but certainly to where we’re enjoying what we do and excited about it.

[When writing] "Running From The Ghost" it was easy to go, what was the ghost for us? At one point, we were very drug addicted in the '80s. And Steve in particular is super sober [now]. I mean, I still vape pot and stuff. I don’t know how he’s doing it, but it’s incredible. All I want to be able to do is have a couple of glasses of wine at a restaurant or something. I can do that now.

I think working with people that are super talented, you just feel confident. That is a big reason why you open up and express yourself more because you feel comfortable with what's around you.

Did you watch Danny Boyle's recent Sex Pistols mini-series?

I did, yes.

You had a couple of cameos; well, an actor who portrayed you did. How did you react to it? How accurate do you think it was in portraying that particular time period?

I love Jonesy’s book, I thought his book was incredible. It's probably one of the best bio books really. It was incredible and so open. I was looking forward to that a lot.

It was as if [the show] kind of stayed with Steve [Jones’ memoir] about halfway through, and then departed from it. [John] Lydon, for instance, was never someone I ever saw acting out; he's more like that today. I never saw him do something like jump up in the room and run around going crazy. The only time I saw him ever do that was when they signed the recording deal with Virgin in front of Buckingham Palace. Whereas Sid Vicious was always acting out; he was always doing something in a horrible way or shouting at someone. I don't remember John being like that. I remember him being much more introverted.

But then I watched interviews with some of the actors about coming to grips with the parts they were playing. And they were saying, we knew punk rock happened but just didn't know any of the details. So I thought well, there you go . If ["Pistol" is]  informing a lot of people who wouldn't know anything about punk rock, maybe that's what's good about it.

Maybe down the road John Lydon will get the chance to do John's version of the Pistols story. Maybe someone will go a lot deeper into it and it won't be so surface. But maybe you needed this just to get people back in the flow.

We had punk and metal over here in the States, but it feels like England it was legitimately more dangerous. British society was much more rigid.

It never went [as] mega in America. It went big in England. It exploded when the Pistols did that interview with [TV host Bill] Grundy, that lorry truck driver put his boot through his own TV, and all the national papers had "the filth and the fury" [headlines].

We went from being unknown to being known overnight. We waited a year, Generation X. We even told them [record labels] no for nine months to a year. Every record company wanted their own punk rock group. So it went really mega in England, and it affected the whole country – the style, the fashions, everything. I mean, the Ramones were massive in England. Devo had a No. 1 song [in England] with "Satisfaction" in '77. Actually, Devo was as big as or bigger than the Pistols.

You were ahead of the pop-punk thing that happened in the late '90s, and a lot of it became tongue-in-cheek by then. It didn't have the same sense of rebelliousness as the original movement. It was more pop.

It had become a style. There was a famous book in England called Revolt Into Style — and that's what had happened, a revolt that turned into style which then they were able to duplicate in their own way. Even recently, Billie Joe [Armstrong] did his own version of "Gimme Some Truth," the Lennon song we covered way back in 1977.

When we initially were making [punk] music, it hadn't become accepted yet. It was still dangerous and turned into a style that people were used to. We were still breaking barriers.

You have a band called Generation Sex with Steve Jones and Paul Cook. I assume you all have an easier time playing Pistols and Gen X songs together now and not worrying about getting spit on like back in the '70s?

Yeah, definitely. When I got to America I told the group I was putting it together, "No one spits at the audience."

We had five years of being spat on [in the UK], and it was revolting. And they spat at you if they liked you. If they didn't like it they smashed your gear up. One night, I remember I saw blood on my T-shirt, and I think Joe Strummer got meningitis when spit went in his mouth.

You had to go through a lot to become successful, it wasn't like you just kind of got up there and did a couple of gigs. I don't think some young rock bands really get that today.

With punk going so mega in England, we definitely got a leg up. We still had a lot of work to get where we got to, and rightly so because you find out that you need to do that. A lot of groups in the old days would be together three to five years before they ever made a record, and that time is really important. In a way, what was great about punk rock for me was it was very much a learning period. I really learned a lot [about] recording music and being in a group and even writing songs.

Then when I came to America, it was a flow, really. I also really started to know what I wanted Billy Idol to be. It took me a little bit, but I kind of knew what I wanted Billy Idol to be. And even that took a while to let it marinate.

You and Miley Cyrus have developed a good working relationship in the last several years. How do you think her fans have responded to you, and your fans have responded to her?

I think they're into it. It's more the record company that she had didn't really get "Night Crawling"— it was one of the best songs on Plastic Hearts , and I don't think they understood that. They wanted to go with Dua Lipa, they wanted to go with the modern, young acts, and I don't think they realized that that song was resonating with her fans. Which is a shame really because, with Andrew Watt producing, it's a hit song.

But at the same time, I enjoyed doing it. It came out really good and it's very Billy Idol. In fact, I think it’s more Billy Idol than Miley Cyrus. I think it shows you where Andrew Watt was. He was excited about doing a Billy Idol track. She's fun to work with. She’s a really great person and she works at her singing — I watched her rehearsing for the Super Bowl performance she gave. She rehearsed all Saturday morning, all Saturday afternoon, and Sunday morning and it was that afternoon. I have to admire her fortitude. She really cares.

I remember when you went on " Viva La Bam "  back in 2005 and decided to give Bam Margera’s Lamborghini a new sunroof by taking a power saw to it. Did he own that car? Was that a rental?

I think it was his car.

Did he get over it later on?

He loved it. [ Laughs ] He’s got a wacky sense of humor. He’s fantastic, actually. I’m really sorry to see what he's been going through just lately. He's going through a lot, and I wish him the best. He's a fantastic person, and it's a shame that he's struggling so much with his addictions. I know what it's like. It's not easy.

Musically, what is the synergy like with you guys during the past 10 years, doing Kings and Queens of the Underground and this new stuff? What is your working relationship like now in this more sober, older, mature version of you two as opposed to what it was like back in the '80s?

In lots of ways it’s not so different because we always wrote the songs together, we always talked about what we're going to do together. It was just that we were getting high at the same time.We're just not getting [that way now] but we're doing all the same things.

We're still talking about things, still [planning] things:What are we going to do next? How are we going to find new people to work with? We want to find new producers. Let's be a little bit more timely about putting stuff out.That part of our relationship is the same, you know what I mean? That never got affected. We just happened to be overloading in the '80s.

The relationship’s… matured and it's carrying on being fruitful, and I think that's pretty amazing. Really, most people don't get to this place. Usually, they hate each other by now. [ Laughs ] We also give each other space. We're not stopping each other doing things outside of what we’re working on together. All of that enables us to carry on working together. I love and admire him. I respect him. He's been fantastic. I mean, just standing there on stage with him is always a treat. And he’s got an immensely great sense of humor. I think that's another reason why we can hang together after all this time because we've got the sense of humor to enable us to go forward.

There's a lot of fan reaction videos online, and I noticed a lot of younger women like "Rebel Yell" because, unlike a lot of other '80s alpha male rock tunes, you're talking about satisfying your lover.

It was about my girlfriend at the time, Perri Lister. It was about how great I thought she was, how much I was in love with her, and how great women are, how powerful they are.

It was a bit of a feminist anthem in a weird way. It was all about how relationships can free you and add a lot to your life. It was a cry of love, nothing to do with the Civil War or anything like that. Perri was a big part of my life, a big part of being Billy Idol. I wanted to write about it. I'm glad that's the effect.

Is there something you hope people get out of the songs you've been doing over the last 10 years? Do you find yourself putting out a message that keeps repeating?

Well, I suppose, if anything, is that you can come to terms with your life, you can keep a hold of it. You can work your dreams into reality in a way and, look, a million years later, still be enjoying it.

The only reason I'm singing about getting out of the cage is because I kicked out of the cage years ago. I joined Generation X when I said to my parents, "I'm leaving university, and I'm joining a punk rock group." And they didn't even know what a punk rock group was. Years ago, I’d write things for myself that put me on this path, so that maybe in 2022 I could sing something like "Cage" and be owning this territory and really having a good time. This is the life I wanted.

The original UK punk movement challenged societal norms. Despite all the craziness going on throughout the world, it seems like a lot of modern rock bands are afraid to do what you guys were doing. Do you think we'll see a shift in that?

Yeah.  Art usually reacts to things, so I would think eventually there will be a massive reaction to the pop music that’s taken over — the middle of the road music, and then this kind of right wing politics. There will be a massive reaction if there's not already one. I don’t know where it will come from exactly. You never know who's gonna do [it].

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Graphic: The Recording Academy

Hear All Of The Best Country Solo Performance Nominees For The 2023 GRAMMY Awards

The 2023 GRAMMY Award nominees for Best Country Solo Performance highlight country music's newcomers and veterans, featuring hits from Kelsea Ballerini, Zach Bryan, Miranda Lambert, Maren Morris and Willie Nelson.

Country music's evolution is well represented in the 2023 GRAMMY nominees for Best Country Solo Performance. From crossover pop hooks to red-dirt outlaw roots, the genre's most celebrated elements are on full display — thanks to rising stars, leading ladies and country icons.

Longtime hitmaker Miranda Lambert delivered a soulful performance on the rootsy ballad "In His Arms," an arrangement as sparing as the windswept west Texas highlands where she co-wrote the song. Viral newcomer Zach Bryan dug into similar organic territory on the Oklahoma side of the Red River for "Something in the Orange," his voice accompanied with little more than an acoustic guitar.

Two of country's 2010s breakout stars are clearly still shining, too, as Maren Morris and Kelsea Ballerini both received Best Country Solo Performance GRAMMY nods. Morris channeled the determination that drove her leap-of-faith move from Texas to Nashville for the playful clap-along "Circles Around This Town," while Ballerini brought poppy hooks with a country edge on the infectiously upbeat "HEARTFIRST."

Rounding out the category is the one and only Willie Nelson, who paid tribute to his late friend Billy Joe Shaver with a cover of "Live Forever" — a fitting sentiment for the 89-year-old legend, who is approaching his eighth decade in the business. 

As the excitement builds for the 2023 GRAMMYs on Feb. 5, 2023, let's take a closer look at this year's nominees for Best Country Solo Performance.

Kelsea Ballerini — "HEARTFIRST"

In the tradition of Shania Twain , Faith Hill and Carrie Underwood , Kelsea Ballerini represents Nashville's sunnier side — and her single "HEARTFIRST" is a slice of bright, uptempo, confectionary country-pop for the ages.

Ballerini sings about leaning into a carefree crush with her heart on her sleeve, pushing aside her reservations and taking a risk on love at first sight. The scene plays out in a bar room and a back seat, as she sweeps nimbly through the verses and into a shimmering chorus, when the narrator decides she's ready to "wake up in your T-shirt." 

There are enough steel guitar licks to let you know you're listening to a country song, but the story and melody are universal. "HEARTFIRST" is Ballerini's third GRAMMY nod, but first in the Best Country Solo Performance category.

Zach Bryan — "Something In The Orange"

Zach Bryan blew into Music City seemingly from nowhere in 2017, when his original song "Heading South" — recorded on an iPhone — went viral. Then an active officer in the U.S. Navy, the Oklahoma native chased his muse through music during his downtime, striking a chord with country music fans on stark songs led by his acoustic guitar and affecting vocals.

After his honorable discharge in 2021, Bryan began his music career in earnest, and in 2022 released "Something in the Orange," a haunting ballad that stakes a convincing claim to the territory between Tyler Childers and Jason Isbell in both sonics and songwriting. Slashing slide guitar drives home the song's heartbreak, as Bryan pines for a lover whose tail lights have long since vanished over the horizon. 

"Something In The Orange" marks Bryan's first-ever GRAMMY nomination.

Miranda Lambert — "In His Arms"

Miranda Lambert is the rare, chart-topping contemporary country artist who does more than pay lip service to the genre's rural American roots. "In His Arms" originally surfaced on 2021's The Marfa Tapes , a casual recording Lambert made with Jack Ingram and Jon Randall in Marfa, Texas — a tiny arts enclave in the middle of the west Texas high desert.

In this proper studio version — recorded for her 2022 album, Palomino — Lambert retains the structure and organic feel of the mostly acoustic song; light percussion and soothing atmospherics keep her emotive vocals front and center. A native Texan herself, Lambert sounds fully at home on "In His Arms."

Lambert is the only Best Country Solo Performance nominee who is nominated in all four Country Field categories in 2023. To date, Miranda Lambert has won 3 GRAMMYs and received 27 nominations overall. 

Maren Morris — "Circles Around This Town"

When Maren Morris found herself uninspired and dealing with writer's block, she went back to what inspired her to move to Nashville nearly a decade ago — and out came "Circles Around This Town," the lead single from her 2022 album Humble Quest .

Written in one of her first in-person songwriting sessions since the pandemic, Morris has called "Circles Around This Town" her "most autobiographical song" to date; she even recreated her own teenage bedroom for the song's video. As she looks back to her Texas beginnings and the life she left for Nashville, Morris' voice soars over anthemic, yet easygoing production. 

Morris last won a GRAMMY for Best Country Solo Performance in 2017, when her song "My Church" earned the singer her first GRAMMY. To date, Maren Morris has won one GRAMMY and received 17 nominations overall.

Willie Nelson — "Live Forever"

Country music icon Willie Nelson is no stranger to the GRAMMYs, and this year he aims to add to his collection of 10 gramophones. He earned another three nominations for 2023 — bringing his career total to 56 — including a Best Country Solo Performance nod for "Live Forever."

Nelson's performance of "Live Forever," the lead track of the 2022 tribute album Live Forever: A Tribute to Billy Joe Shaver , is a faithful rendition of Shaver's signature song. Still, Nelson puts his own twist on the tune, recruiting Lucinda Williams for backing vocals and echoing the melody with the inimitable tone of his nylon-string Martin guitar. 

Shaver, an outlaw country pioneer who passed in 2020 at 81 years old, never had any hits of his own during his lifetime. But plenty of his songs were still heard, thanks to stars like Elvis Presley , Kris Kristofferson and Waylon Jennings . Nelson was a longtime friend and frequent collaborator of Shaver's — and now has a GRAMMY nom to show for it.

2023 GRAMMY Nominations: See The Complete Nominees List

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'Summer Slaughter' 2024 Lineup, Tour Dates Announced

After a four-year hiatus, the most extreme tour of the year, "Summer Slaughter" is back with a vengeance. The mammoth, 21-date run this year will be co-headlined by VEIL OF MAYA and BRAND OF SACRIFICE , who will be performing their first-ever full headline sets. Joining them will be GIDEON , LEFT TO SUFFER , TEN56 , TALLAH , CABAL and BRAT , with one more to be announced. Tickets for this epic return will go on sale at 10 a.m. local time on Friday, April 26 from thesummerslaughtertour.com.

Speaking on today's news, BRAND OF SACRIFICE vocalist Kyle Anderson shares: "We're so excited to introduce the new age of 'Summer Slaughter' this year with VEIL OF MAYA and this truly awesome lineup of bands! Back in 2019 we were the first band on the bill, so it's a bit surreal to be here at the top, bringing in the new era of the tour with our first ever full headline set."

Marc Okubo , guitarist of co-headliners VEIL OF MAYA , adds: "It's an absolute honor to be back on the 'Summer Slaughter' tour. This tour has been responsible for some of my favorite memories of playing music and some of my greatest friendships. This year's lineup is amazing and I can't wait to share the stage with these incredible bands."

Ash Avildsen , "Summer Slaughter" creator and owner/CEO of the Sumerian Group , says: "This tour has been crucial year after year for breaking new artists as well as elevating the headline status of established acts. I'm thrilled to be able to bring it back with such a youthful lineup, grateful for all the fans who have stuck by the brand and excited for the new generation to experience the tour for the first time."

The 2024 "Summer Slaughter" tour will begin in Brooklyn, New York on July 12 and will continue throughout the USA, laying waste to a further 19 cities before wrapping up in Reading, Pennsylvania on August 10 (full dates listed below).

"Summer Slaughter" 2024 dates:

Jul. 12 - Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Monarch Jul. 13 - Pittsburgh, PA @ Mountain View Amphitheatre + *** Jul. 14 - to be announced on May 20 Jul. 15 - Norfolk, VA @ The Norva Jul. 17 - Nashville, TN @ Marathon Music Works Jul. 20 - Lexington, KY @ Manchester Music Hall ** Jul. 22 - Fort Wayne, IN @ Piere's Jul. 23 - Sauget, IL @ Pops *** Jul. 25 - Houston, TX @ Warehouse live Jul. 26 - Dallas, TX @ South Side Music Hall Jul. 27 - Austin, TX @ The Far Out Lounge Jul. 28 - San Antonio @ TX @ Aztec Theater Jul. 30 - Phoenix, AZ @ The Marquee Jul. 31 - Los Angeles, CA @ The Wiltern Aug. 01 - Riverside, CA @ Riverside Municipal Auditorium *** Aug. 03 - Denver, CO @ Summit Music Hall *** Aug. 05 - Chicago, IL @ House of Blues Aug. 06 - Pontiac, MI @ Crofoot Complex Aug. 08 - to be announced on May 20 Aug. 09 - Sayreville, NJ @ Starland Ballroom Aug. 10 - Reading, PA @ Reverb

+ no VEIL OF MAYA ** no VEIL OF MAYA , BRAND OF SACRIFICE , GIDEON *** no BRAT

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The Starting Line on Getting a Taylor Swift Shout-Out in ‘The Black Dog,’ 22 Years After Pop-Punk Band’s Breakout: ‘It’s an Unexpected Showering of Love’

By Chris Willman

Chris Willman

Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic

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There’s no golden ticket quite like the golden ticket of finding your name in the lyrics of a Taylor Swift song. It’s one thing if you’re Charlie Puth, and already on a list of Spotify’s 150 top monthly artists. But for another musical artist name-checked in Swift’s album “ The Tortured Poets Department ,” the impact stands to be much more impactful. The pop-punk band the Starting Line gets mentioned twice in the song “The Black Dog,” and suddenly nostalgia for (or newfound curiosity about) the Philadelphia-based group is skyrocketing.

Popular on Variety

The Starting Line actually enjoys the distinction of being the only other artist to get mentioned twice by name in the album lyrics. Take that, Puth, Blue Nile, Patti Smith, Dylan Thomas, Clara Bow and Stevie Nicks! (Actually, it could be three times, since, beyond the two mentions in “The Black Dog,” the phrase “the starting line” also pops up separately in the song “Fresh Out the Slammer,” but it isn’t used as a band reference there, just a figure of speech… or is it? )

The name pops up in the first chorus:

I just don’t understand how you don’t miss me In The Black Dog When someone plays The Starting Line and you jump up But she’s too young to know this song That was intertwined in the magic fabric of our dreaming Old habits die screaming

And wait, in the second round, they’re back:

“I feel like it’s trying to impart some sort of nostalgia of the time and the kind of music that we were making at that time, and I’m very flattered that we were the representation of that,” Vasoli says.

Swift would have been turning 13 the year “Best of Me” came out, a number that obviously holds a special place for her, even possibly as an age. And even though the song was a national hit with emo fans, establishing the Starting Line as Warped Tour material, the group remains hometown heroes in the Philadelphia area, not far from where Swift grew up, which may solidify a nostalgic appeal for her.

Yet the lyrics also clearly establish that excitement over sharing “Best of Me” was something that she and the person she just broke up with in the song had in common… and Swift doesn’t often lie in her material. So the question riling fans up has been: If it’s not fiction, is it more likely to be about Matty Healy or Joe Alwyn?

“I’m certainly getting a crash course in the backstory between the characters that are involved in this thing,” says Vasoli, not picking any sides himself. “So it’s been a pretty fascinating study in fandom, for sure.”

Lending obvious weight to the argument in favor of Healy, the frontman for the 1975, is that he actually sang “Best of Me” twice in concert while dating Taylor Swift , at least by the timelines laid out on the world wide web. Or at least he sang a snippet of the Starting Line’s signature song at a show April 21, 2023 and again on May 3 of last year. “Shout-out to people in their thirties,” Healy quipped after performing the song excerpt. Now, it’s not easy to say conclusively that no one else who has split with Swift in recent years was a major emo-head, too, but the Internet is just sayin’.

When Healy started showing his love for the Starting Line in concert last spring, “we heard about it, but it certainly didn’t get the kind of attention that this did. It seems like now people are kind of checking out those YouTube videos of him covering that song a little bit more, and there’s a little bit more investigation to be had about them. At the time it was just sort of a cool thing that was passed around between the guys, but didn’t make it much further past that.”

(Arguing against the theory that “The Black Dog” is about Healy, though: Based on photographs Jack Antonoff posted of studio sessions from last year, fans believe the song was recorded in mid-May 2023. Which would lend itself to a hypothesis that it’s really about Alwyn, and that she played the song for Healy, who was then inspired to cover “Best of Me” in concert. A tangled web.)

But they wouldn’t be playing “Best of Me” over the PA in a metal bar, so we can probably at least rule the Paris possibility out, right? “I don’t know. You know, we’re heavier than you would think,” Vasoli counters. “We surprise people with our heaviness once we get up there.”

But he doesn’t have any personal knowledge of any of the Black Dog geo-location possibilities. “No, the only black dogs I’ve met are just good boys and girls out there at the dog park,” he says. “Your guess is as good as mine on that one.”

The Starting Line only has two shows on the books at present: a gig at the Novo in Los Angeles on the first day of summer, June 21, followed much further down the line by a set at the When We Were Young festival Oct. 19. The Starting Line actually played quite a few shows in 2023; these were the most the band had done in about a quarter-century.

Could they book a lot more now, and bill themselves as one of the few Swift-endorsed rock ‘n’ roll bands of their ilk in the world?

“You know, it’s been sort of a point of conversation of, how much do you lean into something like this?” Vasoli admits, a little cagey even with himself about how much to be seen as taking advantage of it. “Because something like this is not something you really plan for in your music career,. The reverberations have been very big and we’re just sort of trying to accept it with gratitude at this point, sitting back and just seeing what happens from it.”

Although the singer says those two concert dates “are it for now, there’s gonna be more that’s coming down the pike and more that’s getting booked. The vast majority of the band has day jobs that keep them obligated to stay home a little bit, more than some of the other bands. So we don’t hit the road for too long on a regular basis, but we’re trying to get into a rhythm where we can do more of it.”

He also says new music will be heard from the group, for the first time since a 2015 EP.

“There’s been an uptick in us playing together, and a really great interpersonal dynamic between the band members recently that has been very creative and inspirational, playing together recently. So we’ve been into a creative process writing new music since last year. We’re just collecting everything and figuring out the best way to get that out there. But we’re generating music and have been for a bit of time. With us trying to get back into a more usual pace with the band, after all this time, it’s nice that we’re getting a little bit of light on us at this moment, especially given that we’re engaging more than ever since like 2007, when we kind of let our foot off the gas.”

Sample comments on Reddit threads about the Starting Line’s name-check: “I am losing my millennial mind over this reference.” “This one was for the elder emo swifties.” “I screamed! They were my absolute favorite band in high school. My husband and I still listen to them all the time.” “All the elder emo millennials screaming: One of us, one of us.” “That moment when you realize you’re a musical influence to one of the biggest stars on the planet.” “Drop the (Starting Line) cover of the song immediately.”

And: “THIS IS THE MOST PENNSYLVANIA THING THIS WOMAN HAS EVER DONE. i’m so happy for you guys.”

(For those who really pay attention to both intersecting worlds, a joint fan noted: “Funny to think the Starting Line and Jack’s first band Steel Train were both on Drive Thru Records.”)

The singer still seems wonderstruck, to borrow a Swiftian word, about this stroke of recognition. “It’s a trip man, for sure. I can be nothing but really grateful and humbled by this whole thing. And it’s nice that I even get to speak with someone like you about our group in any capacity. So very happy about it.”

And if more dates are indeed in the offing as a result of this? “Please, everybody come check our band out. If it’s good enough for the name drop, come check out the goods.” He is suddenly abashed at what he just said. “You don’t have to print that part. That sounds so weird.” Vasoli can be forgiven for a little enthusiasm: Being embedded in the document that the whole world is scanning — a lyric sheet — is the kind of thing that can make somebody jump up.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by The Starting Line (@thestartinglinerock)

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