Warped Tour Celebrates 20 Years

(Photos by Norma Becerra)

America’s oldest, largest traveling music festival celebrated their 20^th birthday with another national tour that visited the very hot, Space City, last Friday. Houston music lovers whipped out their SPF 50, snuck in peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and said good-bye to society for one day in observance of Vans Warped Tour 2015.

Warped Tour, hosted in the concrete jungles of NRG Park, is a rock festival designed for young adults seeking to celebrate music and art.

Although Texas heat behaved less than cool, it was not enough to stop the thousands of teenagers who gathered around the eight stages set-up around the parking lot grounds.

With over eighty bands performing thirty minute sets, the music never stopped. Set after set, fans would leave one stage and run to the other, leaving zero regrets behind.

The lineup of bands included up-and-coming acts along with a lot of Warped Tour veterans. Pvris, Asking Alexandria, We Came as Romans, grazed the various stages and even Metro Station is appearing the entire summer. (Miley Cyrus’ little brother Trace along with Mason Musso had the girls going head-over-heels while performing some old favorites.)

All performed live sets, some leading to crazy, unauthorized, mosh pits, walls of death, crowd surfing, and even circle pits leaving many injured from being stepped on.

“You mosh, you surf, you get hurt, we get sued, no more Warped Tour,” read banners on top of the many bands that daringly encouraged this type of behavior.

Trenton Woodley of Hands Like Houses

Although this behavior fancies that of Warped, they have evolved, opening their doors to new bands, new genres, and new experiences.

This year, the tour took a very risque shot at something new: comedy. The “Warped Comedy Tent” showcased some of the funniest comedians on the market. They performed stand-up routines which music junkies adored because not only were they funny, but gave teens a chance to cool off from the summer heat and their ears a chance to breath.

In a fast-paced environment where the average attention spans may last for no more than five seconds, maturing and embracing change is smart and has proven so for Kevin Lyman, creator of Warped Tour.

The tour also included lessons from the musicians themselves. The Entertainment Institute (TEI) has teamed up with the tour to bring an all new experience to concert goers who can choose from a variety of musicians and professionally taught workshops, including topics like social media, photography, vocal/instrument lessons and songwriting among others, proving that music education is a must for Warped Tour.

The magical combination of food trucks, tents giving away free stuff, artists signings, and live music, proved that the NRG parking lots were definitely poppin’.

Van’s Warped Tour continues to travel across America, through August 8th. Click here for more info.

Keep checking back with us for exclusive interviews and photos from the Vans Warped Tour!

Mike Fuentes of Pierce The Veil

By Sebastian Troitino