Growing up, Vans Warped Tour was one of my favorite parts of the summer. The touring festival has been stopping in Vinoy Park for many years, bringing fans young and old to the St. Petersburg waterfront to catch a seemingly endless array of independent and alternative bands.
Vans Warped Tour by the numbers: 500 guest list spots, 125 staffers, 320 roadies and more
Late last year we got the news that The Fantastic Plastics, one of the talented bands we manage at Cigar City Management, had been invited to join the Full Sail University stage on this year’s tour. Since then, we’ve been in close contact with the various people who help put the festival together, trying to prepare the band for the experience, and ensuring they get all they can out of it.
In addition to seeing the festival from the artist side, we also interviewed a ton of our favorite bands, like CKY, Bowling for Soup, and War on Women for an episode of our Cigar City Radio podcast.
This year, I was lucky enough to experience Warped Tour from behind the scenes, from backstage, and from the press tent. Here are a few things that I learned:
Kevin Lyman is the real deal
As the founder and head of Vans Warped Tour, Kevin Lyman is very much a larger than life figure. It’s amazing that he’s continued to produce the longest-running North American touring festival while other similar festivals have folded. But Kevin knows every single band on the tour, he knows all the crew by name (and there’s a lot of crew!), and he even personally responds to emails from managers, publicists, etc. He’s also very approachable and makes himself available to anybody on the tour. Many Warped Tour veterans get invites to parties at his house and he really treats everybody involved like family. His passion, dedication, and attention to detail is the reason Warped Tour has been running since 1995.
The Sign Language interpreters are amazing
I was surprised when Vans Warped Tour emailed us and asked for lyrics to give to their sign language interpreters. It’s great that Warped Tour hires ASL interpreters, allowing music fans who are deaf and hard of hearing to experience the festival. This has been a growing trend at concerts and festivals, with artists like Chance the Rapper bringing an interpreter with them on tour. During The Fantastic Plastics’ set in St. Pete, there was a young woman who had her eyes on the interpreter, while her hand was on the barricade feeling the vibration from the stage. She had a smile on her face the entire show and gave a visual applause at the end. Having a sign language interpreter seems like a small addition to the show, but can mean so much to those who need it.
There’s a camaraderie among the bands (even though it’s kind of a competition)
One unique aspect of Warped Tour, compared to other festivals, is that the schedule changes every day, and set times rotate. Each band is given their set time early in the morning and then, before doors open, many of the smaller stage bands will hang posters across the festival grounds. Newer Bands will “work” the crowd while the entrance line forms, promoting their set time for that day. It becomes somewhat of a competition between bands – who at times become more like carnival barkers, vying for attention from the Festival attendees.
Despite the competition for time and merch sales, most of the bands are generally supportive of one another. Bands will watch other bands they love from the audience, recommend fellow bands to their fans, and even cover each other’s merch tent or share gear, if needed. But the real bonds are formed backstage, at the nightly barbecue or in the catering tent. As Shane from Silverstein told us, “you have to get the hang down.” The key to surviving on Warped Tour – and being invited back – is to be chill and get along with the rest of the bands that you’re traveling with all summer. Oh, and be nice to GWAR.
There’s a lot of Monster Energy Drinks
Monster has been a sponsor of Vans Warped Tour for quite a while, and I’m not sure how the bands would survive without it. It seems like you can grab a Monster drink everywhere you go – there’s coolers full, and catering has an unlimited supply. Catering, in general, is fantastic, by the way. While the festival’s attendees are stuck with, uh, festival food…the bands are getting chicken and waffles for brunch, entrees like chicken cordon bleu, and cucumber water, with a new menu each day. Also, there’s always vegan and gluten-free options, too.
And they deserve it, because…
Warped Tour is a Grind
Touring of any kind is difficult, with lengthy drives between cities, an extreme lack of personal space and privacy, and little pay (for most bands). However, Warped Tour brings a special set of challenges. When a band is doing a club tour, they may not have to load-in to the venue until 6 or 7 p.m. On Warped Tour, the bands need to check in early in the morning to get their set time for the day, sign up for press, and get any other announcements. A lot of these bands are new (or new-ish), lacking the budget for a tour manager or driver to help with the daily tasks. So these bands are usually on the festival grounds by 10 a.m. to check in, then setting up their tent and posters until doors open, then setting up their gear and performing, then selling merch, doing press, and meeting fans until the festival ends at 10 p.m.. After that, they’re driving six hours or more to the next city, only to do it all over again. Many bands end up sharing an RV with a dedicated driver, through a service like BandWagon, so they can at least get some sleep while somebody else drives.
Though the bands have it pretty easy compared to the stage and grounds crew. The crew Is responsible for building the festival from nothing each morning, breaking it down each night, and repeating the process over the 40-something dates throughout the summer. Many bands told me the same thing – “the stage crew are the hardest working people here.”
So, if I learned anything about Vans Warped Tour, it’s this – you’ll have a lot of fun, you’ll drink a lot of Monster, and you’ll meet some incredible people, but it’s very much a labor of love. Though Warped Tour may seem like a “big” festival, with commercial sponsors and corporate interests, it’s made possible by passionate people with the same DIY, punk rock spirit that it started with over 20 years ago.
