NASHVILLE |DATE: AUGUST 27, 2002
FROM: KRISTINE ASHTON/LIBBY HENRY
VANS WARPED TOUR ‘02
WRAPS UP MOST SUCCESSFUL YEAR
DRAWING NEARLY 500,000 FANS IN 47 NORTH AMERICAN CITIES;
TOUR CONTINUES TO BE A STRONG FORCE
IN HELPING TO BREAK NEW BANDS;
‘WARPED BOOK: TALES OF FREEDOM AND PSYCHOTIC AMBITION’ AVAILABLE NOW
“Punk rock summer camp” and “the summer’s best bargain” is how Rolling Stone described the eighth annual VANS WARPED TOUR, while Kerrang! hailed WARPED as “punk rock’s biggest and best tour” and the Hollywood Reporter lauded it as “the blueprint of how to run a successful music festival.”
VANS WARPED TOUR ’02 wrapped up a 47-city trek–the most extensive yet for the longest running U.S. touring festival which began in 1995–August 18 in Detroit. “Eight years later, this tour remains extremely relevant,” noted tour founder Kevin Lyman in a recent interview with the Flint Journal, [8/16/02]. “It’s become a rite of passage for punk and skate kids. Some of these kids were five when this tour started. They had older brothers or sisters who went and their parents are OK with it…it’s the first concert their parents let them go to.” This year’s tour drew nearly 500,000 fans and once again emphasized the longevity of the tour.
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This year’s tour expanded into new markets such as Billings, Fargo and Omaha, proving how the tour continues to grow. “A lot of people doubted the line-up we put together and it proves that it’s still about the Warped Tour for the kids,” Lyman comments. “We went with a broad range of acts at all different levels. The whole concept is a good value. The kids can see a lot great bands for a good value (the average ticket price was $21.33).”
In addition to keeping ticket prices low for fans, the VANS WARPED TOUR also plays a significant role in helping to break new bands. “I think 14 bands that were on Warped Tour this summer were on the new music charts last week,” Lyman says. “It shows that the WARPED TOUR can break artists or help them develop at a quicker pace.”
A new highlight this year is the tour’s memorabilia book, WARPED BOOK: TALES OF FREEDOM AND PSYCHOTIC AMBITION. A collaboration between tour founder Kevin Lyman, author Heidi Siegmund Cuda and photographer Lisa Johnson, the book is now available at www.warpedbook.com. WARPED BOOK enables fans to tap into the lifestyle of the tour, featuring Warped facts, road stories from bands, interviews with past and present WARPED bands including Pennywise, Rancid, NOFX, The Vandals, Flogging Molly and Ice T, as well as behind-the-scenes photos and other memorabilia collected over the past seven years.
Here’s what the critics are saying about the VANS WARPED TOUR ’02:
“Warped alumni including the Mighty Mighty Bosstones and Reel Big Fish (the only ska-flavored acts), Lagwagon, NOFX, Good Charlotte and New Found Glory all kept the crowd’s attention and inspired nonstop pit action near the stage…Highlights from the big stage area included Irish band Flogging Molly’s spirited set of infectious bar-brawling anthems and the ever-tight melodic ferocity of longtime L.A. faves Bad Religion…with BMX riders flying in the air behind them, provided a refreshing dose of mutinous mayhem.”
— Los Angeles Times, Lina Lecaro, July 12, 2002
“Warped Tour is still shredding eardrums nationwide every summer…From the beginning, Warped…has been less interested in big bucks and generalized greed than with showcasing the newest, freshest punk, ska and youth-culture mayhem to skateboarders and their friends at a reasonable price–and that hasn’t changed…Warped isn’t a passing fad but a way of life.”
—Westword (Denver, CO), Michael Roberts, June 20, 2002
“This stop on the Warped Tour 2002 was a blueprint of how to run a successful music festival…The setting is perfectly suited with plenty of shade and even enough elbow room for the large, meandering crowd that grew throughout the day.”
—Hollywood Reporter, Erik Pedersen, July 12-14, 2002
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“…On Friday, July 12, 10,000 people, 49 bands and one giant water slide hit Ventura, California as part of punk rock’s biggest and best tour…it is impossible to get bored at Warped.”
—Kerrang!, Rae Alexandra, July 27, 2002
“Punk Summer Camp…annual traveling circus…banging out good old punk rock for legions of adoring fans.”
—Rolling Stone, Chris Nelson and Austin Scaggs, August 22, 2002
“With a ticket price averaging about 75 cents per band, the Vans Warped Tour easily provides the best value of any summer tour…the annual all-day mega-fest also has the distinction of being America’s longest-running festival tour.”
—Florida Times Leader (Jacksonville, FL), Nick Marino, August 2, 2002
“…the Warped Tour exposed new, untried bands that were underground even to the Underground. The tour’s alumni, then obscure, now reads like Billboard charts of the last five years: Deftones, Limp Bizkit, Blink-182, Kid Rock, NOFX and Sugar Ray are just a few of the bands that first connected nationally on the Warped roster.”
—Las Vegas Mercury, Ted Sablay, July 4, 2002
“Warped Tour 2002 the place to be this summer…the Vans Warped Tour is perhaps the most highly anticipated musical event of the summer.”
—Standard Examiner (Ogden, UT), Mark Saal, June 21, 2002
“For eight years, Warped has brought punk to the people, just like it’s meant to be.”
—Pittsburgh City Paper, Justin Hopper, 2002
“Warped is not built around an icon, but an idea–provide a place where punk music and its supporters can gather to bond and build something lasting…its commitment to letting the crowd find its own fun.”
—Sun-Sentinel (Ft. Lauderdale, FL), Sean Piccoli, August 5, 2002
“…it does give the kids plenty of bang for their bucks…it was sonic paradise.”
—Oakland Tribune (Oakland, CA), Jim Harrington, July 16, 2002
“This isn’t merely a concert: It’s a heavenly festival for the pierced and tattooed set, a traveling circus for today’s youth culture.”
—Miami Herald, August 2, 2002
“…around 10,000 area youngsters were free to come to Warped and hear just the kind of music that they adore: generally a mix of skate-punk emo-core tuneage, blended into a scene that mixes political awareness and the idea of an anarchic good time…offering the listener everything from punk survivors (and now elder statesmen) Bad Religion to punk-pop sellers such as MxPx, who performed their 1996 hit “Chick Magnet” to good effect.”
—Dallas Morning News, Matt Weitz, June 29, 2002
“With nearly 50 bands performing on six stages (not to mention booths that spotlight even more talent), along with pro skaters, Moto-X riders and mountain bikers, Warped provides plenty of bang for the buck.”
—Press-Enterprise (Riverside, CA), July 5, 2002
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