NASHVILLE |DT: SEPTEMBER 2, 2004
FR: KRISTINE ASHTON-MAGNUSON/LIBBY HENRY/AMANDA HALE
VANS WARPED TOUR
TURNS 10,
WRAPS BEST SUMMER EVER;
THE TRANSPLANTS AND MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE SIGN ON FOR 2005
The 10th year of the VANS WARPED TOUR® marked the most successful year ever for America's longest running touring festival with over 650,000 tickets sold. This marks a 30% increase in ticket sales, with average show attendance of approximately 13,500. The Detroit stop was the tour’s largest show ever with 29,500 in attendance. Hotly-tipped bands the Transplants and My Chemical Romance have already signed on for the 2005 summer trek.
Some of the dozens of bands that appeared on this year’s trek include: Bad Religion, Good Charlotte, NOFX, Thursday, New Found Glory, Simple Plan, The Vandals, Taking Back Sunday, Lars Frederiksen and the Bastards, Story Of The Year, My Chemical Romance, International Noise Conspiracy, Coheed and Cambria, Bouncing Souls, Flogging Molly, Atmosphere, Anti-Flag, Rise Against, The Casualties and Yellowcard.
In addition, veteran Vans Warped Tour artists came together for the 10th Anniversary show which took place at Boston's Gillette Stadium Parking Lot on August 20. For this special show, Rancid, Pennywise, Good Charlotte, New Found Glory, Andrew W.K., Dropkick Murphys, Less Than Jake, face to face, The Vandals, Finch, Sick of it All, Something Corporate, Fishbone, MxPx, Ozomatli, Strung Out and others performed. Highlights from the 10th Anniversary show will be broadcast exclusively on Fuse as a 90-minute concert special, scheduled to air Friday, September 24 at 7:00 PM Eastern/Pacific.
Here’s a sampling of the widespread critical acclaim the tour received this year:
“The Warped Tour has become such an institution that Blink-182 has even sung about it: ‘I couldn't wait for the summer and the Warped Tour.’ Speed, impact and a tuneful willingness to vent are the stuff of this annual tour, which declares that punk-rock purism is irrelevant. It has been replaced by a genre-spanning appreciation for any music that makes a mighty crunch, from the whipsaw introversion of emo to blasts of metal.”
–Jon Pareles, New York Times, August 6, 2004
“Now in its 10th year, Warped has shown it knows how to survive the concert business' toughest times…”
–Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, July 3, 2004
“…this event featuring the best American punk pop, punk metal and punk rock (notice the theme) was a big bargain…And no matter if you were a star act or a baby band, everyone made themselves available to their fans–signing autographs, pressing flesh and selling T-shirts and CDs–at their home tents.”
–Dan Aquilante, New York Post, August 9, 2004
“My how the Warped Tour has grown. In its 10th year, the punk festival continues to be one of the most consistently successful tours of each summer. That’s due partly to low ticket prices ($32.75, a quarter less than last year) and partly to smart marketing…more importantly, the tour’s definition of ‘punk’ has expanded over the years to include nearly anything that’s loud and energetic. That’s as it should be: suburban rockers, once the most narrow-minded of music listeners, now listen to an increasingly broad spectrum of sounds. Blaring from the tour’s seven or so stages was not only old-school punk (The Vandals) but accessible pop (Yellowcard), dissonant screamo (Taking Back Sunday) and underground rap (Atmosphere).”
–Rafer Guzman, Newsday, August 9, 2004
“…the wealth of talent, the constant refrain to be politically aware and especially the cheap ticket price ($25) made this day out more than worth it. The Vans Warped Tour is a punk festival for the masses…”
–Erica Doblin, Billboard.com, July 2, 2004
“Blending low-price tickets with high-energy talent and side attractions, the Warped Tour, America's oldest traveling rock festival, is thriving on the collective buying power of teen fans lining up to see such bands as Bad Religion, Good Charlotte, the Vandals and NOFX.”
–Gelu Sulugiuc, Reuters, July 31, 2004
“…a punk rock fan’s paradise…”
–Sara Scavongelli, Indianapolis Star-Tribune, July 23, 2004
“When it comes to concert bargains, few are better or bigger than the Vans Warped Tour. Now in it’s 10th year, the nine-hour festival features more than 60 bands, eight stages and tickets that sell for less than $30.”
–Bob Gendron, Chicago Tribune, July 26, 2004
“The Warped Tour is Punk-Rock Utopia for anyone with a jones for the grossness of the Jim Rose Circus or the adolescent humor of Blink-182. A walk through the compound is like having the coolest alternative record store spring to life.”
–Michael Clark, MTV.com, June 29, 2004
“The Warped Tour, now in it’s 10th year, has been a steppingstone for hundreds of up-and-comers, many of whom have become hugely successful mainstream acts: Eminem, No Doubt, Sugar Ray, Limp Bizkit, Blink 182, AFI, Simple Plan, Thursday, and New Found Glory.”
–Courtney Devores, Charlotte Observer, July 30, 2004
“…the Warped Tour is one of the best-organized, well-oiled tours on the rock scene…and remains one of the few perennial success stories of the summer touring season…"
–Rick Bird, Cincinnati Post, Aug 17, 2004
“The Vans Warped Tour is something of a phenomenon. While the 49-city fest still has an anti-establishment edge, with activist booths scattered throughout the merchandise area and some of its 98 bands spewing R-rated rants during their sets, it felt more like a punk-rock amusement park.”
–Jon Waterhouse, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, July 29, 2004
“It's OK to send your kids. In fact, you're invited, too. The Vans Warped Tour, that high-energy extreme mix of music, athletics and social consciousness…is safe, user-friendly and the concert bargain of the year. It's been that way for its nine previous summers and will, under the philosophies set by founder Kevin Lyman, be the only way the tour will run…Oh, and those concert tickets: still under $30…The Warped Tour is a big, friendly carnival of music and sports with booths, tents and freebies galore. You can go online or try your hand at a new PlayStation2 game. Look at handmade jewelry as a BMX biker flies through the air or sample the musical smorgasbord at one of the multiple stages.”
–Toni Roberto, Buffalo News, August 13, 2004
”…the pinnacle of punk rock summers, the 2004 Vans Warped Tour…”
–Cristin Riffle, Gainesville Sun, August 2, 2004
“It's a garage-band-lover's delight and a musical bacchanal for the skate punk crowd…It again features over 50 bands on eight stages, a dozen extreme sport athletes and plenty of midway booths and kooky surprises spanning 11 hours…The Warped Tour is 10 years old this summer, making it the longest-running touring music festival…at Warped, where all bands are created equal, the headliners are not always the main attraction. The thrill is in discovering what may be ‘the next big thing,’ wandering from stage to stage with the sensory overload of dynamic rock 'n' roll. It is indeed a show of ‘overwhelming force’ as Rolling Stone magazine once described it…in these corporate rock times of prepackaged pop, Warped remains a great treasure for young music fans discovering the power of live loud rock 'n' roll played the way it was meant to be–full of primal energy.”
–Rick Bird, Cincinnati Post, August 12, 2004
“…the irrepressible punk-rock throwdown known as the Vans Warped Tour appears impervious to audience apathy. It was, in fact one of the largest local Warped crowds in memory…”
–Ben Rayner, Toronto Star, Aug 16, 2004
“…Warped was itself, nothing short of refreshing.”
–Mike Bell, Calgary Sun, July 16, 2004
Check out www.warpedtour.com for more information.
The Vans Warped Tour® is made possible through the support of Vans; presenting sponsors Samsung Telecommunications America and Cingular Wireless; and Fuse, PlayStation®2, Wrigley's Winterfresh, AOL, Hot Topic, the truth, Monster Energy and Hansen's Sodas, Alternative Press and SPIN magazine.
For more information contact:
MSO 818-380-0400
Kristine Ashton-Magnuson ext. 233 Libby Henry ext. 224
kashton@msopr.com lhenry@msopr.com
###
http://
