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Warped Tour is a touring music and Extreme Sports festival. The tour is held in venues (generally parking lots or fields upon which the stages and other structures are erected). The skateboarding shoe manufacturer Vans has sponsored the tour among others every year since 1995 and it is often referred to as the '''Vans Warped Tour'''. As of the mid-2000s, the Warped Tour has featured as many as 100 bands per show. The bands play for up to 30 minutes over approximately 10 different stages, although the biggest bands generally play the two "Main" stages. A typical day would have bands starting at 11:00am and end at 9:00 p.m. with several bands playing at once. The individual band times and stages where each band play is marked on a large board usually centered in the middle of the venue. The full area is set up to prevent music from one stage disrupting other active stages. One band, by fan vote, is allowed to play ten extra minutes at each show. Every year there is a "BBQ Band," which, in exchange for the privilege of playing on the tour, must prepare food for the bands and crew for the barbecue which is held most evenings. Charleston.net Similarly, one band, Animo (formerly DORK) has been permitted for the past four years to play on the tour in exchange for work on the setup crew. The tour started as a Skate Punk , and Third Wave Ska tour, but later began to feature mostly Post-hardcore , Pop Punk , and Metalcore acts. HISTORY The Warped Tour was created in 1995 by Kevin Lyman , who got the idea while working on skateboarding shows—such as the ''Vision Skate Escape'' and ''Holiday Havoc''—which included music with skateboarding contests, The Warped name comes from the short-lived ''Warp Magazine'', published by Transworld, which covered surfing, skateboarding, snowboarding, and music. In 1998, the tour went international—including venues in Australia , Japan , Europe , Canada , and the United States . In 1999, the tour started off in New Zealand and Australia in the New Year. It then started up again in the United States for the northern hemisphere summer before ending up in Europe. As well as music, this tour brings many attractions, including a half pipe for Skaters and Bikers . The tour also features many booths creating a Flea Market like atmosphere, having tents for each of the bands to sell merchandise, independent record labels, magazine publishers, non-profit organizations, and sponsors looking to market their products to the tour's audience. Many of the bands will retreat to their tents after their performance in order to meet up with the fans and groupies, and sign autographs which is just another added perk of attending the tour. The Warped Tour also benefits up-and-coming bands and those looking to gain more recognition. The tour provides a direct market in order for these bands to obtain or extend their fan base. The bands can set up tent areas and are able to talk with those atteding the tour and sell their merchandise as well as give away promotional freebies. Various illustrators are contracted each year to design promotional artwork. In 2006, The Vans Warped Tour hired New York's Punk Artist Joe Simko ( Sweet Rot ) to create all the character designs, Official tour poster, back stage passes (image shown below), and official 2006 logo. Simko's Warped Tour artwork has been attached to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame marketing campaign. Several backstage VIP passes are placed for auction on EBay , allowing access all summer long. Sponsors are issued a number of "Sponsor" laminate passes or wristbands, and in 2006 and 2007, there were promotions announced, tied to blood donation, which allow access. TOURS See Also: Previous Warped Tour bands STAGES Current stages Warped features several stages, among them
Past stages
The stages are usually temporary structures that fold into one or more trailer loads. If the venue is an amphitheatre, the amphitheatre stage is often used--in 2006, the two sides of the amphitheatre stage were often shared between the Volcom and MLB Vagrant stages. This year, amphitheatre stages are shared between the Smartpunk.com and Hurley.com Stages. However, at Cleveland's Tower City Amphitheatre venue, which has a relatively narrow stage, the stage was used for Main Stage Right. {Link without Title} BAND CONFLICTS A few bands have left the tour due to conflicts they had with the tour or with other bands:
CRITICISM While many punk purists decry the tour’s rampant commercialism, high concession prices and watered-down music, some defend the imminent changes in the production of the tour through the years. “Warped Tour is a place for teenage kids to go and hear all their favourite bands in one day,” says Rob Pasalic , guitarist for the Saint Alvia Cartel . “It wouldn’t make sense for it to be the same tour in 2007 as it was in 1997. These are the bands that kids like, and the tour is smart enough to grow and adapt to that. You still get bands like Bad Religion playing, so it’s not like it’s lost all its roots.” 1 Joe Queer of The Queers stated, "You play music because there’s something inside of you that says you have to play music. Now you get bands like Fall Out Boy that are basically created in the studio. The Warped Tour changed it. Fuck it. I just don’t like that shit. All the guys in the bands remind me of the Jocks I hated in high school. To me a punk gig is a small sweaty club with the audience right in your face knocking over the mic stand and boogying off the energy."http://www.wirenh.com/Music/Music_-general/Joe_Queer:_the_face_of_punk_200610241597.html The band Propagandhi lashes out at the tour in their song "Rock for Sustainable Capitalism", which contains lyrics categorising the tour's bands as "shitty" and criticising the Vans sponsorship due to the Vans company's use of Foreign Labor . Brendan Kelly of The Lawrence Arms said that it kills smaller concert venues, since all the big bands go on one tour together. The band alleges that this also caused The Lawrence Arms to get permanently banned from Warped Tour when Brendan Kelly said this on stage. On The Lawrence Arms 2006 album Oh! Calcutta! there is a song entitled "Warped Summer Extravaganza (Major Excellent)," a reference to the band's experiences on the Warped Tour. COMPILATIONS Every year, a Record Label draws songs released by many of the bands that perform during the Warped Tour, and release them in an ''Warped Tour Compilation''. The Compilations have been released by SideOneDummy Records . The 2006 edition was released before the Warped Tour started unlike past compilations. This allowed people to buy the CD, listen to the songs, and choose which bands they would want to hear if and when they go to their stop on the tour. The following is a list of links to the individual Warped Tour Compilations:
IN POPULAR CULTURE
MISHAPS The tour has postponed been several times subject to weather-related delays and cancellations. Most recently, at the , The Almost , Haste The Day , It Dies Today , Chiodos , and Throwdown . FOOTNOTES REFERENCES |
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