Its coming to the end of summer, and the end of the best tour in the world, the incredible Vans Warped Tour. With only two dates left, this tours flew in.
Like usual, all summer I've been tortured by the Vans Warped Tour in the US. With over 100 bands playing over 9 stages, with a line up including Pierce The Veil, Mallory Knox, Sleeping With Sirens, As It Is, Memphis Mayfire, Neck Deep, Asking Alexandria PVRIS and This Wild Life. The Warped Tour is really the ultimate summer tour.
At the US Warped Tour there's something underlying. Warped is more than just a tour. Its more than just a day out or a concert. Its a community gathering. Its a sense of family. Its an escape to be submersed in music. Its a huge fundraiser, where a percentage of each tickets money goes to charity. There's initiatives that allow you to skip whole lines by donating food, old phones, money and even old ipods. By donating blood you can get backstage access. The Warped Tour is far more than just bands playing live. There's even Warped Youtubers which is just amazing, including Bryan Stars, Damon Fizzy, Johnnie Guilbert and Jordan Sweeto, for the full tour.
People looking at images of Warped Tour might see lunacy. Hundreds of (predominantly) young people jumping about, swarming towards stages, with huge mosh pits opening up in crowds and people being dragged over the barriers or stage diving onto the crowds. It might look like hell for some people, however for thousands of people worldwide, its heaven. Warped Tour makes peoples summer, its the highlight of their year.
People before have told me it seems like a 'emo gathering' or 'the freaks day out' which is so horrible and completely untrue. Warped is a tour where anyone, no matter who you are, no matter what colour your hair is or how many piercings you have, you can go to it and not get judged. You can go and be with so many like-minded people.
Yes, Warped Tour is a sea of band merch, skinny jeans and hair dye. Its full of tents, not only for parents relaxing while their teenagers go wild, not only full of water, fans and shelter against the heat, not even just for band signings or Youtubers or merch. It has over 20 non-profits have teamed up with the tour this year. Ranging from cancer charities, food bank collections, blood donations, animal cruelty to charities like To Write Love On Her Arms (TWLOHA) and Music Saves Lives (MSL). At Warped, charities like TWLOHA can reach out to the people who really need help.
There's a stereotype around alternative music (a lot of the music types played on the tour) that people who listen to this style of music suffer from things like depression. Although it is a stereotype, it does have some truth. Depression is a huge illness that many bands (a lot who are on the tour) open up about with their fans, in interviews and through their lyrics. Many fans see this as a way to connect with music. As a way to relate to lyrics and realise they aren't alone.
Listening to the music from Warped and reading the lyrics of the songs played, they do cover things such as bullying, family break ups, difficult home lives, loosing someone close, suicide, and alot of other unrelated things. However the Warped Tour isn't a sad or depressing place. It's a day where people can forget all the bad things that face them in life. They can escape it all, watching the bands they love play live.
At the end of the day its a celebration of music. Music maybe not everybody likes. Not everyone will approve of it, but who honestly cares. Like so many other things, alternative music and the whole alternative culture get hate for being different. Warped is one of the few places where you can go and be seen as normal, as different in a good way. No matter who you are, just go and enjoy yourself.
The Official site for the tour (linked below), is full of stuff about the tour from tour blogs, podcasts to band info, album releases and tour merch.
- - - - - - -
The Youtuber's I've
mentioned above, are linked below and I suggest you check them out
because they are just incredible at what they do and deserve the success
and support they receive.
The above three Youtubers are part of an amazing channel called My Digital Escape (linked below), which is a collective account where videos are uploaded daily by seven Youtubers, which allows it to be one of the few Youtube channels with daily videos. I genuinely love this channel and I think its a pretty clever idea.