The tour which self titles itself as the “Best Day Ever” this year certainly proves that it is worthy of that title. With a mix of musical genres from heavy rock to ska, Vans Warped Tour attracts attendees of all ages. Bands like The Used, August Burns Red, and Reel Big Fish are a few bands that tend to appeal to the older crowd whereas bands like The Summer Set, Forever The Sickest Kids and Blessthefall tends to appeal to the younger attendees. 
Every year Vans Warped Tour provides a safe ground for teens and young adults where they can feel free to express themselves and meet and bond with fellow fans of their favorite bands. Warped Tour promotes a healthy and positive atmosphere and is sponsored by anti-bullying and suicide prevention organizations like To Write Love On Her Arms and HeartSupport (which was founded by Jake Luhrs, the lead singer of August Burns Red).
This year, the tour had a service for the pre-teens and teens in which with the purchase of their ticket, they receive one free ticket for a parent to accompany them. There is also a “Reverse Daycare” service at Warped Tour for the teens to drop their parent escorts off at which provides them with an air-conditioned tent and cool beverages so they can beat the heat and loud music.
On Wednesday July 10th, Warped Tour made its stop in Columbia, MD at Merriweather
Post Pavilion, number 4 on Rolling Stone‘s top 10 Best Amphitheaters in America. The tour sets up a number of different stages, this year totaling to nine stages this year. The two main stages, Kia Soul Stage and Kia Forte Stage were stationed together, splitting the big amphitheater stage of Merriweather in half to host them. There were never two bands playing at the same time, but once a band left one stage, the next band took to the other stage. At first it may seem a bit strange, but this did allow for endless music in the amphitheater and kept that area crowded. Although the amphitheater area was crowded, so were the remainder of the stages located throughout the grounds. Even though the morning started out with a slight drizzle and cloudy skies, fortunately it cleared up and the sun was shining for the remainder of the day.
On Friday July 12th, we made the trek up to Camden, NJ to cover our second Warped Tour of the year.
If you have ever been to Warped Tour before you know to expect anything and be prepared for everything. It started out as a nice warm day that turned into storms around 4pm. Fortunately, they decided to host the main stage bands inside again on this date as for the rest of the bands, they brought out tarps for their equipment and kept playing for whoever would come out to watch the show.
Within the past three years, this was probably our favorite Warped Tour that we have covered. Every band was even more exciting than the last. Letlive’s lead singer Jason Butler was doing cannonballs from the speaker onto the floor. His energy was contagious; not a single person in the crowd was standing still. The Used also was a big surprise for Kaitlin this year. She was so excited to see them on the bill last year, but when they came on, they just didn’t deliver. Lead vocalist, Bert wasn’t very interesting to watch, he pretty much just stood in the middle of the stage bouncing around. This year when they came out, they were so colorful, bringing color powder packets out, throwing them on themselves and everyone in the crowd. They were so much more involved this year, they quickly became our favorite shoot of the day. Story of the Year was also a huge surprise, they came out and immediately one guy jumped in the crowd, the other was on the speakers – it was just a lot of fun. They were clearly all about appeasing their fans and in doing so put on a killer set.
Every year Vans Warped Tour is one of the largest traveling circuses, making stops all over the US and Canada at 40+ venues, assembling and breaking down nine stages and countless venders daily. There is no tour out there like this and it is truly remarkable what these bands and stage hands do every year. If you haven’t ever been to Warped tour, we HIGHLY recommend it! See you next year Warped!
The Summer Set
Reel Big Fish
Forever The Sickest Kids
Black Veil Brides
blessthefall
The Architects
The Used
Never Shout Never
3oh!3
Motion City Soundtrack
August Burns Red
Hawthorn Heights
Juliett Simms
Letlive
Memphis May Fire
Silverstein
Story of the Year
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