Warped Tour founder Kevin Lyman has announced that 2018 will be the final Warped Tour, except for some sort of anniversary thing in 2019. You can check out the official statement at Warped’s site. Kevin also did an interview with Billboard that has some pretty interesting bits of Warped history and Lyman’s takes on ticket sales and demographics.
I went to Warped once, in 2000 at the Metrodome parking lot in Minneapolis. It was a great way to see a lot of bands I probably wouldn’t ever have a chance to see any other way (hurray being a teenager in the upper Midwest!). Green Day after “Nimrod,” before “Warning,” Suicide Machines, Mighty Mighty Bosstones, No Doubt (meh), Long Beach Dub All-Stars, AFI, NOFX, Millencolin, and fucking Lit. Holy shit, remember Lit? Pretty sure the front man had a hissy fit when he broke a string. Goddamn. I feel like I need a shower. Anyway.
I never felt an urge to go back. As a teenager with a shitty attitude (I was a unicorn, I know), I didn’t want to be around a bunch of other shitty teenagers. And the older I get, I still don’t want to be surrounded by shitty teenagers. Plus, I’m too busy defaulting on my student loan payments by spending my money avocado toast and buttchugging whiskey or whatever the hell your angry uncle will say about millenials next week.
Regardless of my feelings, this is still a bummer. Warped was a great way for kids to see bands they wouldn’t otherwise get to see (re: midwest). Though the tour is apparently not pulling in teens like it used to, it’s too bad some kids won’t get that chance. But who knows, maybe the final tour and whatever goes down in 2019 will pull in enough to make it viable again, or maybe someone else will take over.