If you haven’t read my rundown of Day One of Warped Tour, please click here.

Pulling up to Downtown Long Beach wasn’t nearly as much of a clusterfucking mess as it was the first day. It probably helped that everyone knew where and how to find their parking. We decided to skip the unveiling of the inflatable schedule and get a quick breakfast at a hotel next to the convention center. When we finally decided to walk in, we almost made it through without them taking anything until they took our spray sunblock, which we bought because we saw like fifty people with spray sunblock on the previous day. There were metal detectors, but they did not pat anyone down. It seems like it would have been easy to sneak other things in if we actually tried.

I used to play a game when I would go to shows called “Count the Ramones shirt.” It’s a pretty simple game: when you see someone wearing the classic Ramones logo shirt, you tally it in your brain. I’ve modified the game at other places; when I went to Disney Animal Kingdom in Florida it became “Count the Hakuna Matata shirt.” I wasn’t able to start my Ramones shirt count until day two, and I only saw four the whole weekend. What I should have counted were the T-shirts that had skeleton hands screen printed over women’s breasts, because there was one at every turn. I found five different people dressed as Waldo. I think that’s jumped the shark at this point. However, saying something has jumped the shark has also probably jumped the shark.

I killed time around the Unplugged Stage waiting for Bad Cop Bad Cop’s acoustic set to start and spent more time walking around the booths around the area that I had missed the previous day. Popping into the Punk Rock Museum booth, I was able to meet Jim Ruland, co-author of Keith Morris’s My Damage and author of Do What You Want: The Story of Bad Religion and the SST book, Corporate Rock Sucks. I was also able to stop by some of the booths of the many charities being supported during this time. Organizations like End Overdose, To Write Love On Her Arms, and Pass the Bass were very present. There were also independent vendors whose booths had tons of punk parody merch featuring characters from favorite TV shows. This is the evolution of Calvin pissing on things.

Originally billed as Stacey Dee and Linh Le, the set ended up being all four members of Bad Cop Bad Cop. While there wasn’t much for Myra to do outside of backup vocals, but Alex was able to play some lead parts and beef up Stacey’s rhythm parts on some songs. With a new record due out soon, the quartet played a some new songs, including the latest single “All Together Now” and “Straight out of Detox,” but also made room for older songs like “Broken” and “Pursuit of Liberty.” Maybe not the ideal way to see them for the first time, but cool none the less.

After Bad Cop Bad Cop, we found some shade at a tree near the Rex Stage and waited for Slaughterhouse. This was my second time seeing them, and out of the newer bands I discovered last year, I think Slaughterhouse is definitely one of my favorites. While they stayed away from most of their early stuff, they did play songs off their latest EP, Sick and Tired, including the title track and their cover of Black Flag’s “My War.” Slaughterhouse played a super energetic set. While initially it felt as if they were almost a gothier band, their pivot to more traditional LA hardcore punk rock still makes them an exciting band. Noticeably absent was lead singer Meriel O’Connor. Bass player Eddie Cairns had mentioned they were in a bit of a pickle, but didn’t want to cancel shows. While Meriel’s fill in did a great job, here’s hoping they don’t emulate Black Flag too much and go through more singers.

Next, it was back to the Unplugged Stage to catch an acoustic set from Goldfinger‘s John Feldmann with help from guitarist Philip Sneed. Opening with a stripped-down version of Bob Marley’s Redemption Song, John’s six-song set was a nice late addition to the day. Given Feldmann’s status as not only the frontman of Goldfinger but also as a record producer, he’s gotten to work with some pretty big bands. Which is why it was a bit of a surprise when he included Blink-182’s “Bored to Death.” John also made room for Goldfinger classics “Mable” and “Superman,” and ended the set with Nena’s “99 Red Balloons.” This felt special, and while I wish I didn’t have to miss the proper Goldfinger set, this was a pretty cool thing to see in a pinch.

Having missed Dance Hall Crashers, I needed to get more ska sets in, which means The Interrupters were definitely not to be missed. No matter what venue I have seen them in, they are always the most energetic on stage. Aimee Interrupter and the Bivona brothers are always moving and always having fun. While we’ve reached the point with the band where they definitely have their hits, the Interrupters played a set that was a great representation of their body of work, spanning their almost fifteen years of performing.

I’m pretty sure this was my first Dropkick Murphys set, and it was not what I was expecting in a good way. Given the long history of the band, I’m not sure why it’s taken this long to see them, but I was upset that it had. I used to listen to Do Or Die a lot when I first did, so I was happy to hear them play “Barroom Hero,” “Finnegan’s Wake,” and “Skinhead on the MBTA.” The band opened with “The Boys Are Back” with the crowd singing along. The Dropkick Murphys have been critical of the current administration during their sets, and Sunday’s was no exception, dedicating “First Class Loser” to the president. It’s not a Dropkick Murphys set without “I’m Shipping Up to Boston,” but the real treat was them closing their set with the song “Big Man” about Pennywise guitarist, Fletcher Dragge. The big man himself joined the band on stage for a fitting closing song for one of the Warped Tour’s living legends.

Worse than Juggalos and Sublime fans for me are 311 fans. I was forced to see 311 when our group had gotten split up in the middle of the Dropkick Murphys’ set. I recognized the songs after hearing them ad nauseam in high school through friends. If I have to be fair, they were really good at playing songs I really don’t like, but the screen behind them with ever-changing graphics looked like recycled Winamp visualizers reacting to mediocre music. They were given entirely too much time for their set. 

This weekend, I learned that it’s the sun that will kill me, not the walking. Even after walking close to 30,000 steps between a two-day music festival, I have been able to bounce back pretty fast as long as I get a full night of sleep, which wasn’t hard at all after the last couple of days. 

As I write this, my wife just informed me that they’re already selling presale tickets for Warped Tour 2026 and wants to know if I want to go. I can’t say I do. My biggest complaint is that the bands should have been divided better. Either keep it one day or break it up with punk rock and ska bands one day and emo and pop punk another. Give the option of buying either one day or both. I understand wanting to keep the spirit of the original, but this iteration is a different beast than its original incarnation.

I feel like this iteration of the Warped Tour was similar to what it’s like going to Disneyland, now. When I was a kid, you could get through the park in a day. You could hit everything you wanted for the most part, unless there was a new ride, which always took forever, but now it’s just a mess. Somewhere along the way, it became about filling spaces with consumers rather than things for consumers.

I can’t blame the bands for wanting to play, and I can’t blame them for wanting to get paid what they deserved. A lot of these bands weren’t nearly as big as they were twenty or thirty years ago. It was easy to sell a thirty-dollar ticket and make it feasible for everything. While food vending was in its infancy with ridiculous fair food, giving more variety beyond hot dogs and popcorn, it has evolved into this amorphous thing where proprietors do nothing, but double down on who can give the most palpitations, but I digress.

Warped Tour was special for a multitude of reasons, most of which weren’t on display for its two dates. I love this music and the community punk rock brings, but this felt off. The original brought so many good things. I’m optimistic that they’ll work these kinks out, but until then it’s just another music fest.