Vans Warped Tour will return to New Orleans for the second year in a row on Wednesday, June 28.
Originally launched as a gathering for punk and alternative rock fans in 1995, the Vans Warped Tour has since diversified its offerings and grown into the largest touring music festival in North America. Acts like Sum 41, Ballyhoo!, Less Than Jake, Reel Big Fish, Pepper and Yellowcard performed at Mardi Gras World this past summer, when the party came to New Orleans for the first time since 2001.
“The crowds at Warped Tour look a lot like the performers. Otherworldly hair colors. Tattoo sleeves. Gauged Ears. Screen-printed shirts that could be bought from the merchandise booths that sprawl the space like an outdoor mall,” Clare Welsh wrote in our 2016 review of the festival. “The singer for Sum 41, Deryck Whibley, must be old by now, but he still has the style and glow of a rock n’ roll Peter Pan. In many ways, going to Warped Tour in my mid-20s made me feel fresh and genuine about music, though I imagine it might exhaust some other older people. The tour is undeniably marketed to a younger demographic with expendable income, though the price of the ticket is amazing considering the number of acts. At forty dollars, it comes out to less than two dollars per band.”
The lineup and location for the New Orleans stop on next year’s Vans Warped Tour have not yet been revealed. If past editions are any indication, the event will feature dozens of bands on multiple stages.