Vans Warped Tour to end after next summer
Taking Back Sunday, pictured in Patchogue on July 13, 2017, is one the LI acts that is a veteran of the tour. Credit: Bruce Gilbert
Vans Warped Tour founder Kevin Lyman announced Wednesday that the only major festival still touring will call it quits after next summer’s dates.
For generations of acts — from Joan Jett to Katy Perry, from No Doubt to Long Island’s Taking Back Sunday and Brand New — and the fans who loved them, Warped Tour was “punk rock summer camp,” where everybody involved got a chance to discover something new thanks to Lyman’s booking of dozens of acts for the daylong event. Locally, the festival has been held at the Jones Beach theater and Nassau Coliseum’s parking lot.
“I wanna go have fun,” said Lyman, citing declining attendance and fewer up-and-coming acts interested in participating for wrapping things up after 24 years. “It hasn’t been fun the last few years.”
Lyman said he plans to book bands that “really embraced the Warped Tour lifestyle” for the final year, hoping to sign veteran bands like Less Than Jake and Every Time I Die.
