We know D.C. Get our free newsletter to stay in the know.
The Vans Warped Tour is a bit of a strange beast, with something like 90 bands spread out across seven stages over the course of about seven hours. Catering to a teenage demographic means the tour is now made up largely of pop-punk, hardcore, and metalcore bands, with a few hard-edged EDM and hip-hop acts thrown in. Many of these bands are pretty obscure, and spend every non-performing minute of the tour promoting themselves and making new fans.
I sampled from the 90 bands largely at random, but mostly avoided the amphitheater stage and the bigger, better-known groups. My favorite performance was unquestionably the last band I saw, Japanese “future metal” group Crossfaith, who combine tech-metal, prog, electronica, and the most insanely energetic stage presence I witnessed (which is really saying something at a festival like this).
Check out the full gallery for more photos.
This isn't a paywall.
We don't have one. Readers like you keep our work free for everyone to read. If you think that it's important to have high quality local reporting we hope you'll support our work with a monthly contribution.