The smell of cigarettes, sweat and sunscreen filled the air as people lined up to see their favorite musicians and dance, or in some cases mosh, to their heart’s desire. Warped Tour is a unique community of people coming together for the love of music. Despite the heat, fans showed up in droves, and bands jumped at the opportunity to come for the first time or again. Silverstein singer Shane Told said he and has been band have been performing about every other year or so.
Many musicians playing Warped Tour, like Told, have memories of attending when they were younger. Told attended his first Warpeded Tour as a fan back in 1997, and he is honored to have the opportunity to play.
The Fantastic Plastics member Miranda Plastic said,“It’s our first Warped Tour ever and the biggest thing we’ve done as a band.” The way Warped Tour is set up gives the audience the chance to discover new music, so up-and-coming bands have a high possibility of growing their fan base.
Like the musicians, the audience was also a mix of young and old, parents, teens, young kids, grandparents, first timers and repeat customers. The eclectic bunch of performers and attendees created a collective with a common goal — to rock on.
The grounds were filled with booths of merchandise, stages and tents for advocacy groups such as peta2. The moving city was only on their sixth show, and they had 34 more to go to hit that 40 mark. Bands are amazed at how hard the crew works to accomplish tearing down and setting up in different cities within a 12 hour period.
“When you are tired and overheating in Phoenix or Vegas, you look around and the crew who’ve been at it since 6 a.m., and we are getting out of here at 8 p.m., they’re going to be here another two hours. They don’t get to go in the air conditioned bit with the food,” said Sonic Boom Six singer, Laila Khan, who is originally from London, England.
Each year, Warped Tour has something a little
different to offer.
“I like the lineup this year, they’ve gone a little bit heavier than past versions of the tour,” said Matt Byrne, drummer for metalcore band Hatebreed.
Warped Tour runs like a well-oiled machine, just like creator Kevin Lyman intended. Lyman individually selects all the bands to pull the music festival together. He was lovingly called, “the Godfather of Warped Tour,” by Khan, and he was fondly mentioned by many others. Lyman’s vision has brought Warped Tour the success it has had every year since 1995.
The loud music, crowds and crew members all flowing together like a great song made for a great day at the Vans Warped Tour ‘17. Though Salt Lake City is only one of the stops on the long tour, it was a day Utah music fans won’t forget.
