The 18th annual Warped Tour is bouncing back

The improved health of the Warped Tour is reflected in the ticket sales for the past three years. In its glory years, the tour usually moved about 600,000 tickets. That number, according to Lyman, dipped to 480,000 in 2010.

“Last year we were back up over 500,000,” he said. “And this year I think we’re going to be better than that, even.”

That sort of popularity is a big reason why young bands remain eager to play Warped. It’s the only modern rock tour playing large outdoor venues in the summer, and it’s about the only tour where bands can be discovered by large numbers of fans that wouldn’t see them otherwise.

“It would be impossible to do a venue tour in the summer,” said Levi Benton, frontman of Miss May I. “I think that’s why usually many bands lay low in the
summertime, let the festivals die out and then start up [in the fall].”          

Miss May I played a side stage last summer on Warped and drew well, which is one reason he thinks his band landed a main stage slot this year. Benton hopes to stir up an even bigger fuss this year.

“We drew a ridiculous amount of kids, just because we made them do stupid stuff,” Benton said. “They always had rules like no circle pits, no crowd surfing and stuff. So we just changed up. We’d call it a marathon pit, and we’d pick two tents on Warped tour and tell them to run around those tents. And then I’d stand on the speakers and tell them to come up and give me a high five, so the kids would have to crowd surf to give me a high five, just do crazy stuff. Main stage is twice as many kids, so it will be nuts.”

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