For longtime fans of punk and hardcore, today’s announcement of the 2018 Vans Warped Tour lineup is a bit bittersweet. While the lineup is once again chock full of the best bands in pop-punk, metalcore and post-hardcore, it comes with the knowledge that this is the final run for the festival that turned legions of kids into punks. From its early days with stacked skatepunk lineups featuring NOFX, Bad Religion and more to its latter era that turned a focus towards more trendy artists in the aforementioned post-hardcore and metalcore genres, the Vans Warped Tour is an alternative staple. It will seems strange for the summer of 2019 to come without any news of this traveling caravan of motley performers.
The final lineup is yet another solid group of bands, with the most notable being Every Time I Die, Taking Back Sunday, Sum 41, The Used, Underoath, Unearth, Asking Alexandria, All Time Low and Black Veil Brides. Taking Back Sunday recently announced they’ll be headed out on tour with another band that broke big in the mid-00s with unique take on post-hardcore, Coheed and Cambria. The Used were another group to break out during that era, with their most recent release being a live and acoustic record from Los Angeles.
Some fans may be a bit disappointed that the Vans Warped Tour didn’t go fully nostalgic with this lineup, though as was pointed out by the festival’s very-snarky Twitter account, it’s not as easy as hand-picking the bands you want for your festival. Despite the lack of some special requests from the Twitterverse, the festival is filled with plenty of the biggest and brightest names in heavy and fast music, plus plenty of groups who have played the festival in years past. See the full lineup of the festival below.
UPDATE (3/7): According to The PRP, Vans Warped Tour has added Southern California melodic hardcore group Pennywise to select dates. The band adds a bit of the festival’s skatepunk roots to a few dates on its final run. They’ll be playing the Florida dates of the tour from August 2-5. They’re also releasing the appropriately-titled new album Never Gonna Die on 4/20 via their longtime label Epitaph.
UPDATE (3/13): According to The PRP, legendary hardcore band Hatebreed has been added to a pair of dates for the 2018 Vans Warped Tour. They will be appearing at the Camden, NJ show on 7/13 and the Holmdel, NJ show on 7/14.
UPDATE (4/5): According to The PRP, another big name has been added to Warped Tour 2018. This time it is Senses Fail, who will be added to several dates on the traveling punk festival. See below:
06/21 – Pomona, CA – Pomona Fairplex
06/22 – San Diego, CA – Qualcomm Stadium Lot
06/23 – Mountain View, CA – Shoreline Amphitheatre
06/24 – Ventura, CA – Ventura County Fairgrounds
06/28 – Phoenix, AZ – Ak-Chin Pavillion
06/29 – Las Vegas, NV – Downtown Las Vegas Events Center
06/30 – Salt Lake City, UT – USANA Amphitheatre
07/01 – Denver, CO – Pepsi Center
07/03 – St. Louis, MO – Hollywood Casino Amphitheater
07/05 – Bonner Springs, KS – Providence Medical Center Amphitheater
07/06 – Dallas, TX – Starplex Pavilion
07/07 – San Antonio, TX – AT&T Center
07/08 – Houston, TX – NRG Park
07/10 – Nashville, TN – Tennessee State Fairgrounds
07/12 – Virginia Beach, VA – Veterans United Home Loans Amphitheater
07/13 – Camden, NJ – BB&T Pavilion
07/14 – Holmdel, NJ – PNC Bank Arts Center
07/15 – Hartford, CT – Xfinity Theatre
07/16 – Pittsburgh, PA – Keybank Pavilion
07/17 – Toronto, ON – The Flats at Budweiser Stage
07/20 – Detroit, MI – Meadow Brook Amphitheatre
07/21 – Tinley Park, IL – Hollywood Casino Amphitheater
07/24 – Noblesville, IN – Ruoff Home Mortgage Music Center
07/25 – Darien Center, NY – Darien Lake PAC
07/26 – Scranton, PA – The Pavilion at Montage Mountain
07/27 – Mansfield, MA – Xfinity Center
07/28 – Wantagh, NY – Nikon at Jones Beach Amphitheatre
07/29 – Columbia, MD – Merriweather Post Pavilion
07/30 – Charlotte, NC – PNC Music Pavilion
07/31 – Atlanta, GA – Cellairis Amphitheatre
08/02 – Jacksonville, FL – The Old Cypress Lot near Met Park
08/03 – Orlando, FL – Tinker Field
08/04 – Tampa, FL – MidFlorida Credit Union Ampitheater
08/05 – West Palm Beach, FL – Coral Sky Ampitheatre
Photo Credit: Owen Ela
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