By Holly Fertsch
Vans Warped Tour, an annual cross-country punk-rock music festival, commemorated it’s 25th year anniversary with a three-stop tour. One of those stops was the Atlantic City beach, the only East Coast stop of the 2019 tour. This past weekend, from June 29-30, approximately 60,000 punks descended upon AC to party, headbang, and watch their favorite bands perform. I was lucky to count myself among them, and checked out the concerts myself on Sunday, the final date of the two-day festival.
The line to get in stretched up the boardwalk. I spoke to Samantha Capofarri and Mike Morales as I waited to get in. They drove up to AC from Florida, and this was their sixth Warped Tour they had attended. They shared with me how a festival this long-running had adapted to entertain both a new generation of fans and the fans who had been coming since the beginning. As I walked around the festival, I saw definite markers of youth culture. In fact, Warped Tour even boasts of having a “reverse daycare,” a place where parents accompanying their punk teens can hang out as their children attend concerts. However, Warped Tour also brought back bands who had been coming since the beginning. Legendary bands like Anti-Flag, The Offspring, and Blink-182 headlined the festival. I saw plenty of fans, both young and old, rocking out to heavy music that never grew old.
Beyond the headliners, Warped Tour has often features smaller bands and up-and-coming artists that play on the other side of the venue. While Blink-182 and The Offspring did not disappoint, one of my favorite acts I saw there was a lesser-known band called Keep Flying. I hadn’t heard of them before seeing them perform, but left a fan. The eclectic band featured a trumpeter that would skip around the stage and pretend to play his instrument like a guitar. I was highly entertained, and was reminded that one of the reasons I like punk music is the unbridled energy. I also loved watching the skateboarding expo. Vans Warped Tour maintains a deliberate connection to skate culture. A ramp was set up in the middle of the beach, and I was extremely impressed by the stunts I saw. There were also wrestling and motocross expos throughout the day. I found that no matter where I was in the venue, there was always something to see.
The night concluded with fans crowding in front of the main stage to witness Blink-182 close out the festival. People crowdsurfed in front of me, and danced in the ocean behind me. As the night ended, I found myself hoping that this wouldn’t be the last Warped Tour I got to see. I wasn’t alone in this feeling: the crowd chanted “bring it back!” as the band closed their set. Meaning, bring back Warped Tour next year. Whether our wish will be granted remains to be seen, but Atlantic City and Vans Warped Tour should be proud of accomplishing a festival that left attendees only wanting more.
