I had the privilege of attending not one, but two dates on Warped Tour’s last ever U.S. tour. For those of you who don’t know, Warped Tour was created by Kevin Lyman back in the summer of 1995, launched the careers of several Alternative Rock bands, such as My Chemical Romance, Panic! At the Disco, and Blink-182. For having grown up in the “Warped Era”, this year was my first year attending the festival. The first show I went to was courtesy of my cousin and her fiance in Darien Lake, New York. The second (and final) show I went to, was on a whim in Tampa to celebrate getting my dream internship. What differed in Tampa was I went by myself. I managed to learn a lot trying to navigate the venue space using only a map and my judgment. By the end of the night, I was so glad I had the freedom I did, and I was glad for four main reasons:
1. You don’t have to argue with your friends on what bands you’re going to go see
I know literally the whole idea of a concert festival is to go with your best friends and make memories that will last a lifetime. But hear me out, I didn’t have to sit there and argue over who had to sacrifice not seeing their favorite band if the two overlapped.
2. You get to make new friends
I’m usually pretty good at striking up conversations with random people I’ll never see again, especially if they like the same music as I do. I met like six new people just seat-hopping in the amphitheater. But the best friends you meet are the ones who are also trying to avoid getting kicked in the face by crowd surfers that people don’t want to hold up anymore.
3. You don’t have to move as much
Now, I’ll probably get attacked for saying this, but my least favorite part about Warped Tour (or any festival for that matter), is having to move from stage to stage just to see the bands you want and having to fight crowds to get a decent picture. In Tampa, the two main stages were actually on the same stage (Journey’s Right and Left Foot stages). So literally all I had to do was move up a few rows each performance until I was at the barrier. Considering how hot it was out that day, and the amphitheater stage was covered, I’d consider that a win in my book.
4. No one judges you for crying
I pride myself on being an ugly crier, especially at a band’s final show. So to know that everyone is doing the same thing as you is comforting to me.
So Warped Tour, thank you for the memories. For letting me feel accepted by complete strangers. And for letting me strain my vocal chords one more time this summer.