Warped Tour takes gloves off, swings back at artists, schools haters

February 17, 2018

The Warped Tour lineup is set to be announced in a few weeks, but the punk rock summer camp has crushed some lineup rumors from acts including Blink-182, the All-American Rejects, Paramore, My Chemical Romance and more.

One fan took to Twitter to ask for a throwback tour to “GIVE US ORIGINAL MILLENNIALS SOMETHING.”

@VansWarpedTour final tour should be a throwback tour of blink 182, All American rejects, Paramore, Yellowcard (I know they came back a few years ago,but they killed it) and maybe My chemical romance and Say Anything. GIVE US ORIGINAL MILLENNIALS SOMETHING.

— The Ashtray Diaries (@nippslip) January 14, 2018

And the tour had a response for each the acts mentioned:

“Blink-182 we have the same agent & yet nothing.
“All-American Rejects we tried, a band member didn’t want to do it.
“Paramore word on the street is they’re doing their own tour.
“Yellowcard is no longer a band.
“My Chemical Romance not reuniting.
“Say Anything we’ll look into it!”

.@blink182 we have the same agent & yet nothing ��‍♂️@therejects we tried, a band member didn’t want to do it@paramore word on the street is they’re doing their own tour@Yellowcard is no longer a band@MCRofficial not reuniting �� @SayAnythingMuz we’ll look into it! https://t.co/f7zMxDnNkP

— Vans Warped Tour (@VansWarpedTour) February 16, 2018

The post got people talking, and reactions were a bit across the board. All-American Rejects’ Tyson Ritter said the band had agreed to play select dates, and “Warped Tour went full elitist and said ‘nope.'”

In tweets that have since been deleted, the Story So Far’s Kelen Capener called the festival unprofessional for publicly throwing bands and individuals under the bus for not playing the tour and hinting at unannounced engagements, referring to Paramore’s possible—yet unannounced—summer tour.

“With all due respect, you publicly threw bands and individuals under the bus for not playing the tour, and hinted at unannounced engagements. All insider information, all on a company account. That’s unprofessional,” Capener tweeted.

shall we start to count the times our lineup was leaked from insider information ….and this coming from the band that posted weed during an IG takeover on our account when we specifically asked not to

— Vans Warped Tour (@VansWarpedTour) February 17, 2018

“This is a bad look. Someone leaking your lineup does not entitle you to the same, you should strive to be above that. Why some negligible gaff our band made on an IG takeover is relevant to this, I’m unsure,” Capener tweeted.

what you call a gaff, we considered unprofessional, that is how this is relevant – everything is perspective / relative. we can agree to disagree on this one, we still think you are all great people

— Vans Warped Tour (@VansWarpedTour) February 17, 2018

“Our takeover was a liability the company assumed the moment we were given the login. If it’s a personal matter, we could have been more respectful in how we operated; we simply don’t shoulder as big a burden of professionalism as this brand. We appreciate our Warped family, lots,” Capener tweeted.

Fans had reactions as well, calling the festival unprofessional for dropping specific names, with others saying that the move was “punk rock.”

This is the most unprofessional thing I have ever seen on this website

— Rosalind Theresa (@rosovrboard) February 16, 2018

how? We’ve had to watch for YEARS of fans saying we suck, we can’t book a lineup, we’re idiots. We stayed silent let people trash us but squashing rumors about bands no playing the tour is unprofessional?

— Vans Warped Tour (@VansWarpedTour) February 17, 2018

Should have just said that you asked and the bands couldn’t do it. Kind of rude to put bands on the spot like this.

Nonetheless, hopefully this lineup will be amazing because previous years have been, well, lackluster.

— » ℓιz « (@LizReszke) February 17, 2018

Well at least you guys are trying. Thanks for listening to the fans. This years Warped will be special either way��

— Sarah Reszke (@mcr_saved_us) February 17, 2018

This is so punk rock ��

— . (@GuitarGuy241) February 17, 2018

hats off for this tweet, it achieved the true goal.
everyone is talking about warped tour, just before you drop your line up. great marketing. ��
cant wait for my first ever warped tour this summer regardless of the line up.

— stephany wilcoxtobin (@SWTeph) February 17, 2018

we wish we could take credit for this as a marketing ploy; literally DID NOT expect this to blow up �� just thought “we might want to manage expectations now that we are getting super close to the lineup announce”

— Vans Warped Tour (@VansWarpedTour) February 17, 2018

But Blessthefall’s Beau Bokan is all about it.

I love this

— Boo Bacon (@beauknows) February 17, 2018

And while this caused quite the discussion, Warped Tour wanted to remind fans that the lineup “isn’t important in the big picture,” encouraging fans to get involved with some of the incredible nonprofits on the tour.

real talk : y’all have a lot of energy and opinions on that lineup post, but that stuff isn’t important in the big picture. if you want to voice your opinions on things that truly matter, please get involved with some of our amazing non profits! https://t.co/K1wzq77v71

— Vans Warped Tour (@VansWarpedTour) February 17, 2018

Of course, it’s also important to remember that the music business is a business—lots of fans have expectations, hopes and dream lineups. But, ultimately, decisions are made based on financial reasons, an act’s availability and more.

Lyman previously shared his appreciation for the bands and fans who have stuck with him throughout the years, and we’re excited to see who rounds off this incredible final chapter of Vans Warped Tour.

Warped Tour will announce its 2018 lineup March 1.

“Forever Warped Bundles” and “Best Day Ever Bundles” are available now. Check out the list of cities and dates below.

Dates:
06/21 – Pomona, CA
06/22 – San Diego, CA
06/23 – Mountain View, CA
06/24 – Ventura, CA
06/26 – Phoenix, AZ
06/29 – Las Vegas, NV
06/30 – Salt Lake City, UT
07/01 – Denver, CO
07/03 – St. Louis, MO
07/05 – Bonner Springs, KS
07/06 – Dallas, TX
07/07 – San Antonio, TX
07/08 – Houston, TX
07/10 – Nashville, TN
07/12 – Virginia Beach, VA
07/13 – Camden, NJ
07/14 – Holmdel, NJ
07/15 – Hartford, CT
07/16 – Pittsburgh, PA
07/17 – Toronto, ON, CND
07/18 – Cuyahogo Falls, OH
07/19 – Cincinnati, OH
07/20 – Detroit, MI
07/21 – Chicago, IL
07/22 – Minneapolis, MN
07/23 – Milwaukee, WI
07/24 – Indianapolis, IN
07/25 – Darien Center, NY
07/26 – Scranton, PA
07/27 – Mansfield, MA
07/28 – Wantagh, NY
07/29 – Columbia, MD
07/31 – Atlanta, GA
08/02 – Charlotte, NC
08/03 – Orlando, FL
08/04 – Tampa, FL
08/05 – West Palm Beach, FL