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Warped Tour is a touring music and extreme sports festival. The tour is held in venues (generally parking lots or fields upon which the stages and other structures are erected). The BMX/skateboarding shoe manufacturer Vans has sponsored the tour among others every year since 1995 and it is often referred to as the Vans Warped Tour.
Overview
As of the mid-2000s, the Warped Tour has featured as many as 100 bands per show. The bands play for up to 30 minutes over approximately 10 different stages, although the biggest bands generally play the two "Main" stages. A typical day would have bands starting at 11:00am and end at 9:00 p.m. with several bands playing at once. The individual band times and stages where each band play is marked on a large board usually centered in the middle of the venue. The full area is set up to prevent music from one stage disrupting other active stages. One band, by fan vote, is allowed to play ten extra minutes at each show.

Every year there is a "BBQ Band," which, in exchange for the privilege of playing on the tour, must prepare food for the bands and crew for the barbecue which is held most evenings. Past "BBQ Bands" have included Dropkick Murphys and "The Fabulous Rudies". Similarly, one band, Animo (formerly DORK) has been permitted for the past four years to play on the tour in exchange for work on the setup crew.

The tour started as a skate punk, and third wave ska tour, but later began to feature mostly post-hardcore, pop punk, and metalcore acts, but there are also some hardcore punk and street punk bands that still play Warped Tour, as well as older bands that have played the tour numerous times since its inception (Bad Religion, NOFX, etc.)

History
The Automatic on the Vans Warped Tour 2007.
Pepper live at 2007 Vans Warped Tour, in Las Cruces, NM, 12 July 2007.
Amber Pacific, 2007 Vans Warped Tour, Las Cruces, New Mexico.
The Adolescents.
K-os.
New Years Day, performing at Las Cruces, NM during Warped Tour 2007
Parkway Drive in Texas
Pepper, Warped Tour 2007, in Las Cruces, NM, on July 12, 2007.
Warped Tour 2007 in Las Cruces
Tiger Army at Warped Tour 2007 in Virginia Beach.
Forever The Sickest Kids.The Warped Tour was created in 1994 by Kevin Lyman, who got the idea while working on skateboarding shows such as the Vision Skate Escape and Holiday Havoc which included music with skateboarding contests. The Warped name comes from the short-lived Warp Magazine, published by Transworld, which covered surfing, skateboarding, snowboarding, and music.

In 1998, the tour went international, including venues in Australia, Japan, Europe, Canada, and the United States.

In 1999, the tour started off in New Zealand and Australia in the New Year. It then started up again in the United States for the northern hemisphere summer before ending up in Europe.

As well as music, this tour brings many attractions, including a half pipe for skaters and bikers. The tour also features many booths creating a flea market-like atmosphere, having tents for each of the bands to sell merchandise, independent record labels, magazine publishers, non-profit organizations, and sponsors looking to market their products to the tour's audience. Many of the bands will retreat to their tents after their performance in order to meet up with the fans and groupies, and sign autographs which is just another added perk of attending the tour.

The Warped Tour also benefits up-and-coming bands, and those looking to gain more recognition. The tour provides a direct market in order for these bands to obtain or extend their fan base. The bands can set up tent areas and are able to talk with those atteding the tour and sell their merchandise as well as give away promotional freebies.

Various illustrators are contracted each year to design promotional artwork. In 2006, The Vans Warped Tour hired New York's Punk Artist Joe Simko (Sweet Rot) to create all the character designs, Official tour poster, backstage passes and official 2006 logo. Simko's Warped Tour artwork has been attached to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame marketing campaign.

Several backstage VIP passes are placed for auction on eBay, allowing access all summer long. Sponsors are issued a number of "Sponsor" laminate passes or wristbands, and in 2006 and 2007, there were promotions announced, tied to blood donation, which allow access.

The Vans Warped is a sponsor for many organizations. Such as Boarding for Breast Cancer, Unite the United, and One, just to name a few.

Current stages
Warped features several stages, among them

Main Stage (There are two main stages, formerly designated "Main Stage Left" and "Main Stage Right", but in 2007 called "Lucky" and "13". In the past, they have borne other names, such as "Brian" and "Teal").
The Hurley Stage
The Hurley.com Stage
The Smartpunk Stage
The Ernie Ball Stage
Hot Topic/Kevin Says Stage
East Coast Indie Stage (select east coast shows only)
Stage Ocho (Lucky 13 Mini Ramp Stage)
Skullcandy Mix Tent Stage
Family Clothing Stage (outside of the tour each morning)
the old school stage (8/25)
All Girl Skate Jam Stage (8/25)
Jersey Stage (8/5)
Union Stage (8/11-8/12)

Past stages
The Volcom Stage
The Code of The Cutz Stage
The Shiragirl Stage
Vagrant/Major League Baseball Stage
The DIY Stage
The Drive-Thru Records Stage
The stages are usually temporary structures that fold into one or more trailer loads. If the venue is an amphitheatre, the amphitheatre stage is often used--in 2006, the two sides of the amphitheatre stage were often shared between the Volcom and MLB Vagrant stages. This year, amphitheatre stages are shared between the Smartpunk.com and Hurley.com Stages. However, at Cleveland's Tower City Amphitheatre venue, which has a relatively narrow stage, the stage was used for Main Stage Right.

Band conflicts
A few bands have left the tour due to conflicts they had with the tour or with other bands:

The band Guttermouth was supposedly removed from the Warped Tour 2004 for insulting My Chemical Romance. The band later stated that they left themselves due to "that '10 or so' unnamed bands didn't jive with Guttermouth's way of doing business, and in some cases, threatened them with violence."
According to Fat Mike, on the 2006 tour, From First to Last was upset about not being able to play before 2:00pm on the main stage, and refused to play if they were not guaranteed that. From First to Last stated they left the tour due to vocalist Sonny Moore having nodes on his vocal cords.
In 2006 NOFX frontman Fat Mike was making fun of Underoath and their religious beliefs, but emphasised that he befriended Underoath's band members at the start of the tour, had very civilized conversations with various members right up to Underoath's departure. A statement from the band claimed that the members "felt it necessary to take some immediate time to focus on our friendship, as that’s more important than risking it for the sake of touring at this time."
Kevin Lyman acknowledged that on the 2007 tour some of the more seasoned bands were irked by newer bands with rock-star attitudes, and also that there was some tension between punk bands and Christian groups

Criticism
While many punks decry the tour’s rampant commercialism, high concession prices and watered-down music, some defend the changes in the production of the tour through the years. “Warped Tour is a place for teenage kids to go and hear all their favourite bands in one day,” says Rob Pasalic, guitarist for the Saint Alvia Cartel. “It wouldn’t make sense for it to be the same tour in 2007 as it was in 1997. These are the bands that kids like, and the tour is smart enough to grow and adapt to that. You still get bands like Bad Religion playing, so it’s not like it’s lost all its roots.”

Joe Queer of The Queers stated that

"You play music because there’s something inside of you that says you have to play music. Now you get bands like Fall Out Boy that are basically created in the studio. The Warped Tour changed it. I just don’t like that crap. All the guys in the bands remind me of the jocks I hated in high school. To me a punk gig is a small sweaty club with the audience right in your face knocking over the mic stand and boogying off the energy."

Brendan Kelly of The Lawrence Arms said that it kills smaller concert venues, since all the big bands go on one tour together. The band alleges that this also caused The Lawrence Arms to get permanently banned from Warped Tour when Brendan Kelly said this on stage. On The Lawrence Arms 2006 album Oh! Calcutta! there is a song entitled "Warped Summer Extravaganza (Major Excellent)," a reference to the band's experiences on the Warped Tour.

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