Remember when you "couldn't wait for the summer at the Warped Tour?" Us too. It's the end of an era for the Vans Warped tour with their "Final Full Cross Country Tour" coming to Milwaukee on Monday.
Each Thursday morning on Radio Milwaukee, the Journal Sentinel’s Piet Levy and 88Nine’s Jordan Lee talk about the music coming into Milwaukee and the music coming out of Milwaukee on Tap’d In.
Listen to the podcast below to hear us talk about our favorite Warped Tour memories and the void in the youth alternative culture that will be left when its gone.
The Warped Tour has looked very different in Milwaukee over the years. It's been held all the way over by Miller Park, inside/outside the Rave and for the past few years, at the Summerfest grounds. It's been an important and safe space for the youth's counterculture since 1995 through the evolution of punk, pop-punk, emo, metalcore, even some hip-hop and ska. Not to mention, it's had a huge place in the skate scene.
Warped Tour was accessible, traveling across the country to throw an all-ages music festival for everyone. It's made a big impact on the growth of the bands and of all of us who attended. But all good things must come to an end. So, they're calling this summer their "Final Full Cross Country Tour."
We're holding on to the words "full cross country" though. We're hoping that Warped Tour will stay together for the kids in some way in the future, even if it turns into more of a destination-type festival. We can see it transforming into a few regional dates next summer. In which case—Warped, if you're listening, we think the Summerfest grounds would make a perfect home for your Midwest stop.
