Reflecting on 25 Years of The Vans Warped Tour

I hold this blog post so near and dear to my heart that I don't even know where to begin.

Warped 25th Anniversary in Mountain View, CA

I attended the Vans Warped Tour 25th Anniversary event in Mountain View, CA on July 20-21, 2019. As far as we know, this is the last Warped Tour event that will ever happen. So I want to take you through my personal history with Warped Tour and give you a recap of the event as a way of paying homage to the impact it made in my life over the years.

It all started in my living room in 2008 when I was working on a group project with a classmate and he told me about Warped Tour. He described the mosh pits and introduced me to heavier music and that's when the infatuation began. Breathe Carolina, Bring Me The Horizon, Hey Monday, The Cab...you name it, I loved it. My mom thought it sounded dangerous but I was determined to go anyway. After two years of persistent nagging, I finally had the chance to attend my first Warped Tour in 2010.

Those poor converse. Taken at Warped Tour 2011.

In preparation for the show I tuned in to Tiffany Mink's pit blogs, dyed red streaks in my hair, and scribbled all over my favorite pair of converse (sorry Vans). I did my first interviews with Hey Monday and The Summer Set for Rock Forever Magazine in the Warped Tour press area at Vinoy Park in St Petersburg. I didn't realize it at the time, but this was the beginning of an era in my life.

I was such a fan of the pit blogs, that I even took a picture with Tiffany Mink (the 2010 pit reporter) at my first Warped Tour

I felt rebellious and free in all the right ways. I walked through the maze of tents and stages with my mouth hanging open in awe. It was a sensory overload of everything I adored. I knew I found a place to have fun, feel accepted, and to be as expressive and loud as I wanted.

I was a misfit in high school and I was relentlessly bullied for the band posters in my locker and the music I listened to. Up until my first Warped Tour, I didn't know it was possible to be surrounded by hundreds of people who felt the same way: isolated, weird, misunderstood, repressed, and unique. This festival gave me a family and a home that felt more comfortable than my own house.

...yikes.

Flash forward to December 2014. By this point I was attending Warped Tour every year in multiple cities, I ran a successful youtube channel with band interviews, and I had my eye on my dream job: to become the Warped Tour Pit Reporter. I submitted an application video (embedded below to relive the embarrassment haha) and spent every waking moment thinking about the position. After a long process of fan voting and promoting, I landed it! So that was the start of the adventure that would change the trajectory of my life forever.

In June 2015 I embarked on my first Warped Tour. I was fresh faced and naive to the touring lifestyle. My suitcase was outrageously overpacked and I lugged it onto the bus where I was greeted by my new family. It was my first time traveling alone and it felt like I had jumped off of a metaphorical cliff. That summer I met some of my best friends, found love for the first time, challenge myself beyond my limits, and learned a lot of vital life lessons. I was invited back as the Pit Reporter in 2016 (and miraculously, that was the first time they ever had the same reporter two years in a row) so the adventure continued. I ended up working for PETA, Blackcraft, and Monster for the next few years after that.

I became the girl known for running around with my camera and capturing the energy of the crowds in each city. I interviewed every band, every sponsor, and every nonprofit for 2 years straight. The parking lots were my playground and my safe haven. Every year I started and ended the summers feeling like a different person. I would come home stronger, wiser, and better than before. Touring with Warped Tour is like a punk rock summer camp and boot camp all in one. That is why I truly wouldn't be who I am today without those experiences.

The beauty of the Pit Blogs is that they are a way for anyone to experience Warped Tour even if they couldn't attend. That's why I fell in love with them in 2010 and was honored to continue the legacy for so many years.

Now I realize that those videos are also like my personal video diaries to document my time on the tour. Everyone I love is in at least one of the video blogs and they all hold a special place in my heart. I got to share the festival from my perspective and I made sure everyone got recognized for their hard work and contributions. We will always be able to look back on the videos fondly and remember our summers on the road together.

With that being said, that brings me to the Warped Tour 25th Anniversary event in Mountain View, CA on June 20-21st, 2019. It was our last chance to celebrate the amazing festival on a large scale at one of my favorite venues: Shoreline Amphitheater. It is rare to have everyone from the tour in one place and after an entire summer apart, we didn't take a single moment for granted. We danced, sang, cried, laughed, and screamed of excitement. I couldn't peel the smile off my face for the entire weekend and I felt an overwhelming sense of gratitude for my chosen tour family. Below is a recap video blog of the entire weekend!

Thank you Warped Tour for giving me a space to blossom into the person I wanted to be rather than the person everyone told me I should be. Thank you for trusting me to represent the tour and immortalize the legacy in the video blogs for 2015, 2016, and 2018. Every moment spent in the rain, mud, and heat was a labor of love and it is a void that will never be filled or replaced by anything else.

I want to give a shoutout a few of the people who impacted my life dramatically over the last few years so thank you to: Kevin Lyman, Julie Grant, Paul Kersh, Lisa Brownlee, Mona Whetzel, Sabreen Lyman, Sierra Lyman, Shae Ryan, Tatiana Mieux, Jake Simons, Lisa Johnson, Brie McKay, Becca White, Bryce Hall, Ashley Osborn, Olivia Glynn, Franny Lopez, Danielle Mardahl, Bethany Watson, Sam Crum, Alex March, Frank Fanelli, Ronnie Ish, Luis Velez, Andrew Conrad, Bradley Walden, The Monster Crew (Taylor, Mykey, Harry, Caleb), Davey Muise, Chris Cerulli, Kate Clodfleter, Fish, Kenny Leath, Damon Fizzy, Vince Dwyer, Junior Mojica, Tiffany Mink, Brian Walsh, Amanda Kim, Elijah Witt, Zakk Sandler, Ben Tourkantonis, Nick Major, the entire Set It Off crew (Cody, Maxx, Dan, Zach), Lucas Hand, Brian Zawacki, Jawn Rocha, Zakk Autrey, Jake Garland, Ash Wilson, Kelen Capener, Jewel Payne, Riley Buccola, Kyle Todd, Tim Cayem, Dom Mackie, Jimmy Boswell, Connor Larowe, Britt Boyce, Pat Galante, Corrin Campbell, Devin Oliver, Natalie Bisignano, Steph Mirsky, Maggie Cunin, Brock Bentley, Adam Peters, Hannah Peterson, Justin Morrow, the entire Waterparks crew (Awsten, Geoff, and Otto), Kris Pasos, Jon Kluchartis, Jenn Curtis, Zoe Bonderman, Ryan Seaman, AJ Stortz, Charlie Mahoney, Beebs, Maz Chiong, Ryan Sofie, Vassar, Bobby Joffred, John James Ryan, Christian Gonzalez, Ollie Harries, Devin Oliver, and Karla Bossenberry.

If your name is on this list it's because you made a lasting positive impact on my life and Warped Tour brought us together. It's a long list and I know I am still missing some names...but as you can see, this is a big family full of talent and love and we will stick together for many years to come. It only takes a few weeks to create a lifetime of friendships.

Forever Warped.