All Time Low, Avril Lavigne, MGK And More Led What Looked Like An Awesome Warped Tour Revival In Washington DC This Weekend
Photo Credit: Nick Stafford
Photo Credit: Nick Stafford
Vans Warped Tour made its long awaited return this weekend, with its first stop on the 30th anniversary celebration in Washington DC - which could hilariously be overheard on some of the parade broadcasts on Saturday - and I'm not gonna lie, my FOMO was off the charts the second I saw the inflatable schedules come out….
Granted, this wasn’t EXACTLY the Warped Tour we grew up with (as they’re only hitting three cities/weekends in total, so it’s not the full run with cheap tickets it used to be) but it really felt like the effort was put in to pay tribute to what Warped was from afar, and I appreciated that. They had the scattered merch tents all over the place, acoustic sets/signings, the half pipe with skaters, the giant ramps for the Nitro Circus guys to do stunts on bikes and everything….
I've got a couple buddies who went and had a blast despite the rain, and I definitely wish I had gone in hindsight; but I digress.
When we're talking about putting the effort in at Warped Tour, though, I don't think anyone did it better than All Time Low this weekend - and I know, I'm biased, but seriously - watch this set and try to tell me I'm wrong!
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That's how to headline a festival right there - open with the new song that everyone loves, and then play nothing but bangers and collabs from there on out. Constant surprises (from The Paradox to Four Year Strong to I Prevail to Mayday Parade) and a full stage show with cheerleaders and dancers and a marching band; it didn't just feel like any other festival for All Time Low! They went the extra mile! It was definitely "grander" than any set we've ever seen at Warped Tour, but it still carried the spirit of any classic All Time Low show at Warped. Plus, if you're gonna bring it back for the 30th anniversary, why not go bigger and better?!
I was actually just talking to Derek from Mayday Parade about a Warped Tour date he missed in 2008 for his brother's wedding, where Alex from All Time Low filled in for a song or two - and out comes Derek to sing the end of 'Dear Maria' on Saturday night! I felt like it was such a cool full circle moment at the 30th Anniversary of Warped for them to share that stage.
Some of the other headliners included Avril Lavigne, MGK, and Simple Plan - who all looked to have really fun sets as well. Avril had never played Warped before, which just felt wrong, so it was good for everyone to correct that this year - and she brought out the guest stars as well including her ex-husband/Sum 41 frontman Deryck Whibley for 'In Too Deep'….
Warped got some shit for booking MGK as a headliner but it made a lot of sense to me, to be honest. I saw MGK at Warped Tour in 2012 when he wasn't even close to being involved in pop punk yet, and he's since become a superstar/dropped a couple albums that - like it or not - got a lot of people into the genre in the last few years. Plus, people clearly had a blast during his set….
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Some other sets that I heard were great via my friend Aiden: Knuckle Puck (love them), 3oh!3 (Warped Tour STAPLE in my eyes), Boys Like Girls/The Maine (both great interviews on My Mom's Basement), Motion City Soundtrack (legends), Koyo (soon to be legends), and Point North (really unique pop/punk/metal sound). There's already a bunch of videos on YouTube and the Amazon Prime livestream for the main acts are available as well - hopefully they do livestreams for Long Beach/Orlando too! And shoutout to some of the other My Mom's Basement guests who played Warped this weekend: State Champs, Mod Sun, Games We Play, and Girlfriends!
P.S. All Time Low's new single (and the video) is a banger….
Very excited for their next album/tour….