Vans Warped Tour 2018: The Final Cross Country Tour
All I can say is WOW.
Warped Tour was literally the best day ever. Ever since I found out about Warped Tour I knew I had to go, but I can't believe I waited this long. I truly can't stop raving over the day and how much fun I had. With that being said, get ready for my day in the life at Warped Tour (and it's a long one, so you better take a seat)!
We bought our tickets instantaneously after they announced that this was the final cross country Warped Tour. My dad was very happy to go with me because he is my go-to concert buddy, of course. He was actually happy to see a metal band he's heard of called Unearth, too. I was literally more excited for Warped Tour than my own high school graduation, and rightfully so. Ever since we bought the tickets, I started watching Warped Survival Guides, How to Waterproof Your Makeup, and Dos and Don'ts of Warped in order to prepare myself for something I had never done before. My priority at Warped was seeing all four bands that I was there to see: The Maine, Waterparks, With Confidence, and Palaye Royale. This could have been very difficult because they change the set times for everybody every day of the tour. Whoever makes the schedule was really looking out for me that day, because I was able to see all of them without any of their sets overlapping, and my dad was able to see Unearth.
My dad and I got to Dos Equis Pavilion around 10:15, and doors were technically supposed to open until 11:00, but we only waited around 20-30 minutes until we got into one part of the venue that was open. While waiting in line, we saw a few different signs with set times, so I made sure to write it down on my hand until further notice. We bought our schedule (and I went to
the bathroom) and toured around the part of the venue we could see. At 11:00, we walked in and we saw THE schedule. The one and only blow up schedule only seen on Warped Tour. Snapped a picture, posted it on my Instagram story, and headed my way into the coolest thing ever.
We did all of our merch buying and meet and greet prepping within the first hour before With Confidence's set at 11:40. We got our Warped Tour tee shirts and drawstring bag, found the CoolGear Hydration Station, and got my meet and greet wristband/ticket for With Confidence and Waterparks.
With Confidence was our first set of the day at the Owly.FM stage, and honestly a great start to my first Warped Tour! I’ve been a fan of With Confidence for about 2 and a half years now, and every time they’ve come to Dallas, I’ve missed them, so I was determined to see them on Warped. At first, they were having a problem with Jayden's bass, and then during the next song, the inflatable top of the stage started to fall down onto the stage. Eventually, it was just Josh, the drummer, and Jayden singing, but it was so fun because he was in the crowd and everyone was screaming the lyrics. Since they had some technical difficulties, their set got cut short, but I think only by a song or two.
After With Confidence, we had about two hours until our next thing, which was my meet and great with Waterparks. We took this two-hour break to go to the bathroom, snack and fill up our water bottles, and of course, listen to some awesome music! We wandered around the venue and would sit and listen to about 10 minutes of any band that was playing. We listened to a band or two in the pavilion, and a little bit of some metal at the Mutant stages, and another band at the Owly.FM stage, which is where we spent most of our day. We went to the M&G line for Waterparks at about 2 so I could get a good spot in line, and about 10 minutes into standing in line, it started to rain. Luckily, it was a pretty light sun shower with heavier raindrops; it was the full Warped weather experience, with sun in the morning, rain in the afternoon, and a cool evening.
The boys in Waterparks, Awsten, Geoff, and Otto, were so sweet. When it was my turn, I hugged all three of them, and asked them how their day was, and told them they were one of the main bands I was there to meet and see perform, and that I had to show my loyalties, of course. I didn’t really have anything for them to sign, so I asked them to sign my ticket on my lanyard, and as they signed, I told Awsten how much I enjoyed his podcast (Awsten + Travis’s Slumber Party) and I used to listen to it on my way to school, which was very inappropriate but still pretty funny to listen to. We took our picture - which I think it is pretty dang cute, as you can see above - and I thanked them and said goodbye to them. The girl running the booth really hooked me up with the picture, because she took around 40 pictures during the time I talked to them, and my dad took a video of me meeting them.
The next thing we had on our to-do list was a m&g with With Confidence, but since we thought it was going to rain again, we headed to the pavilion for a little bit until around 3:30 to get in line. Again, it started to rain but this time it really was just a sprinkle, but it lasted for maybe 45 minutes as we stood in line for With Confidence. Since I was just waiting in line, my dad went to watch Unearth while I stood in line and met up with me before the Waterparks set. The m&g with With Confidence was right across from the Journey’s Left Foot stage, so I didn’t have far to go once I was done, and if I still stood in line, I wouldn’t miss any of Waterparks’ set. Since my dad wasn’t standing with me, I talked to the girl next to me about who she was there to see and how cute we thought the band was, but unfortunately I didn’t get her name (so if you’re reading this girl in the With Confidence line, it was nice to meet you!). We stuck together in the line and she was very nice and let me go before her to meet them since she was a little nervous. Jayden, Ini, and Josh of With Confidence were also so nice. I asked them how their day was going, and told them how much I loved their set and I had been desperate to see them for so long. and they asked, “Even with all the technicalities?” And I said yes! Sometimes your mishaps end up being really fun. Again, didn’t have anything for them to sign, so they signed my lanyard with the download of their new album coming out next month (Love and Loathing, August 10th, check ‘em out).
We took our picture and I said goodbye, and I waited for the girl behind me as she met them just so she wouldn’t be alone until she found her friends. We walked over to the Journey’s Left Foot Stage together with a few minutes to spare before Waterparks started, and my dad found me just in time.
I had seen Waterparks before last summer when they toured with All Time Low, so my intention was that if their set was during someone else’s I hadn’t seen before, I wouldn’t go. Again, I was so lucky that none of the bands overlapped, and since I had met them earlier in the day, I figured I should probably go to their set, too. It was super fun, and they’re just a really fun band to watch, mainly because Awsten, their frontman, is kind of insane. In a good way. I was towards the back of the crowd, and it was a pretty big one, so I was getting pretty excited and probably yelling in people’s ears around people who most likely weren’t hardcore Waterparks fans. Their set was an odd mix of songs, about half of them from their new record, Entertainment, that came out earlier this year, two from their previous album Double Dare, and I think one song from their EP, Cluster.
At many other locations of Warped Tour, the Journey’s Left and Right Foot stages are right next to each other and the set times are staggered between the two stages so when one band is done playing on one stage, the other band starts pretty soon after that on the other stage. Since Dos Equis Pavilion had an amphitheater, they decided to make use of it and have the Right Foot Stage there, and the Left Foot stage on the complete other side of the venue. Why does this matter, you might ask? Waterparks played at 4:45 on the Left Foot Stage and The Maine would be playing at 5:15 on the Right Foot stage. You do the math. I had to book it.
According to my dad, he’s never seen me move faster than I did trying to get from Waterparks to The Maine. I was swerving through people and walking twice the speed anyone around me was walking, and my dad would occasionally have to run to keep up with me. I think I got to the amphitheater in about three minutes, or maybe 2 and a half. I got to the amphitheater in the middle of either the first or second song of The Maine, so didn’t miss too much. Now The Maine’s set was AMAZING. I started actively listening to The Maine within the last few months but I was familiar with them before that. Aesthetically, they are very appealing, because they branded themselves this year with “the summer of red” like their red acoustic album that came out this summer, Less Noise. Their march tent, their signs, their instruments and even what they were wearing - All red. They played a lot of songs I was familiar with (I currently have only listened to their last two albums), and they were songs I really enjoy and have even covered. What was really special was that, to my understanding, during one song every day on Warped they bring an audience member to sing with them. Our audience member was named Dylan, and him and the frontman, John, sang the lyrics loud and proud, leading the crowd in “GIRLS DO WHAT THEY WANT, BOYS DO WHAT THEY CAN”. It was just such a good set, and I bought their most recent albums. Lovely Little Lonely and Less Noise for five dollars at their merch tent. Five dollars for two CDs. You can’t get a better deal than that!
We had one last set planned out for that day, Palaye Royale, but they were at the very last set time for the day and we had about two hours to kill, again. My dad and I split a pizza, and we were able to eat in peace on the other side of the Pavilion, where there was basically nobody except a few concertgoers hanging out away from all the people. I was able to charge my phone in an outlet, and we sat and hydrated, and listened from a distance of an acoustic set from Waterparks. We walked back to where the main stages were and scoped out a few different merch tents and stages. We even made it for a bit of Bowling for Soup, which all I wanted to hear from them was the Phineas and Ferb theme song, so lucky for me they played it right when we walked up, and then we walked away. We spent the next 30-40 minutes at the Owly.FM stage, since that was where Palaye Royale would be, so we ended up watching half of Grayscale’s set and all of Chase Atlantic’s set.
I actually just started listening to Palaye Royale a little over two months ago, so I associate them and their album Boom Boom Room: Side A, with the last few weeks of high school/my senior year. When I found out about them, I knew they were for me because they’re a rock band who loves art and fashion, so definitely my type of people. They have quite the dramatic flair, they even had a banner drop in front of them before they played. They were such a good end to the night, and they had quite a big crowd at a smaller stage. Their frontman, Remington, loved to get into the crowd, and he did so when they covered My Chemical Romance’s “Teenagers”, which was absolutely great. He also crowd surfed, but with a Palaye Royale pool float, and climbed the stage’s frame and hung completely upside down. To be honest, I definitely stared at their guitarist, Sebastian, for a long time. He was very attractive.
So just in case you skipped over all of this post and you’re reading this last paragraph, Warped Tour has definitely been one of my favorite concert-going experiences I’ve ever had. Although I doubt this might apply to anyone who reads this, you still have about two weeks to get in on the fun and see Warped Tour (all Texas dates have already happened)! Warped is such a unique tour because it gives bands and fans a chance to see and meet so many different people who love music. As sad as I am to see it go, I’m truly thankful I got to experience it. So thank you, Kevin Lyman, for a truly unforgettable day in my life. It honestly went so perfect for me, I don’t think I would want to change a single thing about it.
I hope you enjoyed reading my experience at the final Vans Warped Tour, it was truly an unforgettable day! You can also keep up with all of my concert going on my Instagram highlights if you want to see more. Until then, thanks for stopping by Rachel’s Records, hope to see you again sometime! x