Vans Warped Tour Returns to St. Louis for 20th Anniversary

This summer has gone by as fast as it came. People from St. Louis passes their time by attending concerts such as the Fall Out Boy and Paramore concert, One Republic, or The Fray at the St. Louis Fair. On July 2, the Vans Warped Tour celebrated its twentieth year by coming to St. Louis with popular acts such as Lionize, The Maine, Echosmith and Real Friends.

“I feel honored to be a part of anything that is in its reflection moment. It is amazing. It’s a milestone to be recognized by production people who bring the bands on the tour; to be recognized as a band that they wanted back. I think it feels great,” said Nate Bergman, lead singer of jazz-rock band Lionize.

“[Vans Warped Tour] has been pretty awesome so far. It hasn’t been too hot so far,” said Garrett Nickelsen, bass guitar player from The Maine.

The bands at Warped Tour played a different time each night of the tour in different cities so the crowd reacted differently each time. For some bands this is their second time coming back to Warped Tour.

“It feels pretty amazing to be back on [Vans Warped Tour]. I don’t what to expect because it’s been so long I wasn’t sure how the reaction would be or what type of people would come watch us. We were doing our own thing for a while. It’s actually been incredible,” said Pat Kirch, drummer for the Maine .

Vans Warped Tour was an all-day event held at Verizon Amphitheater where fans and band members could listen to other bands and interact with people who also liked the same bands as them.

“My three favorite bands on tour have been Watsky, Wax, and K.Flay and they’re all hip hop artists and they’re amazing. K.Flay is incredible. Plague Vendor are cool. Their bass line is great and Anberlin is a band that we get to watch pretty much every day. They just crush, and Bad Rabbits are super fun,”  said Bergman.

Junior Matt Balentine said, “[Vans Warped Tour] was amazing. I had the experience of my life.”

Warped Tour lets bands open up to certain people that who wouldn’t listen to them on a regular basis. The tour lets people explore different options other than the usual mainstream music they usually are given.

“Being back at [Vans Warped Tour] feels like I never went back. It is a very long tour and it’s a very fun tour. Everyone out here is pretty cool. I feel like when a person watches a set of ours, during the first two songs, the [audience] kind of had their arms crossed and they were just turned off. But after the second song, they were starting to get into it. People were starting to have fun. I think that’s the whole point of playing music: you can have fun. Rock and roll should be fun. Not everything has to be serious, not everything has to be sad, and not everything has to be about a girl or your parents being mean to you. I think there is a lot room to be fun. Music should be an escape. When someone is watching a Lionize set, I think they don’t to worry too much. Thirty minutes on our set a person is going to have a good time,” said Bergman.

By Brianne Lewis, Ad Manager and Entertainment Editor