When the Warped Tour kicked off in California this past Thursday, Vans wearing concert-goers were pumped despite knowing this would be their last. The tour, which began in 1995, is the largest traveling music festival in the US, and has drawn crowds of teens and adults to its shows for decades with the allure of dozens of punk and metal bands for an affordable ticket price right in their own backyard.The tour has long been a place for punk fans to come together to discover new artists, mosh to their favorite ones and crowd surf to their heart’s content. I was at the Randall’s Island show in New York City back in the summer of 2000 and I have nothing but fond memories including losing my mind when a friend of a friend got invited on stage to play guitar with Green Day, and blowing dirt out of my nose for days afterward from all the dust kicked up from moshing.
Photographer Andrew Cullen was at Friday’s show in San Diego to capture, for the last time, the spirit of the Warped Tour and what it’s meant to the fans, who are left to wonder what will fill the void the end of the tour has caused for punk music lovers like themselves.
Original source: https://www.buzzfeed.com/laurageiser/hardcore-fans-rock-out-one-last-time-at-the-vans-warped-tour.
