In 1995, Warped Tour founder Kevin Lyman gathered bands the likes of L7, Deftones, No Doubt, Quicksand, Sick of it All, and more for a music festival featuring several of punk rock's most popular acts of the time. The show went on to become a major success, as music enthusiasts looking for an alternative to festivals like Lollapalooza and Ozzfest ventured from all around to raise their horns in support of the traveling rock show. Now, after 24-years running, the Warped Tour will come to an end with one last celebration of sweat, sound, and bands that've become like family, after sharing a stage for the momentous, annual event.
With that being said, Lyman has told Variety that the Warped Tour has no plans of going quietly the good night, and that Anthem Films, Dola Media Group and Warped are joining forces to create a four-part series documenting the show's final bow. The series is set to release in the Spring of 2019, as a way of marking the event's 25th anniversary. The film is said to explore the rich history and influence of the tour, which has played host to an absurdly-large amount of punk-rock acts over the past three decades.
“The documentary that we’re putting together is really about the legacy of the tour,” director DJay Brawner told Variety. “Of course, this year being the final year it’s important for us to capture moments from the culmination, but what we’re really trying to put together is a story about how the tour started and grew over the last 24 years, with all of it culminating with the final day and what that means for this team of people, the future of the brand and everything in between.
“So what we’re really trying to put together is something where we celebrate the faces of the tour, artists like Blink-182, Limp Bizkit, No Doubt, Fall Out Boy, Katy Perry, Taking Back Sunday — the list goes on and on. Getting all of them to tell us their story of Warped, and also all the people who have been involved it from other angles, like the [longtime sponsor] Vans team, the various sponsors, the music managers and publicists of all the tour over the years.”
Those who attend this year's Warped Tour can expect to see plenty of cameras around the venue, as Brawner says that he and his crew will be filming non-stop throughout the event. He also made a point to mention that there's plenty of footage from previous years as well, so fans can expect to see footage from Warped Tour's passed included in the series as well. “We’ve got archival footage that goes all the way back to the first year of the tour,” Brawner stated.
While it's sad to hear that Warped Tour is coming to a close, I think it's exciting to know that it will be going out on such a high note with this docu-series as its finale. When asked for his thoughts regarding the tour's end, Lyman shared that he hopes the legacy of Warped Tour will live on, and that it will inspire someone else to step up and organize and event that's even better than his.