Kevin Lyman talks dates, venue and lineup information

Lace up yours Vans sneakers, Warped Tour officially returns in 2025.

The legendary punk rock festival, which launched in 1995, will take over parking lots in three cities for two days of shows to celebrate its 30th anniversary. Warped Tour launched its “final” cross-country tour in 2018 and visited two cities the following year to celebrate its 25th anniversary.

“Since 1997, I've been hoping that one day some kid in the garage would come out and kick Kevin Lyman's ass and put on a better festival,” says Kevin Lyman, founder of Vans Warped Tour Rolling Stone. Since no one has yet heeded the call, the founder took matters into his own hands. “As soon as something is gone, people remember that it was important, that it was fun – and I hope I can relive a lot of that,” he says.

Warped Tour 2025 kicks off in Washington, DC on June 14th and 15th, 2025 at the RFK Stadium Festival Grounds and heads west to Marina Green Park in Long Beach, California on July 26th and 27th Finally, it ends on November 15th and 16th in Orlando, Florida at Tinker Field. “My body can’t handle driving a tour bus through 40 cities,” Lyman says of the decision to limit Warped Tour 2025 to three cities. But he's not completely closed to the idea of ​​adding more dates in the coming years if the 2025 iteration is successful. “If it works, we will do more in the future,” he adds.

The festival's lineup is yet to be announced, but Lyman promises a solid mix of former Warped Tour bands and new artists. “We’re very, very selective about finding unique turns in the cast,” he says. Next year there will be 70 to 100 bands at each stop. Some of the most notable acts in recent years include Blink-182, Green Day, Fall Out Boy, Paramore and even Katy Perry. Bands like Less Than Jake and Simple Plan have become staples of the Warped Tour, each performing more than ten shows.

While Warped Tour 2025 aims to give fans the most compelling elements of its glory days, the goal is not to be a nostalgia fest. “I've always felt like we have to pay tribute to the past, but we're looking to the future of the artists and the community,” Lyman says. Of course, introducing emerging artists is part of the Warped Tour DNA. The festival plans to introduce the lineup weekly to highlight smaller bands and musicians that may be overlooked on a larger festival poster.

Another part of Warped Tour's unique energy has always been the price of the ticket. For Warped Tour 2025, two-day tickets start at $149.98 (one ticket for $119.99, with fees of $29.99). Tickets go on sale next week on October 24th at 12pm ET/9am PT. Here.

The affordable price is a source of great pride for Lyman. Las Vegas-based festival When We Were Young, an emo nostalgia event with a similar crowd, has tickets starting at $325 (before fees) for a general admission day pass.

While many factors went into Warped Tour's price, Lyman credits the festival's partnership with Insomniac for helping it retain tickets at the lower price tier of comparable events. Founded by Pasquale Rotella, Insomniac is an experienced music event promotion company that has created some of the largest music festivals in the world.

“(Lyman) was really committed to putting people first and making sure people could afford to come,” Rotella said. In response to the rising ticket fees and exorbitant festival prices that have captivated the music industry, Lyman was determined to keep the cost of Warped Tour 2025 included. “It really starts with Kevin taking that step and asserting himself and having that trust in the community,” Rotella adds.

This trust has already paid off. Many musicians who helped make Warped Tour a signature festival for the pop-punk and emo genres have also stepped up to bring back the heyday energy for 2025. “Here, too, the bands deserve a lot of credit,” says the Insomniac founder. “Some of them had to call their teams and say, 'No, I want to do that.'”

Lyman also highlighted the camaraderie of bands in the music scene that made Warped Tour a success, saying, “It's band members talking to band members and people saying, 'I'm in, aren't you?' '“

Warped Tour's strong sense of community will be central to its return in 2025. “Making a community strong can’t just be an individual thing,” says Lyman, “it’s what everyone is out there for.” As an associate professor at the USC Thornton School of Music, the festival founder makes daily contact with young people and wants to ensure that they feel just as welcome as older, returning Warped Tour fans.

The festival area will once again be filled with tents from non-profit organizations, individual bands with their own merchandise and sponsor stands. Lyman is particularly excited about bringing new nonprofits on board. “There are many young people in the world who are doing great things and we want to give them a place and help support them,” he says. Additionally, “new immersive elements” and community-building events like the Ernie Ball Battle of the Bands will be part of Warped Tour 2025.

Of course, fans will be greeted with the sight of the inflatable daily setlist at the start of each show date. It's all part of Lyman's ambitious plan to bring back the charm of the Vans Warped Tour. Even after 30 years, his promise remains refreshingly simple: “It will always remind you of that parking lot, that backyard party.” That was Warped Tour.”