The team behind Warped Tour and other industry-changing events are back with a star-studded digital music conference.
In March of 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic brought the entertainment industry, live events, and much of the world’s economy to a grinding halt. The entertainment industry faces the reality of being the first to shut down, and the last to reopen major revenue streams. Ideas of “going back to normal” have faded, and businesses are facing tough decisions. The ADAPT Conference aims to highlight professionals who have found success through these times, as well as provide resources for those searching to learn how to do it themselves, collaborate, and adapt to our new reality.
The one-day ticketed event will take place on Thursday, October 22 online via Whova Conferencing App, and will be broken down into conversations and 90-minute classes curated and taught by entertainment business leaders including Kevin Lyman (Vans Warped Tour), Trevor Swenson (Dynamic Talent International), Joel Madden (Veeps + MDDN), Brian Rucker (Twitch), Eric Tobin (Hopeless Records), and more. Classes and topics will include Live Streaming in the age of COVID-19, Inside the Label’s Mind, Socially Distant Live Shows, and more.
EVENT INFO:
WHAT: The ADAPT Conference WHEN: October 22, 2020 WHERE: Whova Conferencing App (Link provided through Eventbrite) TICKETS: https://adaptconference.eventbrite.com/ Industry Professionals: $149 Industry 4-Pack: $400 Students: $49
Want even more music business programming? Try our Haulix LIVE! series. The next event takes place on October 15 with the SRO PR team.
If you’re a fan of the alternative music scene then you know Van’s Warped Tour spent the better part of 2015 buried in controversy. The reason for this, and the reason so many are still hesitant to return to the tour in 2016, is due largely to a perceived lack of concern or action from tour organizers in response to allegations of sexual assault, rape, and other sex crimes supposedly perpetrated by artists on the tour. The decision to allow alleged sexual predator Jake McElfresh to perform at the Nashville stop of Warped 2015 was the most notable story to cause outrage last year, but it certainly wasn’t the only decision that upset tour supporters.
In the wake of Warped Tour 2015 coming to a close, founder Kevin Lyman made a promise to make changes ahead of the tour’s return, and today we found out (at least some of) what those plans entail. According to a new press release, Warped Tour has officially partnered with A Voice for the Innocent, a non-profit dedicated to giving a voice to victims of rape and sexual abuse. Together, Warped organizers and A Voice For The Innocent will work to educate musicians and tour attendees in hopes of reducing the number of sex crimes, as well as empowering those who have been victimized to share their truth. You can view a video outlining the partnership below:
The press release announcing the partnership reads:
APRIL 11, 2016 – A Voice for The Innocent, a non-profit dedicated to giving a voice to victims of rape and sexual abuse, will partner with Van’s Warped Tour to launch Save Our Scene, a campaign aimed at reducing sex crimes in the music industry through education. Warped Tour has a history of supporting social causes that resonate with young music fans by partnering with non-profit organizations, but A Voice for the Innocent will be the first to bring a comprehensive education and prevention program targeted at sex crimes. Through this partnership Warped Tour hopes to spearhead a cultural shift and set a new standard within the music industry. Save Our Scene is an unprecedented effort to curb sex crimes through workshops on identification, prevention, and intervention to help ensure the safety of fans and musicians during the entirety of the tour. Classes will be held for fans and bands alike, to teach the impact of sexual violence, how to identify problematic behavior, as well as effective bystander practices so the community has the tools necessary to empower change whether they are on stage, or just hoping for a backstage pass. Music festivals are more popular than ever as every summer sees the return of long time favorites like Warped Tour and the addition of new festivals in nearly every genre. With more people attending larger events more often, rates of assault, rape, sexual imposition and harassment have seen steady increases across the music industry. The prevalence of sex crimes has not gone unnoticed by music lovers, who are often drawn to bands and tours which offer a sense of community and acceptance. Seeing their communities in danger, fans have taken to social media to voice increasing concern, and to demand real change that will make festivals safer and more enjoyable. Through the Save Our Scene campaign, A Voice for the Innocent is poised to impact these unfortunate statistics through the support of Warped Tour. During the month of April, A Voice for the Innocent will launch a crowdfunding campaign via Generosity.com to cover additional costs of Save Our Scene that remain after a generous donation from Van’s Warped Tour. More info can be found and donations can be made at SaveOurScene.org.
A Voice For The Innocent is a community of support for those affected by rape and sexual abuse. It is a safe, anonymous space for sharing stories and fostering strong relationships between people who have had similar experiences.
We imagine Warped Tour will reveal similar partnerships and collaborations in the coming weeks, but we cannot confirm whether or not that is true at this time. What we do know is that Kevin Lyman has stayed true to his original promise of working towards making a change, and we hope to see the impact of his efforts as Warped Tour gets underway later this year.
What do you think of Warped Tour’s latest partnership? Will it be enough to make a difference?
We have been trying very hard to find the right way to bring the controversy surrounding the artist known as Front Porch Step and his role in Vans Warped Tour to our blog, but so far our best attempts have been scrapped long before making it to this page. Suffice to say, if you don’t know anything about this situation yet, you will need to do some research in order to understand everything that will follow. We suggest using this link to get started.
What you’re about to read was written by the incredibly talented Kelly Doherty for Absolutepunk. If you like it, visit the original post and speak with Kelly about her work. Also, tell all your friends to read and share her thoughts.
This time last year, there were so many of us challenging structures like the Warped Tour on their refusal to accurately represent female artists on their bills. We talked about the way it acts as a barrier to women who wish to get involved in alternative music and the message it sends to female fans that their place is solely in audiences, looking up to male artists and being treated only as groupies, “fangirls” or, if they’re lucky, backstage staff. We called upon Kevin Lyman and his peers to buy into the concept that they have a certain social responsibility to the people that they make their money from.
Today, Front Porch Step is playing the Warped Tour and may possibly play the rest of its run. This comes in the aftermath of Lyman denying (here and here) that he would be playing. This year, rather than simply refuse to represent women accurately and passively engage in systematic patriarchal oppression, Lyman has opted to support an artist who has manipulated the blind trust of his underage female fans for his own sexual gratification. He has given this artist the seal of approval and is willing to attach his name to the actions of Jake McElfresh. By allowing him to play today, Lyman is saying that, on balance, the more important aspect of McElfresh’s character is his ability to play shitty three minute songs as opposed to the active harms he has caused against others. Much like a football team who is still willing to field a player who has been engaging in domestic abuse, Lyman is sending out a message that McElfresh’s actions aren’t really that important and that all the fuss has been about nothing. Considering how many young boys in their early teens are present at Warped Tour each year, it’s particularly damaging that they’re being told that it is okay to treat girls the way that McElfresh did. Lyman is, with this move, telling them it was just a mistake and it doesn’t matter. This is telling young girls that if something like this occurs to you, it’s not really a big issue and, by hell, there’s no point in speaking out against it because nothing will happen.
Furthermore, this is a message from Lyman that he does not care about your behaviour, no matter how morally reprehensible it may be – you can still get on his stage, he will still look after you. Given the past 12 months and the constant awful behaviour we’ve seen, with multiple figures from the scene either being involved in sexual assault claims or engaging in victim-blaming, this serves to show that if young bands act that way, Lyman will still back them. Warped Tour still has a big enough audience that a stint on the festival can make a band. This decision means there is little long term backlash for an artist who’s sexually assaulted an underage girl, if they can still fund their career from the youngsters who attend Warped. It makes the scene into even more of a skinny-jeaned freemasons – boys will be boys and it doesn’t matter what they do because Grandpa Kevin will still help them out.
The darkest thing about McElfresh playing Warped, however, isn’t just message based. His actions involved young female fans that he established contact with through shows and festivals: festivals like Warped Tour. Lyman is placing McElfresh straight back into a position where he has access to young girls and could easily start the cycle once again. Whether or not he does, I find it both disgusting and dangerous hat Kevin Lyman is willing to put the young people who fund his festival, and his life, at risk when he knows fully what he is doing. Lyman is giving FPS a platform to be looked up to and admired by young girls. Lyman’s actions are those of someone who simply doesn’t care. We’ve gone beyond the point of asking him to volunteer and engage in his social responsibility, to the point where we are asking him not to actively put young girls in danger for the sake of a few bucks and that’s so twisted.
Beyond everything else, what’s particularly weird about Lyman opting to include Front Porch Step on Warped today is that he seems to gain very little from it. For once, Warped Tour can’t mask itself behind a cloak of ‘we’re doing it for the money’. Chances are, the inclusion of Front Porch Step against the will of the thousands of fans who signed petitions, shared tweets, and called for action will put fans off attending Warped. It’s likely that McElfresh is to walk out on stage to no more than a handful of people who are there to boo him, because he wasn’t a particularly interesting or good musician in the first place. It makes no negative impact on the sales of Warped Tour to not include him. No one ever said “aww, I was going to pay a load of dollars to go to Warped, but Front Porch Step isn’t on the line up so I guess I’ll play Xbox instead.” In fact, the tickets for this date were already sold at the point of announcing the act, so there is literally no benefit. Inclusion of Front Porch Step feels like a giant “fuck you, I won’t do what you tell me". It feels like a pathetic act of rebellion from a man who’s been coming under fire because his festival is the anti-thesis of what it once was, and that makes breaking away from Warped and everything it stands for all that easier.
It’s time that we stand up and say a resounding ‘fuck you’ to the Warped Tour and all that goes with it. Our mistakes last year came from trying to engage with and ask the likes of Kevin Lyman to change their actions and become fairer and more accepting. That’s never going to happen. Scene culture that goes hand-in-hand with Warped Tour 2015 is never going to change. It has no interest in changing because that would mean those in control would have to loosen their grip. It’s time that we make like bands such as Touché Amore and say we don’t need institutions like Warped. We will create a fairer scene on our own terms. We’ll start festivals and host shows that promote inclusion and safety. We’ll promote bands like Mitski, Speedy Ortiz, Joanna Gruesome, Perfect Pussy and so many more acts that give a fuck and care about their fans. Not only do we need to breakaway from the norm, we need to counteract its harms. We need to build counter-narratives, writing articles and promoting music that engages young audiences and make them realise the importance of equality, acceptance, inclusivity and responsibility. We don’t need the establishment, that’s not what punk rock was meant to be about in the first place. Let Warped Tour’s actions today be the moment that radicalizes a whole new generation of people who live for punk rock, and don’t want it to be killed by the very people we turned to punk rock because of in the first place.
The 2015 Launch Music Conference begins this Thursday, April 23, and as you probably already know the Haulix team will be participating in this year’s event. In fact, James got a haircut earlier today in preparation for his appearance on one of the many panels happening in Lancaster in the coming days. He wasn’t too thrilled about having to do so, but at least he no longer looks like a rejected wannabe actor who blew his audition for some off Broadway version of Scooby-Doo: The Musical.
What we’re trying to say is that we could not be more excited to be participating in Launch this year, and we want to make sure everyone in attendance makes the most out of their time in Pennsylvania. There are a lot of great panels happening, as well as dozens of potentially amazing live performances, but we have chosen five events we feel those headed to Launch absolutely must attend. Each pick represents a unique opportunity to either learn or better integrate yourself into the music industry at large, both of which will help you further your career.
To be fair, we have chosen to not highlight the panel we will be participating in as part of this list. You can find information on that event, which is called ‘Protecting What’s Yours,’ in the panel guide on the official website of Launch.
Serving as the first event on Friday morning and featuring a panel of six industry professionals, each with a unique background in music business, this discussion will focus on the value of a formal education in music. As people who deal with music education day in and day out, we can say first hand this is a question posed by students, aspiring professionals, and their parents on a regular basis. It’s a no brainer that everyone hoping to work in music should have some understanding of how the business functions, but where and how to receive that education is a debate that has continued for decades. These panelists might not settle everything in one hour, but those in attendance will no doubt learn from what they have to say.
There is an entire industry dedicated to helping bands and solo artists learn to not only navigate the music industry, but conquer it through the use of so-called groundbreaking marketing tactics. Whether or not those books offer any real advice that cannot be found online is a top for another time, but what we can tell you without a doubt in our mind is that there is no better place to learn about what does and does not work in marketing today then from the mouths and minds of the people marketing music for a living in 2015. This five-member panel, which represents talent from a variety of genres, will share first hand knowledge of marketing in music today, as well as where they see things going in the future. If you truly want to be on top of your promotional game, this may be THE must-see panel of the day.
Saturday at Launch 2015 is largely dedicated to what is essentially a ‘pop-up’ school of music hosted by Van’s Warped Tour founder Kevin Lyman. For this specific event, Kevin will be conducting a one-on-one interview with Mike Mowery, Co-Founder and CEO of OuterLoop Management, about his work and the role of artist managers in music today. We’ve heard from many up and coming artists who wonder if they should have a manager at this point in their career, as well as what responsibilities they should assign to said manager if they do choose to hire one. This conversation will hopefully answer those questions, as well as provide insight for current artist managers about how they can potentially improve their efforts moving forward.
This is probably the greatest event in the history of music conference events, and that is only a slight exaggeration. Following days of education and advice, ‘Can You Handle The Truth’ offers musicians at every level of their career to showcase their music for a massive panel of industry leaders, including Kevin Lyman and MetalBlade PR head Vince Edwards, and receive on the spot reviews in front of a crowded room. It could be the best or worst day of your life, but you will never have an opportunity quite like this at any other music industry event you attend this year. Take a chance.
This is the last time the majority of the Launch Music Conference attendees will be in the same room together, and it’s your best chance to making a good impression on fellow industry professionals before returning to whatever place you call home. Make the most of this opportunity and greet as many people as possible. Ask what they do and, when asked, tell people what you are working on. Exchange business cards. Exchange Twitter handles. Do whatever you have to do to walk away from the weekend feeling like you not only learned something, but that you also met people who may one day be able to help you advance your career, or at the very least someone who you can turn to for additional advice in the future.
Just to be clear: Every event at Launch Music Conference is worthy of attendance in our minds. That is a fact we cannot stress this enough, but we do feel the items highlighted above offer something special that is only made possible at this gathering. Don’t miss out.
Every now and then we stumble across articles online that blows us away. The following post is an example of one such article, and it was written by Paul Adler for the audience at Medium. If you like what Paul has to say, please head over to his Medium profile and click through the rest of his work.
The Vans Warped Tour has become an American institution. But like many American institutions, it has a problem. That problem is one of sexual violence.
Every summer for the past 21 years, the Vans Warped Tour, universally acknowledged as an itinerant “punk-rock summer camp,” has brought the best, most in-demand alternative music to fairgrounds, arenas, and racetracks all across the country. Artists like Blink-182 and Katy Perry have jump-started their careers on the tour, propelling themselves to TRL-level adulation. The tour also boasts a more diverse bill every year, expanding lately into hip-hop and EDM. Mostly, however, alternative luminaries like NOFX, Every Time I Die, Alkaline Trio, Bad Religion, and The Bouncing Souls continue to anchor this Brobdingnagian tour package.
But over the past half-decade, a handful of alternative-scene, so-called “Warped Tour” bands have found themselves accused of sexual misconduct with minors. Musicians have been convicted of crimes, and other bands have been condemned for their apparent advocacy of physical and sexual violence, especially toward women. Of course, the bands and the tour are separate entities, and Warped isn’t legally responsible (moral responsibility is another matter) for the actions of its acts. Nonetheless, it’s tempting to let these scandals color the general perception of the tour. More difficult is untangling the nuances of this new age of opprobrium.
“I’m gonna speak the truth til I die. We saw @botdfmusic Dahvie bring under age [sic] girls to his hotel rooms an [sic] do sexual things. 100% ILLEGAL,” tweeted Jeffree Star. The cotton candy-pink-haired Internet icon, makeup artist, and would-be diva was responding to a 2010 wave of allegations leveled at Dahvie Vanity, founder of the electropop group Blood on the Dance Floor (BOTDF). Vanity, also known as David Jesus Torres, had collaborated with Star on several BOTDF releases, but the two had had a recent falling out. That year, Blood on the Dance Floor played Warped Tour in its entirety.
For his part, Star appeared to be offering some damning testimony to buttress the widespread claims of sexual misconduct continuously made against Vanity over the previous six years. In October 2009, Vanity was arrested in Centennial, Colorado on a charge of first-degree sexual assault for apparently bedding a fifteen-year-old girl.
The charge would end up being retracted, though it was hardly the only allegation of sexual malfeasance to emerge over the past half-dozen years. Pages dedicated to telling the world of Vanity’s suspected criminal behavior abound online. A Tumblr page entitled “The Truth about Dahvie Vanity” has a so-called “allegation roundup” delineating an array of claims against the singer. The roundup is full of jarring screenshots purporting to show texts and tweets from Vanity to young girls. The exchanges are lurid, to say the least.
Then there was the blog post from Ashley Costello, singer of the band New Years Day. The band, also Warped Tour participants, had frequently toured with BOTDF until Costello decided to speak out against Vanity in a lengthy, now-deleted jeremiad, saying, in part: “I have never met a bigger bully in my life. I have never felt so uncomfortable. I have never been physically attached [sic] and abused, until now.”
Costello continued, “Ive [sic] seen girls cry because they have been taken advantage of and made to do things they didnt [sic] want to do. I have seen horrible and disgusting things done by a man on a throne that does not deserve to be there… Showing you [sic] ass to kids? Having kids grab your dick on stage? Telling 12 year olds your [sic] going to come on their faces? Making derogatory comments to me on stage. Hitting fans on the head with equipment? Telling my friends they are band whores ON STAGE because they wont [sic] say into the mic his cum tastes good? Watching the cops get called on tour because he was with someone under the age limit. That is just A TINY TINY TINY TINY portion of [what] I had to watch every night. Not to mention what was done to me and done to so many other girls. It is a fucking disgrace. Its [sic] disgusting.”
Another member of Blood on the Dance Floor, singer Jayy Von Monroe, has been chronicled taunting fans with threats of rape and rape “jokes.”
While the accusations against Dahvie Vanity are a well-publicized example of bad behavior on the tour, they’re but one instance in Warped’s history of showcasing bands that have engaged in inappropriate sexual behavior toward minors. This past January, 23-year-old Jake Mcelfresh, who performs under the moniker Front Porch Step, came under fire when several young women began posting screenshots of text message conversations they had with the singer-songwriter.
“In the last two weeks, a growing number of accusations have surfaced online against Mr. Mcelfresh, 23, asserting that he engaged in inappropriate text message and social media relationships involving at least half a dozen teenage girls, including, in some cases, the exchange of sexually explicit pictures,” the New York Times reported in January. Days before that article was published, Mcelfresh dropped off Warped Tour—thanks in part to aChange.org petition—and announced he was suspending his 2015 tour schedule.
However, the most extreme case of sexual degeneracy with a connection to Warped Tour makes those of Front Porch Step and Blood on the Dance Floor look tame by comparison. In 2012, British rockers Lostprophets spent the full summer on the tour. Several months later, singer Ian Watkins was arrested and charged with a spate of crimes. In November 2013, he pleaded guilty to attempted rape and sexual assault of a child under thirteen.
“Watkins also admitted conspiring to rape a child, three counts of sexual assault involving children, seven involving taking, making or possessing indecent images of children, and one of possessing an extreme pornographic image involving a sex act on an animal,” the BBC said. The singer had, on two different occasions, filmed himself having sex with sixteen-year-old girls. Worse, he had attempted to rape an eleven-month-old baby, which hedescribed as being “mega lolz.” Information regarding the allegations about Watkins might have ostensibly been available, as his ex-girlfriend told policeshe had attempted to “raise the alarm” on several occasions dating back to 2008.
In addition to these suspicions and proven crimes, Warped Tour has seen its bands come under fire for espousing violence toward women.
“Some bands are so breathtakingly stupid they tumble forward into a kind of genius,” writes Alternative Press’s Phil Freeman, reviewing About That Life, the fifth studio album from “Atlanta deathcore knuckle-walkers Attila.” Sounding like somewhat of an apologist, Freeman writes, “There’s an undercurrent of misogyny that pops up from time to time and threatens to spoil the fun. But if/once you get past lines like ‘punch that bitch,’ you’ll be hoisting beers and throwing fists in the air in no time.”
Atilla’s Warped tour mates, Emmure, also have their own special brand of misogyny, which they sell to fans from behind their merch table every summer. “What self-respecting girl would respond positively to a guy wearing a shirt like this?” writes Robert Pasbani of Metal Injection. Pasbani is talking about Emmure’s and Atilla’s selection of t-shirts, some of which read things like “Keep Calm and Ask Your Girl What My Dick Tastes Like,” and “I Will Find Your Fucking Bitch And Fuck Her Right In Front Of You.”
They’re just t-shirts, you might say. And of course, it’s anybody’s right to sing about domestic assault if they so choose. But why should the women who attend or work on the tour have to contend with such immediate violence and hatred?
“I can assure you none of these matters have been taken lightly,” says Kevin Lyman. “All are dug into thoroughly once they are brought to my attention, which is usually after I book someone, so that should dispel the reason I put them on is because they are controversial.”
If Warped Tour is a giant, punk-rock summer camp, Lyman is the camp’s director. Under his purview are hundreds of musicians, administrators, volunteers, audio engineers, stage managers, roadies, and drivers, all of whom make Warped Tour what it is. Lyman has worked for over two decades to transform Warped Tour from a traveling circus into a cultural movement.
Lately, he’s had to protect the tour in the face of these accusations and aggressive litigation. When Lyman, looking to keep fans from injury and stave off lawsuits, announced in 2013 that bands were no longer allowed to prompt crowds to mosh, form circle pits, or stage the dreaded “wall of death,” he received pushback from fans. “That’s half the fun, the bands encouraging craziness,” a fan tweeted at him. “But in America that leads to many lawsuits, ever sat in one I have been through many, no fun and costly,” Lyman responded.
Kevin Lyman seems beleaguered, always on guard. “If someone wrote some misinformation regarding this I think I might not take it so lightly,” he says. “I read how many false things are thrown at me on a weekly basis.” It may not be fair that Lyman has to face down critics more focused on the bad behavior of bands than on the good Warped Tour strives to do. The tour plays host to non-profit organizations, blood drives, food drives, and environmental initiatives. On off-days, Lyman prompts his staff and artists to volunteer. He’s been awarded for his philanthropy and was cited as Humanitarian of the Year by Billboard in 2009.
“Warped stands for what it always has and does not tolerate artists who do wrong,” he says. “They will be dealt with when there is proof but I cannot judge by the court of the Internet.” It’s well known that Lyman hosts a personnel meeting at the beginning of every touring season where he cautions his staff and bands against any inappropriate interactions with underage fans. Noting a decrease in the age of the average Warped attendee, Lyman has also taken the step of allowing parents into the tour free of charge.
But is Lyman doing enough to discourage the culture of violence threatening to metastasize within the Warped community?
One Warped Tour staffer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, doesn’t think so. “I think Kevin understands there are a lot of artists on that tour that don’t align with its core beliefs,” she says. “Where does Warped draw the line?” She says she feels “like Warped Tour has educated a lot of people about community and standing up for what you believe in,” but wonders, “when is Warped going to stand up and say, ‘we’re going to educate you [about violence]?’ Just because you’re in a situation with someone you admire doesn’t mean you’re safe.”
This Warped vet understands the responsibility for fans’ safety falls on the artists they’re paying to see, but equivocates when it comes to parsing out matters of intent. She acknowledges that people like Dahvie Vanity and Ian Watkins are sexual predators but insists, “There’s a difference between de facto pedophilia, where [artists are] going after attractive people who happen to be underage, and pedophilia [proper], where they’re preying on children because they’re children. If you’re 20 and you’re into a girl who’s 16,” she asks, “are you into [her] because she’s 16? Is it her youth that attracts you? I don’t think so.”
These bands may not necessarily be attracted to these young girls because of their age, but if these girls weren’t 15 or 16, would they be engaging in the sort of idolatry that forms a mutual attraction between fan and artist? Probably not. And any argument about intent is semantic. Pursuing and engaging in sexual activity with a person who legally isn’t old enough to consent is objectively criminal.
Perhaps Warped Tour’s issue with violence is a problem of community. “Where is #PMA?” the Warped Tour staff member interviewed for this piece wonders. She’s talking about “Positive Mental Attitude,” a hashtag/platitude that pervaded the alternative scene half a decade ago. “I feel like I don’t experience it in the Warped world anymore. The message that was part of Warped Tour has, little by little, been eroded and there is no message anymore.”
“People aren’t coming together to have a conversation about the world around them and how it’s perceived by people living and experiencing an alternative lifestyle. The community is so split up by the violence inside and outside the music. How can the alternative community come together in order to combat violence? The question isn’t whether there’s a problem. Yes, there’s a problem, but the question is, why isn’t anybody addressing it?”
To be clear, the swelling tide of physical and sexual violence in the music industry is not exclusive to Warped (think R. Kelly, Chris Brown, and Ted Nugent). And it’s not Warped Tour’s fault, but it is Warped Tour’s problem. At some point, more aggressive measures against the presence of physical or sexual violence may need to be enacted. At some point, someone’s going to have to take a stand.
Is a pattern of untoward band behavior a reason not to buy a ticket to Warped? No. Is this a problem with most or even a large portion of bands on the tour? Absolutely not. But it’s something to think about next time you’re having difficulty deciding what merch you’re going to spend your money on. If you’re a young girl, maybe you’ll think twice about crowd-surfing or accepting an invitation onto a tour bus.
For now, rock’s biggest circus is still kicking, and every true believer out there, every fan who’s ever walked through a set of festival-ground gates on a hot summer morning, ready to see a collection of his or her favorite bands, clutching a fistful of cash to spend on merch—they’re all rooting for Kevin Lyman and Warped Tour. Warped isn’t too big to fail, but to the rock scene, it’s too damn important.
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