The only reason I made an account on this site was to participate in the Warped Tour 2017 lineup speculation thread lol.
I will be happy with enough good bands to fill up the day with. For the most part the rumored bands so far have been terrible. I'm excited for the weekly announcements though.
Kevin was on a iHeartRadio pod recently, here’s the latest: - All bands booked were finalized by Thanksgiving. - Booked 133 acts for Long Branch - Booked 88 acts for DC - Booked 130 acts for Orlando Some acts playing all dates, some playing two, some playing one On bookings: - Looking at 50% new acts, 50% established acts - Booking Warped in the past was easy. Kevin and team would call agencies and negotiations would be 5 mins. They liked the idea of getting their acts on a tour all summer playing in front of sizeable crowds and help grow their careers - ‘25 shows: Had two weeks straight of calls with agents. Had some immediate “no’s” due to financials not working out or already booked something else. The “yes’s” started coming in, artists spoke amongst each other and he had overwhelming amount of bands reach out to him. On pricing: - Kevin worked on initial pricing and what he thought could work financially for consumers and festival but Insomnia came back and said they could offer tickets for $20 lower price, which is what they went with. First time he’s had a partner think about affordable pricing with him - Agreed on two types of tickets GA and VIP. Doesn’t like GA+, VIP+, Cabana’s etc. because it essentially divides the crowd, wants to always have communal feeling at his shows. On Artist Development: - Summer School acts might be on Warped shows - Warped Brands/Sponsors will be engaging with artists through year, at their events leading up to Warped, on social, etc. - Brands can spend more money on an artist than a label can today Hints a few times that if ‘25 is well received they’ll consider what the future of the fest looks like.
Also feel like the weekly band announcements aren't going to be that exciting anymore when two of the dates are sold out with the third almost sold out anyway, right?
Kevin explained it’s not about that, it’s about giving up and coming artists a chance to be discovered before the dates. The announcements allow people time and focus to look up the bands rather than seeing the “headliners” and not looking into anything more
ill wait and see how it pans out because that doesnt even make sense unless its just not possible to have as many stages as the other venues or something
That's a crazy amount of bands at the long beach one! He also said that one of his students was leaking Warped Tour information on reddit lol
Even though it is nice to see the whole lineup upfront right away, the weekly announcements gives motivation to check out new bands.
Maybe DC got “bigger” “headliners” or something. Weird to see 30% less acts for any other reason unless routing and timing was really tough
Sounds like based on demand they’re already looking into details for 2026. Looking at adding Midwest and Canadian dates. Still wouldn’t be a full 40-city tour.