The Demise Of Vans Warped Tour: True Or Hoax?

Last night, before I decided to go to sleep, I chanced upon rumors that surely pinned my interest. Warped Tour mastermind, Kevin Lyman, has spoken that this year’s tour at Australia will be its last. According to him, primary sponsors especially Vans pulled out from funding the event. To think, Warped Tour has been known for its extreme sports and mash-up music. It has been very successful for over a bundle of years since it started. Also, Warped Tour is very noted to music lovers all over the world–including me. Thus, it is really disappointing to know that such scenario will take place. Although I only get a glimpse of what Vans Warped Tour is through the internet (Youtube, Online Magazines, etc.), it has still influenced my musicianship.

Fans on a circle pit
Photo source: blogs.artvoice.com

For the past years, controversies have risen that there were several bands leaving during mid-tour, fights during the internal festivity, conflicts between bands, and as well as a progressing turmoil in the commercialization of the event. Personally, I can’t tell if these are all true especially when you’re not really experiencing Warped Tour physically. However, if you visit online niches like YouTube and/or forums that talk about this prestigious musical gathering, you’ll be able to see the truth behind it. Somehow, this upheaval is true –if I’ll base it on the comments or discussions of people in the aforementioned internet places. BUT, I do know that there are loopholes. I mean, it can’t be factual.

So, as a comprehension, I really did a detailed research. Yes, think of me as a geek or what, but it’s true. First and foremost, I have a big respect for Warped Tour. Regardless of the commercialization thing (if it’s true, that is), Vans Warped Tour is, by essence, a great avenue for music lovers. Lastly, if this conspiracy depicts truth, I don’t want to believe it. Why? Watching my favorite bands (in YouTube) like Memphis May Fire, We Came As Romans, Sleeping With Sirens, etc. will already be impossible–at least, in the coming days. Going back, I indulged on a number of discussions that concern Warped Tour with people in the internet. Most, if not all, of them have also heard of the undergoing news about the Warped Tour. And, as fans too, we found each other in a seemingly interesting place. Hence, we exchanged information about where and how have they stumbled upon the recent controversy. In the midst of our discussion, I finally found the site where this uproar could have rooted. And yes, it really talked about Warped Tour’s demise after the Australia tour this year. It also has a quotation from the Warped Tour found, Kevin Lyman, and his take on why the event has to come to an end.

A screen capture of the website's article

Below is what Kevin Lyman, which the website supposed, stated:

"I regret to inform the fans out there that 2013 will be the last [year] we share blood, sweat, tears, and moshing together. Vans, whom I'm grateful for the support since the late 90s, have a business plan that won't include us past 2014. We've crunched numbers and have been trying to stave off losing the tour for a while...as we have had this news since 2012, but unfortunately, we couldn't grab a new sponsor. Other avenues of funding also began shifting away from us which made it even more difficult. I'm deeply saddened to relay this news but I gotta thanks the fans, the bands and the sponsors for making this happen. Let's go out with a bang. Who knows? Maybe Nike would scout and sponsor us? Or we could Kickstart? Either way, we're wrapping for now." - Kevin Lyman

A screen capture from another site

So now, I already have a firm foundation to take this controversy real. At first, I was hesitant to read the whole article; reading Lyman’s statement was already enough to confirm the edging story. Fortunately, the opposite happened; I decided to read the whole article and came to perceive the comments from disturbed Warped Tour fans. Some of them were like “My God! Is this really true?” while others say, “April Fools’ Day, it is!” If you’ll check the website, somehow, the latter is quite true. The article was written on the first of April this year. Plus, it’s quite old to be called recent. But, the Australian Tour is on-going so, there’s still a greater chance of possibility.Thus, there was a relief inside me, but I’m still not satisfied. So, here I was, exchanging words with other anxious fans. To it short, we all agreed that this might be a hoax; it is a make-up story just for this website to gain organic traffic. Basically, Warped Tour’s end is just a little play in the platter for this writer to get that Silver–so tricky, right?

Comments of disturbed fans

To wrap it all, I still don’t know if the Warped Tour controversy is indeed real. I’m still waiting for a response from one of the guys behind Alt Press. I mean, if this is true, online magazines like them would surely have something to say. However, if it it’s the other way around, I would definitely have no respect to those type of websites. They tend to thrust information or news that is completely bereaved and fake just to garner page views or traffic. Sadly, the cyber space nowadays has become polluted with obnoxious entities. And, it’s definitely inevitable. Going back to the Warped Tour issue, I really don’t know. Although part of me believes that this thing is just a set up, I can’t tell. Maybe, in the far future, it has to call an end.

Disclaimer: The above mentioned information and quotation are entirely true (not the Warped Tour as what I claimed in the latter paragraph). I'm not writing this for the sake of public interest or traffic hoarding. However, I didn't choose to put the website’s link and/or describe its whole distinction. Although I utilized the print-screen to capture the images of comments from fans and the article itself, my stand still stay the same. This is not to capture the interests of readers and/or put an attention in the Blogosphere. This post, despite the confusing topic (Warped Tour controversy) which I completely disclaimed upon, is true and real. Hence, I didn't defeat the purpose of this blog site and my existence as a heir of literature and writing.