Yesterday (Oct. 18), Warped Tour announced its 2025 return as a trio of two-day festivals in celebration of its 30th anniversary. And fans are complaining about tickets prices and just about everything else.
So let’s talk about it.
For a two-day festival, Warped Tour tickets are $149.98 and that includes all fees.
The three events are spread out between Washington D.C. (June 14-15), Long Beach, California (July 26-27) and Orlando, Florida (Nov. 15-16). This mirrors the approach taken in 2019 when Warped bid farewell after enjoying its last full-scale touring run in 2018.
About 70-100 bands will be featured and founder Kevin Lyman tells Rolling Stone, “We’re getting very, very selective in trying to find some unique twists to the lineup.”
The lineup, however, will be revealed at a later date, while pre-sale tickets will be available ahead of that announcement.
Below, we’ll look at the most common complaints from fans and then discuss those issues further, exploring whether this is a fair ticket price, why this return is a trio of festivals and more.
The Biggest Fan Complaints — Ticket Price + Travel
In comparing the 2025 comeback to the cross-country touring model that existed before, many fans are frustrated.
Nostalgia probably plays a big factor here — bigger than it should — and any deviation from what fans remember and love can be viewed as a problem. Compound new factors such as changes in lifestyle, adulthood for many of Warped Tour’s original attendees and all the other things that complicate life make it understandable that a destination event could be perceived as a letdown.
Perspective is everything, which we’ll get into later, but first let’s take what fans are saying into consideration.
READ MORE: Kevin Lyman Reveals What Fans Can Expect at Warped Tour 2025
It’s low-hanging fruit, but accusing anyone of greed because a business must be profitable in order to be sustainable is pretty standard. It’s the “us vs. them” mentality against big business.
The Warped Tour of old felt more community based, with perks for bringing canned goods as donations. And the convenience of the tour stopping somewhere near you, maybe a couple hours away at most.
Below is a sampling that represents frequently observed gripes about Warped Tour.
Yes, Vans Warped Tour is a brand! It may say “Tour” but that doesn’t mean it’s a tour. Fans are disappointed in that, getting hung up on surface level issues.
Pre-sales start on Oct. 24 and weekly announcements will be made, revealing waves of artists before the full lineup is known. Some are upset at the idea of trying to buy a ticket early without knowing who all the bands will be (we all know how chaotic day-of on-sales are for tickets).
Others are upset that the price is not in the $50 range like it once was, even as standard concert tickets greatly exceed $100.
And there’s always those who feel that they can do better and that organizing a successful festival is as easy as the Wayne’s World 2 adage, “If you book them, they will come.”
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Tickets (Just Tickets) Aren’t Actually That Expensive
No consumer likes to see the price of anything go up — we can freely acknowledge this.
However, nobody should expect the same prices that existed in 2018 to be the same. That goes for live music experiences, too.
The average cost of a standard concert ticket has soared to extraordinary highs (and in the resale market). The U.S. Department of Justice is even looking to dismantle Live Nation/Ticketmaster, branding it a monopoly for antitrust violations related to “unrivaled control of concert ticket sales.”
But about $150 for 70 to 100 bands is actually a great deal. And, for Lyman, keeping that ticket cost on the lower side was a priority as he partnered with music event and festival promoter Insomniac.
Warped Tour tickets are considerably less expensive than tickets for the like-minded When We Were Young Festival, which only takes place for one day and features 40 to 50 acts for the starting price of $325.
The State of the Scene podcast nailed it, arguing that ticket prices are reasonable but all of the other associated costs are what should be the main source of ire and frustration.
“Instead of driving an hour to a show I am now paying for flight tickets, hotel rooms and food expenses. That’s why Warped Tour coming to you was so special,” the podcast contends on X.
Is it okay to feel salty about having to embark on what’s now essentially a mini-vacation instead of one day out? It absolutely is. But, as we explain further below, there’s a reason Warped Tour is a festival now.
Why Warped Tour Stopped Being a Full Tour
Again, we can’t overstate that the 2025 installments of Warped Tour are directly in line with the festival’s 2019 farewell. It’s a completely logical continuation.
The reason that Warped Tour’s last cross-country, multi-month trek was in 2018 was, in part, because of what’s happening right now. In 2019, Lyman told Kerrang! that the loss of community was a factor in Warped’s diminishing success.
“Some of that was self-inflicted… I thought you addressed the fans that complain on Twitter! I was addressing everyone and tried to keep that conversation going, but you realize that you can’t really negotiate, debate, or educate on social media,” the Warped founder said at the time.
He also said that bands refused to be on the bill with other bands some view as controversial and that some feared a stigma of being labeled a “Warped band.”
READ MORE: Why Did Warped Tour End?
Over the last decade in particular, the festival circuit in North America has grown tremendously. That, obviously, can have a negative effect on months-long festival tours, negating their need and diluting demand. We’ve seen a growing amount of big summer co-headlining tours, as well.
Not to mention the rise in touring costs for artists, a number of canceled tours due to low ticket sales, the sheer volume of tours happening at any given time and the high ticket prices fans incur for any of those… it’s reasonable to see why Warped testing the comeback waters as a trio of fests is a safer business move.
Lyman also cites the physical toll of a full-scale tour, telling Rolling Stone, “My body won’t take riding around on a tour bus for 40 cities.” He is hopeful, however, that future years of Warped Tour festivals will feature more than three dates.
What We Need to Remember
If it’s Warped Tour as three festival or no Warped Tour at all, the choice is clear.
This comeback puts the emo/pop-punk/alternative/etc. scene back in the hands of the person who is responsible for helping break so many of its most successful and enduring bands.
You may not like the ticket price, but there was a plan to keep it from rising to the level of so many other ticketed music events. That counts for a lot more than just something.
And while Warped won’t be bringing 70 to 100 bands across the continent all summer long, the plan to help give attention to young artists is through those partial lineup announcements. Rather than all eyes fixed on the top parts of the bill, unveiling a limited amount of bands places greater focus on each bunch.
What that means is the smaller bands will inevitably get a bit more attention than if everything was announced at once. It’s on you to go check them out. It’s not hard to do — you don’t have to wait all year for a tour to come near your town to find cool new bands, so get to it and support your scene.
The Most Played Songs Live of 27 Emo + Pop-Punk Bands
How many did you hear at Warped Tour?
Gallery Credit: Chad Childers, Loudwire
