EXCLUSIVE: My Favourite Warped Tour Memory

Everyone has a significant memory of Vans Warped Tour. Sometimes it’s positive, sometimes it’s negative. Most of the time all you can remember is how you lost your shoe while moshing to your favourite band or how you hooked up with someone at the DIY slip-n-slide. Along with spectators, the bands also have memorable moments of their own.

The following are favourite memories of tour veterans who’ve endured numerous grueling summers and fresh faces who are letting each day sink in.
 

JESSE JOHNSON (KEYBOARDIST) / MOTION CITY SOUNDTRACK

“It would definitely have to be Chicago in 2005. We were scheduled to play the last show of the day and it seemed like nobody would show up, nobody at all. But people showed and the crowd ended up being the biggest one we’ve ever played to. With friends on stage and everyone singing along, you couldn’t ask for a better moment.”
 
 
 

RAMIN NIROOMAND (GUITARIST/KEYBOARDIST) / IN FEAR AND FAITH

“You have different set times on Warped Tour and you never know what to expect. Our Dallas show was the greatest because we had our biggest crowd by far and we did our first wall of death. To pull that off for the first time with such a crowd, its probably not only our favourite Warped Tour memory but our favourite memory as a band.”
 
 
 

JULIET SIMMS (SINGER) / AUTOMATIC LOVELETTER

“It would have to be 2008 in Chicago because we had our own crowd surfers and the show was one of our best to date. Warped is Warped and its awesome. Like you’re in a bus, the food is great, the crowds are always good and you can’t really ask for anything more. Warped Tour isn’t a stepping stone, its a stepping mountain that can catapult you to being one of the biggest bands out there.”
 
 
 

CASSADEE POPE (SINGER) / HEY MONDAY

“Our Pittsburgh date this year was just crazy as there was literally a thousand kids there to see us play on our stage. There have also been a few other awesome experiences too as I’ve been proposed to a lot so far. No real engagement rings but a few substitutes. The reality of it all is really overwhelming as all of us in the band have been to Warped before.”
 
 
 

JIMMY STADT (SINGER) / POLAR BEAR CLUB

“The shows have been really good and all, but I don’t think our favourite moment has happened yet. For one of the dates on the tour we’re going to be in charge of catering with Set Your Goals and Four Year Strong and that’s going to be an awesome time. But we did go camping with them and Every Time I Die on July 4. We ate a lot that day and I bet you can imagine the rest.”
 
 
 

KEITH BUCKLEY (SINGER) / EVERY TIME I DIE

“Mine personally was about two years ago in 2008 when Say Anything was on the tour. Unfortunately Max Bemis was sick for one of the dates and he couldn’t perform and I got the chance to sing “Woe” for them. Like for them to invite me and just let me perform with them on-stage was just awesome. That was definitely a highlight of my career.”
 
 
 

SIERRA KUSTERBECK (SINGER) / VERSAEMERGE

“Our Hartford show last year was one of our favourite days ever! It was just a great time. Like at that point on the tour, we were competing with bands on the bill but the crowd was just wild! It was one of the wildest crowds we have ever had. That kind of show just leaves you energized at the end.”
 
 
 

LIAM WILSON (BASSIST) / THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN

“There’s one story I’ve told a few times but I’ll tell it again. In 2008, we were on this tour with a band called The Bronx. Now their drummer Jorma Vik is kind of a pretty boy and he hooked up with a girl who was of age but didn’t look like it all, so we thought we’d mess with him. Since we met a cop the night before who wanted to go to a Warped Tour show, we got him on it to.

The cop shows up in uniform looking for Jorma pretending to be extraditing him back to Texas for some underage rape charge. They handcuffed him and everything and since he was partying all afternoon and was extremely nervous, he puked once we told him he got punked. It does sound bad to be a favourite memory, but it was pretty rad.”
 
 
 

NICK DIENER (SINGER/GUITARIST) / THE SWELLERS

“Just the fact anyone is coming to see our band everyday is just awesome. Like we’ve done our own tours in the past, but Warped Tour shows you who wants to come see your band and your band alone. Also, just hanging out with other bands on tour. Like right now, myself, Justin from Motion City Soundtrack and our merch girl have a little workout club going. That itself is just crazy because going from listening to Justin’s band in 2003 to hanging out with him everyday is amazing.”
 
 
 

BRYCE AVARY (SINGER/GUITARIST) / THE ROCKET SUMMER

“There was one day on our first Warped Tour that was pretty amazing. We couldn’t make it to a date on time because we had played a MySpace Secret Show the day before and those were a pretty big deal back then. Even though we were late, there were close to 5,000 fans waiting to see us play. The energy for that show was just awesome. You think you’re going to have a bad day and then woah. That’s Warped for you.”
 

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