Kevin Lehman talks about dates, location and lineup information

Tie your shoes Vans sneaker, Warped Tour is officially returning in 2025.

The iconic punk rock festival, which began in 1995, will occupy parking lots in three cities for two days of shows in celebration of its 30th anniversary. Warped Tour embarked on its “final” cross-country journey in 2018 and hit two cities the following year to celebrate its 25th anniversary.

“Since 1997, I’ve said that I hoped some kid in the garage would come out and kick Kevin Lyman’s ass one day and make a better festival,” says Kevin Lyman, founder of Vans Warped Tour. Rolling Stone. No one has responded to the call yet, so the founder took matters into his own hands. “People start to remember that once something was gone, it was important, it was fun — and I hope to get a lot of that back,” he says.

Warped Tour 2025 will kick off in Washington, D.C., at the RFK Stadium Festival Grounds on June 14-15, 2025, and make its way west to Marina Green Park in Long Beach, California, on July 26-27, finally concluding in Orlando, Florida, on November 15-16 in Tinkerfield. “My body is not going to be on a 40-city tour bus,” Lehman says of the decision to keep Warped Tour 2025 limited to three cities. But he’s not completely closed to the idea of ​​adding more dates in the coming years if the 2025 iteration is successful. “If it’s successful, we’ll look to the future to do more,” he adds.

The festival lineup has yet to be announced, but Lyman promises a strong mix of former Warped Tour bands and new artists. “We’ve become very selective in trying to find some unique twists in the lineup,” he says. There will be between 70 and 100 bands joining at each stop next year. Some of the most notable acts from previous years include Blink-182, Green Day, Fall Out Boy, Paramore, and even Katy Perry. Bands like Less Than Jake and Simple Plan have become staples of the Warped Tour with over 10 appearances each.

Although Warped Tour 2025 wants to bring fans the most engaging elements of its glory days, there’s no aim to be a nostalgia fest. “I’ve always felt that we need to honor the past, but look to the future of the artists and community,” Lehman says. Naturally, launching up-and-coming artists is an integral part of the making of Warped Tour. The festival plans to release its lineup weekly to highlight smaller bands and musicians who may be overlooked in the larger festival poster.

Another part of Warped Tour’s unique energy has always been the ticket price point. For Warped Tour 2025, two-day tickets will start at $149.98 ($119.99 ticket, with $29.99 fee). Pre-sale for tickets begins next week on October 24 at 12pm ET/9am PT. here.

The accessible price point is a source of great pride for Lyman. The Las Vegas-based “When We Were Young” festival, an emo nostalgia event with a similar crowd, has tickets starting at $325 (before fees) for a single-day general admission ticket.

Although the price of Warped Tour went into many factors, Lyman credits the festival’s partnership with Insomniac for helping to keep tickets in the lower range of comparable events. Insomniac was founded by Pasquale Rotella, a seasoned music event promoter who has masterminded some of the world’s biggest music festivals.

“[Lyman’s] “I was really committed to making this about the people, and making sure people could afford to attend,” Rotella says. In response to the rising ticket fees and exorbitant festival prices that have gripped the music industry, Lyman has been steadfast about keeping the cost of Warped Tour 2025 inclusive. “It really starts with Kevin taking that step, standing his ground, and having that trust in the community,” Rotella adds.

This trust has already paid off. Many of the musicians who helped make Warped Tour an iconic festival for the pop punk and emo genres also helped bring peak energy back for 2025. “The bands get some credit here, too,” says the Insomniac founder. “Some of them had to call their teams and say, ‘No, I want to do this.’”

Lyman also highlighted the camaraderie between bands from the music scene that has made Warped Tour thrive, saying: “Band members talking to band members, and people saying, ‘I’m in, aren’t you?’

Warped Tour’s strong sense of community will be front and center for the 2025 return. “Making the community strong can’t just be an individual thing, it requires everyone’s involvement,” says Lehman. As an associate professor at the USC Thornton School of Music, the festival founder connects with young people on a daily basis and wants to make sure they feel just as welcome as older Warped Tour fans.

The festival grounds will once again be filled with nonprofit tents, individual bands with their own merchandise, and sponsorship booths. Lehman is particularly excited about bringing on board new nonprofits. “There are a lot of young people doing great things in the world, and we want to give them a place and help promote them,” he says. Additionally, “new immersive elements” and community-building events like Ernie Ball Battle of the Bands will be part of Warped Tour 2025.

And of course, at the start of each show date, fans will be greeted by seeing the daily inflatable setlist. It’s all part of Lyman’s meticulous plan to bring back the magic of the Vans Warped Tour. Even 30 years later, his promise remains refreshingly simple: “This will always remind you of that parking lot, that backyard party. That’s what Warped Tour was about.”