WARPED TOUR’S RAW ENERGY PUTS HEAT BACK IN SUMMER

Published 12:00 am Wednesday, August 10, 2016

Kevin Lyman, founder of the Vans Warped Tour, says the famed traveling rock fest’s lineup this year includes ska-punksters Less Than Jake, who have appeared nine times at Warped in its 21 years of existence.

“It’s fun to see them when they ask the crowd ‘How many of you have seen us before?’ and less than half the crowd raises their hands,” he says in a phone interview.

Although Warped is now 21 years old, most of the festival demographic is younger, Lyman says, noting about 80 percent of each year’s crowd is underage. He tries to keep the lineup au courant.

“I keep my ears open,” he says. “We get hundreds and hundreds of submissions each year from bands who want to play.”

This year’s Vans Warped once again concludes its tour at Portland’s Expo Center, 2060 N. Marine Drive, on Saturday, Aug. 13. Acts set to perform included pop punk godfathers New Found Glory and Good Charlotte, metalcore outfit The New Low, Atlanta rapper Waka Flocka Flame and emo pop-rockers Sleeping With Sirens. Other acts include The Summer Set, Yellowcard, The Interrupters and Mother Feather.

Gates open at 10 a.m. and the bands usually start playing around noon, alternating between seven different stages. Lyman creates a different lineup for each show, so to see your favorite band for sure you need to get to Warped on time. Be warned, the line into the show tends to take awhile, so bring some bottled water to stay hydrated. Tickets for the all-ages event cost $39 and can be purchased at http://www.vanswarpedtour.com.

Among the festival’s features is a Reverse Daycare Tent, which is an air-conditioned “chill zone” for parents who escort their teens to the concert. If a parent or guardian age 28 or over brings a paying customer under 18 to Warped, that adult can get into Warped for free. Complimentary tickets are limited to one per party.

Feed Our Children NOW! will be accepting canned goods at the show. If you bring three canned food items, you can get an Express Entry wristband allowing you to get in a little more quickly. Other organizations are offering deals, so check out Warped 101 on the website for info.

Those about to rock

Lyman says he’s excited not just about veteran acts like Less Than Jake this year, but newbies like London’s Sykes, an electro-pop trio that’s already made some noise in the European festival circuit. The band apparently draws on everything from old-school ’80s synth-pop to contemporary EDM producers’ ideas for its songs.

“Gold Dust,” off their 2015 EP of the same name, is a good introduction to their warm sound, a midtempo, light neo-soul tune that highlights the confident but relaxed approach of alto-soprano lead singer Julia (yes, Sykes is one of those acts whose members operate without surnames).

Other acts to check out at Warped include: The Heirs, a dreamy electro-pop band out of L.A.; melodramatic Baltimore alt-rockers Bad Seed Rising; and punks Teenage Bottlerocket, who wrote the ultimate Warped Tour anthem, “Skate or Die,” the video of which has drawn seven gazillion views on YouTube.

Last, but far from least, is the tour’s “barbecue band,” alt-punk-popsters Reckless Serenade, from Mahopac, New York. For the privilege of getting on the tour, each year’s barbecue band must prepare a nightly barbecue dinner for as many as 400 people, Lyman says.

“At first I think they were overwhelmed,” Lyman says of the conscripted cooks in Reckless Serenade. “But they’ve really pulled it off.”