Warped Tour sports, music fest turning up heat

The Black Dahlia Murder is among the dozens of bands performing at the Warped Tour.

Part summer camp, part boot camp, part punk rock rite of passage, the Warped Tour is the music festival season’s most unforgiving endurance test.

Mostly taking place on a series of stages erected in parking lots with little relief from the skin-bubbling sun, the teen-centric extreme sports and music marathon is a good way to get seriously baked without any illicit substances required.

Now in its 19th year, Warped started out with a punk-heavy lineup, but has since evolved into something decidedly more metallic and diffuse.

There’s 101 metalcore bands on the bill this go-round (Bring Me the Horizon, Memphis May Fire, Chiodos, August Burns Red, Like Moths to Flames, to name a few) along with mascara-mad rockers (Black Veil Brides), emo mainstays (Hawthorne Heights, Motion City Soundtrack) and a growing number of electronic dance music artists (Run DMT, Kairo Kingdom, Goldhouse).

For some counterprogramming, we recommend death metallers The Black Dahlia Murder, here’s hoping for a nice crowd singalong to the band’s “Evil Dead”-inspired “Raped in Hatred by Vines of Thorn” from their new virulent disc, “Everblack,” the kazoo-abetted power pop of Beebs and Her Money Makers, the working class ska of Big D and the Kids Table, the nerdy, literate hip-hop of MC Lars and the sugar-buzzed punk of Emily’s Army, whose latest album was produced by Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong, himself a Warped Tour survivor, that grizzled breed.

Contact reporter Jason Bracelin at jbracelin@
reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0476.