Warped Tour brings punk bands to Bay Area

Since 1995, one summer tour has remained the place to be for upcoming and underground rock bands: the Warped Tour.

Starting every June, a tour of about 100 bands travel across the United States and Canada to showcase their talent. The event, sponsored by the skateboarding shoe brand Vans, was originally founded to feature only punk rock bands but has since included a wider genre of music such as reggae, hip hop and alternative rock. The tour ends in late August and is a popular summer event at every tour location.

However, this festival does not just include music. It holds many other attractions such as a half-pipe for skateboarders, and tents where bands can meet fans, sign autographs and sell merchandise.

The Warped Tour is an entire day-long event instead of just an evening concert. Each show begins around 11 a.m. and ends at 9 p.m., with every band playing at least 30 minutes. However, one band is elected by online voters to play a longer ending set as a finale to the show. Various stages are set up across the venue, and multiple bands can play at the same time with the most popular bands on the two main stages.

The tour has also gone eco-friendly by introducing the Warped Eco Initiative that uses biodiesel to fuel the band’s buses and has a solar stage that is powered solely by solar panels.

The 2010 tour lineup includes many underground bands such as Automatic Loveletter and Hollywood Heartthrob, but also some familiar names such as Dropkick Murphys, Motion City Soundtrack, Mike Posner, Sum 41 and the All-American Rejects.

The tour begins in Carson, Calif., on June 25, and will make its second stop at the Shoreline theater in Mountain View on June 26. General admission tickets cost $33 and can be bought online at www.warpedtour.com.