The Vans Warped Tour is always going to be nostalgia-coded for those who went during its heyday in the late ‘90s and 2000s, but the 2026 edition of the festival in Long Beach showed that it’s really the next generation of rockers who will be carrying the torch in whatever format Warped Tour chooses to continue.
While thousands of folks were undoubtedly there to see some of the more “classic” bands, like Taking Back Sunday, Jimmy Eat World, The Used and Papa Roach, it was more contemporary artists like the Texan pop-rockers in Waterparks, LA’s own DeathbyRomy and Nashville pop-punkers Winona Fighter who truly shone under the hot California sun.
Speaking of Winona Fighter, the fiery band kicked off the weekend’s main stages with a high-energy pre-noon set on Saturday, and the afternoon’s other highlights including Citizen (watching a mosh pit of hundreds of kids erupt at the crescendo of “The Night I Drove Alone” in a blistering parking lot before 2:00 p.m. really felt like Warped Tour of old), Gym Class Heroes and Joyce Manor all combining many of their beloved older tracks with their latest offerings. And a definite high point of the late afternoon came at the end of 3OH!3’s set, when the Colorado duo returned to the Warped Tour Stage for the second straight year to prove that there’s never a bad summer day to hear a massive millennial crowd sloppily belt out their 2008 banger, “Don’t Trust Me.”
Saturday’s evening sets kept up the energy for the slightly older audience, with Jimmy Eat World playing nearly all of their hits (the Arizona band seemed to serve as an unofficial headliner for many) before the sun even set. As the sky darkened and temperatures cooled, other major acts like All Time Low, Dance Gavin Dance and Simple Plan played powerful sets to the relieved crowd — and everyone got to see the one Hoobastank song that they remembered (along with a handful of others).
Sunday started with a variety of strong acts, with KennyHoopla bringing his unique blend of indie, punk and hip-hop to one of the smaller stages before Acceptance reminded everyone that Phantoms will always be one of the best pop-leaning emo albums of the 2000s (with help from guest vocalists from The Cab, The Starting Line and The Academy Is…). Waterparks kept the party going through the blazing afternoon on the main stage, while Glassjaw once again showed that they’re still one of the absolute best bands on the planet after 30 years (even if their set started before the festival turned on their PA, costing the crowd the first half of “Tip Your Bartender”).
While the heat was getting to insane levels by around 4:00 on Sunday afternoon, so was the music, with MxPx ripping through their set (and joking about the rarity of punk bands with X in their title these days, a lighthearted jab at NOFX’s dissolution in recent years) directly before a near-hometown show from Thrice on the alternating main stages, heralding in some of the biggest and best names of the 2000s, like Motion City Soundtrack, Story of the Year and Taking Back Sunday (currently featuring both John Nolan and Fred Mascherino on guitar and vocals on each side of Adam Lazzara) all still in full sunshine.
A pair of interesting additions in Third Eye Blind (who brought out William Ryan Key from Yellowcard to play “Ocean Avenue”) and Papa Roach closed out the main stage after The Used on Sunday, but many fans found themselves preferring the action happening on the side stages as the weekend came to a close. Alexisonfire put on one of the most impressive sets of the weekend (obviously finishing with “This Could Be Anywhere in the World,” which is still a top-notch post-hardcore anthem two decades later) at the same time as Papa Roach started while Warped Tour veterans like Lagwagon and Hawthorne Heights closed out a pair of the stages.
The weekend wasn’t without its issues, as temperatures in the high 80s, humidity around 70 percent and blazing sunshine created plenty of sunburns, overheating and general discomfort among those who were underprepared. Some logistical problems ranging from security (some of whom were fine, others were as clueless and useless as expected when hiring security for an event that size) to sound (several bands began their set seemingly before the festival had switched the PA system over to the stage, while others dealt with mixing issues that made certain instruments or even full songs difficult to hear clearly) to timing (multiple bands had to skip a popular song or two due to unpredictably exact set times or risk being cut-off mid-track), but it was certainly a drastic improvement over the chaos of last year’s return.
Overall, there were plenty of moments throughout the Long Beach stop where attendees of old could look around and say “Yeah, this feels like the Warped Tour that I knew,” and it certainly delivered the combination of heat, dirt, sweat and energy that younger enthusiasts have been counting on for decades. The half-pipe and inflatable schedule (as archaic as “random” set times may be in 2026) are still synonymous with the festival, even if the photos being taken of them are now on smartphones instead of disposable cameras.
Is the multi-day festival-based corporate sponsor-packed Vans Warped Tour in the hellscape known as 2026 exactly the same as the punk rock summer camp that famously toured the country for so many years? Of course not, but it also doesn’t come with some of the pitfalls of yesteryear that likely wouldn’t work in the era of streaming and social media. As a lifelong fan of Warped Tour, I might be biased (after all, I’ve worked it, covered it, played it, and attended as a guest over the decades), but I think having Warped Tour around in any format is a good thing, and I feel bad for whoever the first generation is that has to grow up without it.
