Dates for the next annual Vans Warped Tour were revealed Thursday, and this time the itinerary included something we haven’t seen in a while: an Orange County stop, June 21 in Irvine.
Where in Irvine exactly? The official Warped Tour site doesn’t say; its agenda lists only cities from the June 16 kickoff in Salt Lake City up through the Pacific Northwest finale, Aug. 6 in Portland. However, Pollstar‘s meticulous tracking of tours, which is rarely mistaken, indicates venues for all but two cities — and they show that Warped is headed to the Great Park.
Setting aside occasional free-show appearances from the likes of Lucinda Williams or Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, the arrival of the perennial punkapalooza-plus-more makes it the first major nationwide tour of such scope to be held on the former Marine Corps Air Station at El Toro.
It’s a promising move: As potentially disorganized and/or traffic-clogged as the Great Park might get during this initial foray, it’s also a potentially far better spot for Warped than the times the fest has been squished into nooks and crannies surrounding the former Irvine Meadows. Here’s hoping it winds up being as ideal a location as Cal State Fullerton was once upon a time.
Looking for something to do this weekend?
