Rancid, 311, and Pennywise will help kick off the 2001 model of the Vans Warped Tour Friday (June 22) in Phoenix. Other acts featured on the seventh edition of the venerable punk tour include Alien Ant Farm, Fenix TX, Me First & the Gimme Gimmes, New Found Glory, radical country act Hank 3 & Assjack, and rapper Kool Keith.
The tour will cover 45 dates through mid-August and feature more than 30 bands per day. Other acts joining at a later date include the Living End, the Rollins Band, the Dub Pistols, D12, and, for one night (July 14) in Minneapolis, Blink 182. Also featured are extreme sports athletes and, for the first time, Incredibly Strange Wrestling, described as “spine-busting pro-wrestling action combined with punk rock.”
Nick Hexum, 311’s frontman, tells LAUNCH that the tour is all about the cool vibe. “You know, there’s rotating headliners and everybody shares the same thing. It just kinda goes with punk rock that everything is geared toward being down to earth,” he says. “Where other tours might argue about who’s gonna have the biggest light show and who’s gonna play last and who’s gonna have the longest set, this is, everything is almost like, socialist about it where everything is equal and everybody is happy that way. To sign on to the Warped Tour you have to agree to just be cool, you know what I mean?”
Pennywise guitarist Fletcher Dragge tells LAUNCH that there’s much to be excited about, beginning with the nightly cookout. “Barbecue, man. The barbecue. I mean I’m looking forward to seeing all the bands because we’re playing with some great bands: 311, Rancid, AFI, couple smaller bands, the Deviates are a local band from Hermosa [Beach], they’re gonna be out there, Me First & the Gimme Gimmes… I know Fat Mike from Me First & The Gimme Gimmes is gonna have a portable bar this year so when that thing opens up we’ll be sitting at it.,” he says. “It’s gonna be good.”