The Vans Warped Tour is back in Long Beach. July 25 and 26, 2026 — Downtown Long Beach Shoreline Waterfront. If you were there in 2025 when the 30th anniversary run sold out, you already know what this means. If you weren't, here's what you missed: one of the most emotionally charged festival comebacks in recent memory, a crowd that hadn't forgotten a single word to a single song, and a founder who proved that what he built in 1995 still matters in 2026.
Kevin Lyman created Vans Warped Tour with a simple idea: put the best punk, ska, and hardcore bands on a traveling festival and let the kids decide what matters. For 23 years, it worked. Then in 2018, it ended. And in 2025, it came back — louder, more emotional, and more relevant than anyone expected.
THE 2025 COMEBACK THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING
The 30th anniversary run in 2025 was a statement. Avril Lavigne made her Warped Tour debut at the Washington D.C. stop. mgk brought the chaos. Sublime played 30 years after headlining the first edition. Simple Plan, All Time Low, Bowling for Soup, Scary Kids Scaring Kids, and The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus filled out a bill that felt like a love letter to everyone who ever crowd-surfed in a parking lot. The D.C. and Long Beach stops sold out. The culture responded.
"People start remembering once something's gone that it was important, it was fun — and I'm hoping to recapture a lot of that again," Lyman told Rolling Stone ahead of the 2025 return. He was right. And the moment it worked, he started planning what came next.
THE 2026 SCHEDULE: FIVE CITIES, TWO CONTINENTS
For 2026, Lyman has announced the most ambitious Warped Tour schedule since the original cross-country run. Five cities. Two continents. The first international stops in years.
The tour kicked off in Washington D.C. on June 13–14 at RFK Campus. Long Beach follows on July 25–26 at the Downtown Shoreline Waterfront. Then the tour crosses borders: Montreal on August 21–22 at Parc Jean-Drapeau, Mexico City on September 12–13 at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez — the first-ever Warped Tour stop in Mexico City — before wrapping in Orlando on November 14–15 at Camping World Stadium Campus.
"Bringing Warped back to international stages is an exciting milestone," Lyman said in a statement. "Montreal and Mexico City are home to some of the most dedicated music fans in the world, and expanding into these cities lets us share the Warped spirit with even more people. It's the perfect time to grow the tour and celebrate the global community that's been with us from the beginning."
Since its founding, Warped Tour has previously expanded to New Zealand, Europe, and Australia. The 2026 international dates mark the first time the festival has played outside the U.S. in years.
LYMAN'S VISION: COMMUNITY OVER NOSTALGIA
What makes Lyman's approach different from every other festival revival is that he's not trying to recreate the past. He's trying to build something that belongs to right now. "I've always felt we need to pay homage to the past, but we're looking to the future of the artists and the community," he told Rolling Stone. The 2026 lineup promises "a mix of legendary icons, returning festival favorites, and rising acts" — and if 2025 was any indication, expect the unexpected.
The festival grounds will again be filled with nonprofit tents, band merchandise booths, and sponsorship activations. The Ernie Ball Battle of the Bands returns. Ticket prices stay accessible — a deliberate choice Lyman has held firm on even as other festivals have pushed single-day GA tickets past $300. "It really starts with Kevin making that step, and holding his ground, and having that confidence in the community," Insomniac founder Pasquale Rotella said of the pricing philosophy. Lyman partnered with Insomniac for the 2025 return and the relationship continues into 2026.
"My body won't take riding around on a tour bus for 40 cities," Lyman admitted when asked about keeping the 2025 run contained. But he was always open to more: "If it works, we'll look to the future to do more." It worked. Five cities in 2026. The world is next.
As Lyman put it simply: "It'll always remind you of that parking lot, that backyard party. That's what Warped Tour was." Long Beach, July 25–26. Don't miss it.
