Kevin Lyman Addresses Rumors of Warped Tour’s Return

The hot rumor of late has been that the Warped Tour will return in 2025 and now Warped Tour founder Kevin Lyman has confirmed that there is “something cooking” for next year.

The Warped Tour Rumor

Just last week, Rock Feed cited “multiple sources” in reporting that the retired rock festival would be making a comeback in 2025 with “a series of festivals.” They were also reporting that promoters Live Nation would be involved along with Warped Tour founder Kevin Lyman. After word of the potential return and who was supposedly involved started to spread, there was some pushback from fans over Live Nation’s involvement.

What Kevin Lyman Said

In a separate interview with Pollstar this week, Lyman addressed the rumor stating, “We have something cooking for 2025. Details should be ready in a few weeks.”

It should be noted that 2025 will mark the festival’s 30th anniversary, which makes the timing right to take advantage of the landmark year. The first Warped Tour took place in 1995 with not only acts, but also included acts with hardcore, reggae, ska and grunge roots, with a few big name acts using the festival as a springboard into a bigger career. Fans were also treated to pro skating, boarding and biking exhibitions with a monster halfpipe, a giant climbing wall and other forms of entertainment.

READ MORE: Whatever Happened to the Bands From the Inaugural Warped Tour?

Over time, Warped Tour evolved with other movements in the rock music scene finding a place on the “punk rock summer camp” bill.

The End of Warped Tour

Lyman announced in 2017 that 2018 would be the last year of the Vans Warped Tour as a touring festival. But Lyman did announce a trio of destination Warped Tour festivals in 2019 to mark the 25th anniversary of the festival.

Speaking about his reasoning for shutting down the long-running festival, Lyman told Kerrang in 2019, “It got very frustrating around 2017. I was challenged by the fractured fan base, the fractured band base, the sense of community and what I got involved in this for, and what brought me into punk rock that I said ‘you know, if it’s changed this much, maybe it’s time for me to wind this thing down.”

In reflecting on Warped Tour and the success, Lyman told Loudwire in 2018 that the secret was “Keeping it simple.”

He added, “It still feels like a backyard party. That’s what I wanted it to be, an accessible backyard party, the kind of things we used to have at our house. A band playing, a plywood ramp, me barbecueing. Some people would say the Warped Tour became a formula in some ways, but it was my thing, I just never changed a whole lot.”