I thought a few thousand fans would show up, but about 10,000 turned out, and the organizers launched Warped as a national tour the following year. Since Bad Religion had always toured Europe in the summers, we had never played U.S. festivals before. We d always been overlooked for Lollapalooza, and you re only allowed to play the Lilith Fair if you have a vagina. Unlike those tours, which pride themselves on order and civilized behavior, the beauty of the Warped Tour is its organic nature. It s disorganized, messy, and fun.
Bands get to bond and do things like go white-water rafting together before shows.
Rather than sitting in a dressing room all day, we run the Bad Religion festival tent, which is open to the public. I like to get there early to help set things up. Since we spend a lot of time sitting on our asses in a bus going between cities, it s a good way to get some exercise. The first date of this year s tour, in Phoenix, was chaos. I got there at eight-thirty in the morning.