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A D V E R T I S E M E N T
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A D V E R T I S E M E N T
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Smirnoff Music Center
By Ken Shimamoto
Back in my misguided youth, I labored for a time under the delusion that there would be a big hippie rock festival in upstate New York every couple of years for the rest of my life. I was wrong, but only about the location.
Big annual multi-headliner tours have been a music industry cash cow since the early ’90s, when Perry Farrell of Jane’s Addiction/Porno for Pyros fame hatched the idea for Lollapalooza, an Alternative Nation traveling circus modeled on the U.K.’s Reading Festival. Since 1995, Ozzfest has performed a similar function for purist metalheads, while the Vans Warped Tour has done the same for the younger, punkier, extreme skate ’n’ cycle crowd.
In this age of corporate sponsorship, it makes sense that Vans would have opted to pick up the Warped Tour’s tab. Cool shoes have always been an important rock ’n’ roll signifier — just think of blue suede shoes, Beatles boots, Doc Martens — and now that it’s possible to get a t-shirt that says “I Hate Myself” at Ridgmar Mall and a blue mohawk, the smiling folks at Vans have realized there’s an awful lot of sneakers to be sold to the young moshing masses.
Besides relatively seasoned outfits like Rancid and Pennywise and hot newcomers like AFI, the Ataris, and Less Than Jake, this year’s Warped Tour lineup includes Metromess heavies Bowling for Soup, every rockcrit’s fave party-boy Andrew W.K., and the Dropkick Murphys, whose name conjures up images of football played with a potato.
Besides music, extreme sports, and loads of merch, the attractions will include a “reverse daycare” area, complete with masseuse and “noise-proof” headphones, where kids can drop off their parents after receiving the obligatory “Don’t forget the sunscreen” warning. Teenage rebellion has never been so easy.
Sat, Jul 19 at Smirnoff Music Center Lot, 1818 First Ave, Dallas. 214-421-1111.
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