Everything I Needed to Know in Life
I Learned at the Warped Tour – Slide Show
by Kimberly Maroon, Jamesburg, NJ
After spending four years in college, absorbing an excessive amount of knowledge from books and lectures by doctorate level professors, I have come to find that everything I ever needed to know about life and surviving in the real world I learned through the people around me. And who better to learn from than the largest and most diverse crowd ever imaginable- the Vans Warped Tour.
Being a late bloomer to the punk scene, I attended my first Warped Tour four years ago in Asbury Park, NJ. Looking back, I can say that the Warped Tour was a turning point in my life. I discovered that I truly enjoyed being around people, whether it was meeting new people or spending time with others who shared in my passion for music. I believe the Warped Tour has shaped and molded me into the person I am today. Now in its 11th year, the Warped Tour has grown to become the most successful tour in the country drawing crowds that can amount to 30,000 or more eager fans. The tour has become a stepping stone, a right of passage, for hundreds of artists through the years. The Vans Warped Tour is as equally important to the fans as it is to the artists. It is the punk rock summer camp that everyone looks forward to all year long.
For the past two years, I have had the opportunity to capture the stars of the Vans Warped Tour in photographs. This year, for the first time I was able to encompass both crowd and artists in action. In this special feature, we journey into the depths of the audience at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in Englishtown, New Jersey to bring you one of the largest and strongest crowds of all the stops on the tour (one of the top 3 stops I might add). This crowd comes complete with a few life lessons, most of which you probably already know by now. However, some are presented a bit differently this time around.
I would like to take this time to thank everyone who made this possible: Ice Cream Man, The Mitch Schneider Organization, Concerts East Inc., and most importantly the artists and the fans.
