The Vans Warped Tour is a touring music festival founded in 1995 by Kevin Lyman and Ray Woodbury in association with Warp Magazine and Creative Artists Agency. It began as a skate punk and third-wave ska event, evolving to emphasize pop punk and metalcore acts, alongside hardcore, street punk, and later influences from emo, post-hardcore, hip hop, and reggae. The inaugural tour ran from June 21 in Nampa, Idaho, to August 18 in Pontiac, Michigan, with Vans becoming the primary sponsor starting in 1996. The festival toured annually across the United States and Canada each summer through 2019, featuring hundreds of bands over its run, including NOFX, Pennywise, Blink-182, My Chemical Romance, and Fall Out Boy. It incorporated extreme sports demonstrations and operated at outdoor venues with a flexible, one-day setup per location. After a pause, it returned in 2025 for its 30th anniversary with three two-day festivals in Washington, DC, Long Beach, CA, and Orlando, FL. Warped Tour is known for its high-energy live environment, fostering community among punk and alternative music fans through multi-stage performances and skate ramps.