Warped Tour announces final trek

Warped Tour founder, Kevin Lyman, has indicated that the 2013 tour to Australia will be the last undertaken due to Vans and the other primary sponsors pulling funding. The mash-up of music and extreme sports has been garnering controversy over the past few years with several bands leaving mid-tour, internal tour fighting, and clashing between bands, as well as a growing upheaval against the commercialization of the event. With fans lodging protests, signing petitions and threatening to boycott, Lyman added that there was a grave insistence that the tour lost its punk vibe that made it the tentpole of the 2000s.

I regret to inform the fans out there that 2013 will be the last [year] we share blood, sweat, tears, and moshing together. Vans, whom I'm grateful for the support since the late 90s, have a business plan that won't include us past 2014. We've crunched numbers and have been trying to stave off losing the tour for a while...as we have had this news since 2012, but unfortunately, we couldn't grab a new sponsor. Other avenues of funding also began shifting away from us which made it even more difficult.

Lyman revealed that he was also working "24/7" to ensure the 2013 version endured the full duration as the numbers could also mean a shortened run before they wrap up. With this finale looming, he stated that there wasn't even financial backing for mini-US tours, which he foresaw last year, and solidified that the nail was in the coffin.

I'm deeply saddened to relay this news but I gotta thanks the fans, the bands and the sponsors for making this happen. Let's go out with a bang. Who knows? Maybe Nike would scout and sponsor us? Or we could Kickstart? Either way, we're wrapping for now.