Warped Tour Prep
June 19, 2026
I went to scrappy, old Warped Tour exactly once in my youth, because at an hour and a half away Charlotte NC was "too far" for a lot of people to drive. It was amazing, though. I got absolutely trashed with friends the night before and spent the next day almost dying in the summer heat. The only part of that day that I remember is that I met Andrew W.K. while dressed as him. He and his wife at the time said I was the first girl they had ever seen do it. Core fucking memory.
Good dude. I still can't drink gin.
So when Warped came back last year I was like, oh dope, that's its too bad they're only coming as close as DC. Then they announced 2026. Yellowcard had a gap in their tour dates for the same time period. I convinced my husband that 1. it was basically being held on my birthday, 2. if we wanted to see Yellowcard anyway it made more sense to see them and 100 of their best friends, and 3. that obviously our favorite band All Time Low would play.
All Time Low did not play. All Time Low was in Europe. Two out of three wasn't so bad.
So we committed to the following:
- An 8-ish hour drive
- An unknown lineup and schedule
- Variable weather with no re-entry
- Me having to meal prep breakfast and dinner because celiac
- The longest event either of our introverted asses had ever been to
Spoiler alert: We had a great time and already bought tickets for 2027. Please lord let All Time Low be there.
What worked well with our festival prep
My meal prep
I made an apple baked oatmeal for breakfast and some chicken and vegetables with quinoa for dinner. I also hard boiled half a dozen eggs, packed some string cheese, and brought protein bars. I was allowed to bring in food with an ADA accomodation which I did and just..didn't eat it.
My camelbak fanny pack
Easy to carry. Easy to refill at the water stations.
My insane spreadsheet of every band
Warped has multiple stages and multiple days and doesn't tell you when or where anyone is playing. So we made a spreadsheet of everyone and ranked them by how much we wanted to see them. At the start of each day my husband was able to reference my rankings (since they were more complete than his) and make us a schedule.
Our hotel and taking the metro
Our hotel was great, man. It had a free breakfast if you didn't have food allergies, a full kitchen in your room, and a pool. We booked it so far in advance that our credit card expired between the booking and our stay. We almost both had a meltdown in a Taco Bell parking lot when my husband checked his voicemail and had one from the hotel saying they were sold out and we needed to call them back within a half hour because our card declined but..they held the room. It was ok.
I think a lot of people who travelled in for the festival tried to stay properly within DC. We stayed a few stops out and our trains were always empty.
Dog care
Rosie hung out with her bestie Fox and her preferred Mommy. She only pooped for them once over the course of four days. I feel terrible about that but I think it was also a record and that she normally holds it.
What didn't work well
Eating during the festival
I realized on the drive that the bars were going to melt and what I really wanted was some jerky. Gas station jerky is expensive so I didn't get any. Then I got heat exhaustion and couldn't eat my mushy bars during the festival because I was nauseous. Next year I'm bringing jerky. Just bags and bags of meat in the pit, ok.
My shoes
I've been very into my Xeroes minimalist shoes. You need more than 5mm of sole when you are standing on burning hot asphalt all day. I could feel how hot it was. My left heel had worn down a little more than the right and actually burnt my foot through my shoe on day one. My entire heel is a blister. Those shoes are dead to me and are no longer my every day sneaker. I've bought some Lems that I plan on wearing next year if I like them.
The larger clear bag that I brought with our larger water bladder
The water stations never really had lines so we didn't need to pack as much water as I was prepared to. The cheap bag was pretty much immediately uncomfortable for me to carry. I wont use it next time.
My sunscreen
I tried to reduce how much we were carrying and committed to using a chemical sunscreen and sharing it with my husband. I burnt even though I reapplied. Next year I'm slathering up with my pasty white mineral sunscreen and have ordered a lightweight UPF hoodie to wear.
General festival tips
Don't take the pedicabs
They were charging hundreds (plural!!) of dollars to move people roughly a mile on an e-bike.
Don't buy anything from a vendor that you don't see flipping their stupid tablet around to the tip screen
I did have a girly modestly tip herself. I don't like treating service workers like the enemy, but I guess I can start.
If you have to have a mole excised on your foot two days before the festival have them cauterize it
This was my second pass on this foot so I knew if it couldn't handle a spin class it could not have a festival. I'm probably losing a toenail on that foot from the pit but I didn't bleed through my shoe.
Bonus: A selection of my commentary from our spreadsheet
These are mostly negative reactions because the positive ratings in the spreadsheet spoke for themselves. Some of the commentary is neutral and unrelated to the rating. I think it's pretty clear when that is the case.
| Band | Ranking | Note |
|---|---|---|
| All That Remains | 5.5 | Trump ass lead singer |
| American Hi-Fi | 2.7 | i need to be drunk and screaming "her boyfrienddd he dont knowww anything about herrr" |
| Anberlin | 4.5 | I didn't leave the south to listen to christian ass rock |
| Breathe Carolina | 4.5 | Guitarist is currently being investigated by the SEC for a pump and dump scheme he used his social media for so I am inclined to not give him my attention ever |
| Deathbyromy | 3.5 | apparently has a discord where she directs her fans to attack other female musicians on social media. not cute!! |
| Girlfriends | 4.5 | apple logo tattoo |
| Honey Revenge | 3.5 | they sound good but literally every song is about self loathing |
| Hot Mulligan | 4.5 | monica lewinskibidi fuck all the way off |
| Iann Dior | 3.5 | he sounds fine i am just so sick of music that sounds like this |
| Initiate | 2.99 | girl scream :) |
| Jutes | 3.5 | demi lovato's husband???? |
| Meet Me @ The Altar | 1.3 | alex (gaskarth) likes them |
| Oxymorrons | 4.5 | republicans and democrats are the saaaaame fuck off |
| Suicidal Tendencies | 3.5 | singer has beef with tom morello lol |
| The Devil Wears Prada | 4.5 | They are "no longer a Christian band" but they're, like, not athiests. |
| The Front Bottoms | 4 | I don't have a good reason but they give me the ick |
| The Ghost Inside | 3.5 | their drummer lost his fucking leg in a tour bus accident jesus |
| Third Eye Blind | 2.99 | Singer is in his 60s so we should see them while he's still around |
| Underoath | 3.5 | No longer a Christan band |
| Vana | 1.99 | big backing track |
| Villanelle | 3.5 | if you are wondering how they booked warped with three songs, their singer is a nepo baby |
| Waterparks | 3.5 | I really don't need to see them again so soon. Or maybe ever. |