Warped DC Day 1 - 6/13

June 20, 2026

This is part 2 of 3 of my Warped series. Part 1 is located here.

Venue/general setup

It feels weird to review the venue like I usually do. Warped in DC was held at the festival grounds at RFK Campus. It's basically a parking lot and anything specific varies and is up to the event organizers. Naming a stadium after a liberal icon and then reducing the area to a sea of asphalt feels pretty indicative of our whole situation.

I thought the set up largely made sense. There were three main sets of pairs of stages so that a band could set up while another was playing. This meant you could usually hang out in a chill area not too far from the stage if you just wanted to casually check a band out.

I heard horror stories of poop tiles from last year. There were still a few. I think some horses pooped and they placed tiles over the poop mud at the entrance so you weren't forced to walk through the goop? It smelled pretty much how you would expect.

I also heard horror stories about the porta potties running out of toilet paper and long water lines. Those things were fixed! This year our enemy was the heat. Security was good about slinging emergency water packets into the crowd, but there was a significant lack of shade, seating options, and misters for attendees. The heat kept me from visiting merch tents.

Food and drinks were roughly Boston-event-priced. So they were expensive. Luckily, I was too overheated to want alcohol for most of the weekend. Heat exhaustion saved me probably $60 minimum. Thanks, climate change!

Bands

tiLLie

An honorable mention for tiLLie. I missed her because it took us over an hour to get through the security line. I'm still sad about it. There were so few women on the lineup so this counts as missing like four bands for me.

Beauty School Dropout

I ranked them as a "would be nice to see, but ok if we don't" in our spreadsheet. Honestly, that was spot on. I can't remember a single thing about their set. I wasn't familiar with them before this and I'm still not. Perfectly neutral experience.

Girlfriends

Sometimes marriage is about compromise. Sometimes that compromise is listening to and cheering for an overly autotuned band because your husband wants to see them.

People R Ugly

These guys were ranked #10 on my list for the whole festival based purely on vibes from the livestream last year. They didn't disappoint.

Setlist
SLEEP TALKING
PUNCHING BAG (Live debut)
OUTSIDE FREESTYLE
Marigold
FUCK IT (I'LL BE OKAY)
BETTER
BRAIN DEAD
What's Up? (4 Non Blondes cover)
4skin (Circ23)(Not on planned setlist. Song was Unretired and added due to having extra time left.)

This set had everything. We got a live debut. We got a solid cover. We had a pit. I sunscreened a woman that I didn't know. The band crowd surfed at the end while their guitarist sang a song about his adult circumcision.

I would see them again in a heartbeat. I hope I never learn how old they are because I fear I will crumble into dust.

Have a music video. I love them.

Hawthorne Heights

I rated Hawthorne Heights as a tier-2 band for us. Like, it felt stupid to avoid seeing them if I was already at a festival and they were playing. I didn't have high expectations. We stayed for roughly two songs. Setlist.fm tells me I heard "We Are So Last Year" and "Pens and Needles". Then I really desperately needed a frozen lemonade.

The Home Team

We found a scrap of shade for my lemonade and saw some of this set. It seemed like a good time. If they're on the setlist next year I will make more of an effort to get into them.

I hope the man that asked us for a squirt of our sunscreen and then ran over and shared it with two of his friends is feeling ok. We would have given you more if we knew.

GWAR

I don't know how to describe GWAR to you if you aren't already familiar, but I will do my best.

They are some sort of interplanetary costumed heavy-metal band that is superior to the human race in every way. We do not deserve the blessing of their presence. I think their whole artistic process is that they get really stoned and think of the most outlandish thing they could be doing during a set, then ask themselves "but how can this also be used as a reason to spray the audience with fake blood?". The fake blood is really crucial. Security was given ponchos.

The man standing next to me towards the end of the set apparently did not get this memo because his shoes got splashed and he was very upset. He immediately started trying to wash them off. It should have been me!! I spent the whole time trying to politely get closer to the front because the fake blood is, in fact, gluten free. We managed to get the littlest his and hers blood spray.

Setlist
Fuck This Place
Crack in the Egg
Tormentor
Tyrant King
El Presidente
Gor-Gor
Pink Pony Club (Chappell Roan cover)

Another 10/10. Opening with Fuck This Place in DC was perfect.
They had a whole little plot with Gor-Gor. Who is some sort of all powerful baby dinosaur? I don't know. I was just a girl with an iced lemonade trying to get sprayed by blood.

Bayside

This is where my insane spreadsheet planning paid off. I was unfamiliar with Bayside before they were announced for Warped and I think they ended up being my second favorite act of Day 1. It's hard to really rank things because comparing them to sets like GWAR feels unfair. But I would immediately drop what I was doing to see these guys again.



I ended up getting closer to this, but the nature of taking limited souvenir photos means that I have what I have. It was was actually very sweet. I was 2nd row behind a woman with her husband and kid and she was having the absolute best time. Her kid was filming for her so she could jam.

Setlist
Sick, Sick, Sick
Duality
How to Ruin Everything (Patience)
Montauk
Go to Hell
Blame It on Bad Luck
Enter Sandman (Metallica cover)
Devotion and Desire

My favorite song of theirs if you're curious:

I am pretty sure I missed their stop of the tour with Taking Back Sunday that was near me and I am trying to not be devastated.

Taking Back Sunday

I've seen the videos of Adam's live vocals. I've seen the video of him upside down at WWWY. I still ranked them as my #6 must see band and told my husband that I knew they weren't going to be so hot, but that I wanted to do it anyway. So I got a drink and headed over. (This is the drink that the vendor decided deserved a $5 tip for pouring a shot into a premade lemonade mix. I am a girly that politely tips $1 for someone opening my can and I will die mad about this.)



And you know what? It was a really good time. I'd see them again. That man's mic was on because I heard it thump when he swung it into his leg. I'd rather experience whatever that was instead of a backing track.

Setlist
What's It Feel Like to Be a Ghost?
Liar (It Takes One to Know One)
Set Phasers to Stun
The One
Error: Operator
Tidal Wave
You're So Last Summer
A Decade Under the Influence
My Blue Heaven
S'Old
Timberwolves at New Jersey
Cute Without the 'E' (Cut From the Team)
MakeDamnSure

The consensus online seems to be that this was a Good Adam Performance, so maybe I'll regret seeing them again if I go. I'm willing to risk it.

I still need to hear Ghost Man on Third live because I've heard Lights sing Ghost Girl on First. I need both, those are just the rules.

Third Eye Blind

I had really low expectations of Third Eye Blind, I'll be honest. Stephan Jenkins seems like a nightmare to be in a band with in the most uncontroversial ways per Wikipedia and I was underwhelmed by recent videos of his live performances. Before Warped announced they were playing I didn't even realize they were still a band.

I was wrong. They put on a really good show.

Setlist
Thanks a Lot
Dust Storm
Never Let You Go
Narcolepsy
Faster
The Kids Are Coming (To Take You Down)
Wolf Like Me (TV on the Radio cover
Graduate
Losing a Whole Year
Motorcycle Drive By
Jumper
"Heroes" (David Bowie cover)
Semi-Charmed Life
How's It Going to Be

Also, have you revisted the lyrics to Semi-Charmed Life recently? Can someone explain to me why Pokemon was considered demonic during my childhood but I could blast this filthy song about fucking and crystal meth?

The Used

You can tell I'm dying at this point in the day. I'm sat on the ground where Rise Against is going to play after The Used. I didn't even get Bert in the photo. I like The Used a lot but I wouldn't go out of my way to catch a performance that wasn't acoustic.

This was the definition of not going out of my way.

Setlist
Pretty Handsome Awkward
Take It Away
The Bird and the Worm
Buried Myself Alive
I Caught Fire
Fuck You
Blow Me
Sound Effects and Overdramatics
Blood on My Hands (Macbeth soliloquy intro)
The Taste of Ink
A Box Full of Sharp Objects

I wanted to hear The Bird and the Worm. I heard The Bird and the Worm. Mission accomplished.

The drummers kid was also on stage, both 'playing guitar' and 'singing', which was cute but a little weird when the camera cut to him during Fuck You.

Rise Against

I was so into Rise Against in highschool. I'm not sure why I fell off with them. The nostalgia alone made them my #3 pick. Then I watched last year's performance. Instant #1 when he opened his mouth. I'm bummed that I had to skip Meet Me @ The Altar to see them, but I wasn't going to miss it.



Note the pit flag in the photo. My husband tried to move me when the pit opened up, but I was exactly where I wanted to be. Am I going to lose a toenail from men accidentally stomping on me? Probably. Did they all apologize? Yep. My husband spent the set lifting people up to crowdsurf and I spent the set making sure people didn't fall from surfing above or falling beside me and getting trampled in the pit. I am only somewhat aware of the performance and wouldn't have it any other way.

The influx of surfers to Prayer of the Refugee was such a special experience. Some gen z boys tried to send my husband up and he declined. They clocked us as old and responsible/married and were immediately like "No, it's ok, we'll send your wife after you so you don't get separated." We stayed on the ground. The marriage assumption is extra funny to us because we don't wear rings. May everyone else's marriage be so obvious that drunk children know you need to go crowdsurfing together.

Another girl tried to get me to go run in the pit and I wanted to but declined as well. At that point I knew my foot was burnt to hell and I was worried I wouldn't find my way back. It was definitely the rowdiest I've been in a while and everyone there was my best friend. I miss them.

I also collided with the moderator of the subreddit and he was nice. So that's the one polite mod on the earth.

Setlist
Re-Education (Through Labor)
Under the Knife
Satellite
Give It All
Help Is on the Way
Ready to Fall
The Good Left Undone
Prayer of the Refugee
Swing Life Away
Chamber the Cartridge
Savior

The only song I wish I got to hear was Hero of War but I understand why that's not part of the festival set. I'll just have to catch them on tour and hope to hear it then.

Rise Against was really the perfect end to a Warped day. I'm really glad that I finally got to see them and that they were my first real marital pit. It's tied or maybe slightly under my All Time Low Everyone's Talking Night 2 experience for the most fun I've ever had. I might just like seeing my husband pick people up? We need more data. Will report back.