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Celebrates 30 Years in Long Beach
August 1st, 2025 Review by Kevin Gomez
SATURDAY
Ever since billboards announced the return of The Warped Tour in 2025, fans have been anxious to be a part of it.
Whether adults in their 30s or 40s trying to reclaim a part of their adolescence or young teens and 20-somethings clamoring to be a part of a festival that ended before they could attend, some 80,000 people packed The Shoreline Waterfront in Long Beach for the festival’s return.
Santa Cruz’s Drain kicked things off on the Vans Right Foot Stage. From Cody Chavez’s opening guitar riff of “Feel the Pressure” to lead singer Sammy Ciaramitaro’s barking “Ooh!” an enormous pit erupted with fans thrashing about while a giant shark boy (their mascot) danced and did push-ups on stage.
For the last song of the set, Ciaramitaro asked everyone to move up close, told security to “call back up,” and then said he wanted to see 100 crowd surfers (I think they hit that goal) as the band played “California Cursed.”
Fishbone kept things going on the Shapiro Stage. Lead singer and saxophonist Angelo Moore did a cartwheel during “I Don’t Care” while his daughter Cheyenne Starr took lead vocals on “Skankin’ to the Beat.”
Moore dedicated “Ugly” to “that devil in the White House.” He asked how many people in the audience hated their job – a not-surprising majority of fans – and dedicated “Cubicle” to them. They played “Racist Piece of Shit” and finished with “Party at Ground Zero.”
On the Octopus Stage, Suicide Machines already had things bumping. Lead singer Jason Navarro said, “This next song is about smoking weed on a nice day at the beach” and played “Islands.”
They played fan-favorite “S.O.S.” Navarro said while he appreciated skateboarding becoming popular and an Olympic sport, at its heart skateboarding is about being anti-establishment and pissing off cops. And thus was the inspiration for “Keep it a Crime.”
With so many bands playing over eight stages (and an acoustic stage) it’s impossible to avoid scheduling conflicts. As such, I had to leave Suicide Machines early so I could catch The Vandals, who opened with the rare “Join Us for Pong.”
They played the ode to drummer Josh Freese’s hair, “Ape Drape,” followed by “Urban Struggle” and “Anarchy Burger.”
They closed with guitarist Warren Fitzgerald taking lead vocals on “I Have a Date.”
Goldfinger opened with the ska “Get Up,” featuring horns from Scott Klopfenstein, Dan Regan, and Matt Appleton of Reel Big Fish.
They debuted a new song, “Freaking Out a Bit,” and played “Open Your Eyes,” which eventually turned into a cover of NOFX’s “Linoleum.”
Lead singer John Feldman brought out a gold record for their song “Superman,” and brought out “the man responsible” for its success, Tony Hawk to sing lead vocals.
They finished with their cover of “99 Red Balloons” with Charlie Paulson slaying on guitar.
Bucket list. That’s how I would describe getting to experience not one, but two full sets from Ice-T. Ice-T kicked it off with his very first hit song, “6 in the Mornin’,” and paid tribute to greats like N.W.A., The Geto Boys, Snoop, and Tupac in “Gangsta Rap.”
He looked out at the audience and said, “A lot of you people only know me from ‘SVU.’ I’m far from a cop.” He told the story of his life through “That’s How I’m Livin’” and closed things out with two soundtrack theme songs – “New Jack Hustler” and “Colors.”
Ice-T remained on stage as his band Body Count took over and he instructed the crowd, “I’m going to show you rock ‘n’ roll has nothing to do with color. It’s a state of mind.”
The backdrop turned to a memorial to Ozzy Osbourne as Ice-T said, “rest in peace, Ozzy” and the band played a medley of “Black Sabbath” and Slayer’s, “Raining Blood.” They played the popular “There Goes the Neighborhood” and “Manslaughter,” about “the pusification of men.” They finished with “Talk Shit, Get Shot” and the controversial, “Cop Killer.”
Pennywise opened with “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” and “My Own Country.” Guitarist Fletcher Dragge commented, “I count about seven pits right now. VIP is going off! The rich fucks are getting it.” Lead singer Jim Lindberg said the song “Straight Ahead” is dedicated to people like Warped Tour founder Kevin Lyman, and Steve Van Doren from Vans.
They played a medley of NOFX songs, “Bob,” “Kill All the White Men,” and “The Brews.” They then played Bad Religion’s “Do What You Want,” which turned into Beastie Boys’ “Fight For Your Right.”
Dragge dedicated “Fuck Authority” to “every motherfucker in the White House.” Lyman brought a cake out to celebrate Lindberg’s 60th birthday. They finished with “Bro Hymn.”
The mayor of Long Beach himself, Rex Richardson came out to introduce a band “well qualified to represent the LBC,” Sublime.
It was basically a Sublime greatest hits set, this time with Jakob Nowell on lead vocals.
They opened with “Garden Grove,” “The Ballad of Johnny Butt,” “40oz. to Freedom,” and their iconic cover of “Smoke Two Joints.”
They played “Badfish,” and their newest single, “Ensenada” from their upcoming album. Nowell brought out “Uncle Fletcher” to play “Same in the End” together.
Fletcher took a moment to recognize how things had come full circle as Sublime played the very first Warped Tour in ’95.
They closed their set with a powerful rendition of “Santeria.”
A Day to Remember hit the stage and were instantly one of the most popular bands all day.
As soon as the chanting intro for “The Downfall of Us All” began it was like a football stadium with everyone chanting back and then the music kicked, in erupting in a massive pit.
They kept that same energy up “I’m Made of Wax, Larry, What Are You Made Of?” as fans bounced up in unison while Jeremy McKinnon barked vocals.
The Florida band played “All My Friends,” “Resentment,” and “Lebron.” The band capped one of the most explosive and well-received sets all day with “All Signs Point to Lauderdale.”
The All-American Rejects were set to close things on Saturday and opened with “Swing, Swing,” followed by “My Paper Heart.” They debuted a brand new song from their forthcoming album, “Search Party.”
They played the popular “Dirty Little Secret” and then brought things down. Lead singer Tyler Ritter and guitarist Nick Wheeler did a gorgeous acoustic tribute of Ozzy Osbourne’s “Mama, I’m Coming Home.” They finished their set with fan favorite, “Move Along” before closing the night with “Gives You Hell.”
SUNDAY
No matter how tired this crowd was from the day before, Magnolia Park made sure to get the crowd up and ready to start day two. They opened with “Shadow Talk” and “Cult,” home of the earliest pits that afternoon. Lead singer Joshua Roberts said, “Run as fast as you can in that circle,” amping up the crowd. Roberts really got to show off his vocal range in “Omen.”
Honey Revenge opened with “Recipe for Disaster,” and lead singer Devin Papadol’s powerful vocals on “Risk” and “Distracted” were complimented perfectly by Donovan Lloyd’s excellent guitar-playing and tone. Lloyd’s playing can take the band from pop punk to even disco, and funk, at times. Papadol had the crowd sing along for “Habitual” and clap along for “Worst Apology.” They closed with “Airhead” again featuring excellent vocals and guitar.
After 21 years, Dance Hall Crashers are back. Having played their first show in June, they looked and sounded as good as ever. The band kicked off with “Go,” “Cold Shower,” and “Don’t Wanna Behave” with their signature two-part harmony.
Karina Deniké styled in a retro black and white dress while Elyse Rogers rocked a plaid green skirt, while the artwork playing behind them really shined. They played the ultra-catchy, “He Wants Me Back” and even this reviewer got into the skank pit for “Lost Again.”
The Interrupters and the Bivona Brothers started jamming before lead singer Aimee took the stage and they launched into “Gave You Everything.” The band then paid tribute to Warped legends NOFX by playing the intro to “Linoleum,” opening up a huge pit.
With the crowd nice and ready they played the fantastic “Turntable,” keeping the pit going. After “Raised by Wolves,” “In the Mirror” really highlighted Aimee’s strong pipes on the song’s outro.
They closed with “She’s Kerosene” featuring awesome dual harmonies from the Bivona twins.
Dropkick Murphys took over the Vans Right Foot and immediately began “The Boys Are Back” and “The State of Massachusetts.” Lead singer Ken Casey said, “This was the first song we ever wrote” and they played “Barroom Heroes.”
The band made headlines recently by announcing their decision to no longer play Punk in the Park due to Brew Ha Ha Productions donating to Donald Trump’s campaign.
Casey vowed not to get political, then dedicated “First Class Loser” to a guy “who wears orange makeup, shits his pants and his diapers, rapes women, and touches children.”
Dropkick played “Shipping Up to Boston” and then a new song, “The Big Man,” written about Fletcher from Pennywise, who watched proudly side stage and hugged Casey when their set finished.
Yung Gravy was definitely a guilty pleasure, but it was pretty damn fun. “The Boys Are Back in Town” sampled “Toxicity” and Green Day’s “Brain Stew.” After playing “shining on my ex” he started a “fuck my ex!” chant, before playing his viral hit, “Betty (Get Money)” sampling Rick Astley. Gravy sampled Panic at the Disco for “I Write Hymns Not Travesties” and handed out roses to the audience.
311 took over the Vans Left Foot Stage and jumped into “Beautiful Disaster” led by Tim Mahoney’s guitar. 311 kept the hits coming with “Come Original” and “Do You Right” featuring vocals from Nick Hexum and rap vocals from SA Martinez.
“Applied Science” had an outro featuring all five members playing drums and percussion.
After the radio-friendly “Amber,” Hexum dedicated their last song, “Down” to all the old-school fans who supported them all these years.
Rise Against opened their set with “Re-Education (Through Labor)” with pyro blaring all around them as Zach Blair played a sick guitar solo.
Lead singer Tim McIlrath went down to the barricade to sing “Give It All” with fans.
McIlrath talked about parents who flee their country looking for somewhere safer, in the hopes they would find a country that understands their journey, and realize these were good people trying to raise a family somewhere safe. “I know we have been that place once and I believe that we can be that place again. This one is called ‘Prayer of the Refugee.’” McIlrath then played “Swing Life Away” in a powerful solo acoustic performance before “Savior” led to a wild mosh pit of fans giving it all one last time.
One of the last bands to play all weekend, Cobra Starship closed out the Beatbox stage with an all-out performance. This was my first time seeing them, and they came complete with backup singers and choreographed dancing (that fans knew and moved along with perfectly). The band started with “The Church of Hot Addiction” and went into the humorous “Pete Wentz Is the Only Reason We’re Famous.” They were joined by blackbear on co-vocals for “The City Is at War.” The band closed out the weekend with “Good Girls Go Bad.”
With the resounding success of this weekend (this was allegedly the biggest punk rock festival in the history of California) it should be no surprise that Warped Tour 2026 is already in the works.
In fact, Tuesday morning fans received a text announcing that tickets go on sale August 2nd for Long Beach next year.
And even in a blind sale (without knowing who’s playing) you better believe 80,000 people will gladly sell this place out to relive this weekend again next year.
Presale tickets go up today at 9 a.m. (local time). So go get em’ because this one will sellout too!
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PRESALE TICKETS
SID 250801 | TRACI TURNER | EDITOR
