Punk Rock Is Dead

Vans Warped music tour makes 2018 its last ever with date in Dallas

Reel Big Fish will perform on the final Vans Warped tour in 2018.

Photo by Jodie Cunningham

The Vans Warped Tour, the annual punk-rock music festival that's crossed the U.S. every summer for the past 23 years, is calling it quits. Summer 2018 will be its swan song, and it's going out with a lineup that reads like a Warped greatest hits.

Acts performing include Reel Big Fish, Simple Plan, All Time Low, Four Year Strong, 3OH!3, Less Than Jake, Underoath, We The Kings, The Used, and Tonight Alive. Newer acts joining the tour include State Champs, Trash Boat, Don Broco, Grayscale, Waterparks, Real Friends, and Movements.

The tour has 38 dates, commencing June 21 in Pomona, California, and ending August 5 in West Palm, Florida. It will hit three cities in Texas, including Dallas' Starplex Pavilion on July 6; San Antonio's AT&T Center on July 7; and Houston's NRG Park on July 8.

In a statement, founder Kevin Lyman said, "I truly am happy to get the chance to travel around the country one more time to thank you for your support, and bring you another best day ever."

The Vans Warped Tour is the largest traveling music festival in the United States, and the longest-running touring music festival in North America. Originally conceived by Lyman in 1995 as an eclectic alternative-rock festival with a focus on punk rock, it has grown to include a multitude of genres, including metal, hip hop, reggae, and pop.

Past performers who've gone on to fame and fortune include Blink 182, No Doubt, Sublime, Beck, Katy Perry, NOFX, Limp Bizkit, Black Eyed Peas, Green Day, Eminem, Yellowcard, Bad Religion, and more.

It remains one of the best tours to attend to discover emerging acts and, in keeping with the original idealism of punk rock, it spotlights nonprofits and companies working to make a positive impact on the world.

In 2018, it will launch the FEND Movement (Full Energy, No Drugs) in partnership with the Preventum Initiative.

The FEND Movement empowers youth to make a stand against opioids. It aims to engage 50,000 young people between March and August 2018, giving them the chance to earn rewards and prizes as they increase their knowledge and change their attitudes and behaviors in relation to opioids. Youth can participate by downloading the Preventum app and on-boarding to the FEND campaign.

Other organizations touring this summer include A Voice For The Innocent, American Red Cross, Hope For The Day, Feed Our Children Now!, Living The Dream Foundation, To Write Love on Her Arms, and Truth. Fans can see their favorite bands as well as become educated on these causes and how they can help.

Returning this summer are two stages showcasing heavy and hardcore music with acts that include Chelsea Grin, Mychildren My Bride, Every Time I Die, Knocked Loose, The Amity Affliction, and Ice Nine Kills.

The Entertainment Institute will return as well, hosting educational workshops and Q&A's hosted by writers, artists, and photographers. More information regarding the artists conducting workshops will be available in April at thinktei.com.

This year's sponsors include dailyKARMA, Ernie Ball, Equal Vision Records, Full Sail University, Peta2, MusiCares, PRS Guitars, Hopeless Records, Viceland, Violent Gentlemen, and Hope For The Day.

3D collector tickets, as well as super fan bundles, are on sale now and can be purchased at vanswarpedtour.com. General admission tickets go on sale March 8 at 10 am at livenation.com.

The tour dates are as follows:

June 21 Pomona
June 22 San Diego
June 23 Mountain View
June 24 Ventura
June 28 Phoenix
June 29 Las Vegas
June 30 Salt Lake City
July 1 Denver
July 3 St. Louis
July 5 Bonner Springs, Kansas
July 6 Dallas
July 7 San Antonio
July 8 Houston
July 10 Nashville
July 12 Virginia Beach
July13 Camden
July 14 Holmdel
July 15 Hartford
July 16 Pittsburgh
July 17 Toronto
July 18 Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio
July 19 Cincinnati
July 20 Detroit
July 21 Chicago
July 22 Minneapolis
July 23 Milwaukee
July 24 Indianapolis
July 25 Darien Center, New York
July 26 Scranton
July 27 Mansfield, Massachusetts
July 28 Wantagh
July 29 Columbia, Maryland
July 30 Charlotte
July 31 Atlanta
August 2 Jacksonville
August 3 Orlando
August 4 Tampa
August 5 West Palm Beach

concerts music

Movie Review

The Magic Faraway Tree is a whimsical family lark that fails to take root

Photo courtesy of Vertical Entertainment

Andrew Garfield, Delilah Bennett-Cardy, Claire Foy, Phoenix Laroche, and Billie Gadson in The Magic Faraway Tree.

With kids and families always on the hunt for entertainment, it’s typically a safe bet for a movie studio to offer up something new, even if it is a film based on an old property. The Magic Faraway Tree, based on a series of books that started in the 1930s, is a very old property, one that its filmmakers have tried to liven up with a few stars, a lot of whimsy, and a boatload of CGI.

The Thompson family, led by stay-at-home dad Tim (Andrew Garfield) and breadwinner mom Polly (Claire Foy), are forced to move to a rundown country home when Polly gets laid off. The kids - Joe (Phoenix Laroche), Fran (Billie Gadson), and Beth (Delilah Bennett-Cardy) - are used to the perks of city life like wifi and electricity, and each of them rebels in their own way to their new lot in life.

Fran, enticed by a fairy named Silky (Nicola Coughlan), is the first to venture out of the house, making her way to a magic tree that transports her to a world full of strange characters like Moonface (Nonso Anozie), Saucepan Man (Dustin Demri-Burns), Dame Washalot (Jessica Gunning), and more. Her adventures there not only broaden the world she thought she knew, but may be the key to helping her ailing family.

Directed by Ben Gregor and written by Simon Farnaby (Paddington 2, Wonka), the film is a pleasant enough lark, but it fails to fully capture the imagination. The five-member family has a lot going on, from an initially-mute Fran to a domestic situation that raises more questions than it answers. The film tries to incorporate an anti-technology message through Tim’s hatred of a smart refrigerator (voiced by Judi Dench!) and the kids' addictions to devices, but it’s quickly shed in favor of other options.

Once Fran makes it to the Magic Faraway Tree, there’s a nice shift in the storytelling, but it’s unclear what the ultimate goal is. It’s a good idea to have Fran, the youngest of the children, convince her older, more cynical siblings about the virtues of the magic world, but the conflict in the real world doesn’t seem to rise to the level needed for the escape the tree provides.

There also seems to be a missing link in the storytelling for viewers to understand the importance of the fantastical characters. The visuals of seeing Moonface and his crescent moon-shaped hair, a man with a suit full of banging pots, and more are fun for a while, but not enough to carry the whole film. A last-minute revelation feels like it was something that should have been disclosed much earlier to help strengthen the emotions of the story.

A two-time Oscar nominee, Garfield is making his first foray into family movies (if you don’t count playing Spider-Man), and while he does a good job, he doesn’t make the best fit for the semi-goofy role. The same goes for the Emmy-winning Foy, who isn’t given much of anything to do. The movie puts the story on the shoulders of the three child actors, and while each of them acquit themselves well, none of them are so outstanding as to be noteworthy.

With nearly 90-year-old source material, The Magic Faraway Tree needed to be something truly special to stand out in the 21st century movie world. Unfortunately, it features a mostly forgettable story that features some fun visuals, a couple of cute kids, and not much else.

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The Magic Faraway Tree is now playing in theaters.

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