Last week, Pupfresh noticed the following sign at the kickoff of the Vans Warped Tour. “No Moshing/Crowd Surfing,” it reads. “You Mosh, You Crowd Surf. You Get Hurt. We Get Sued. No More Warped Tour.” The thing is, that since the tour started in 1995, there have been heavy bands on it (deftones played the inaugural year) that inspired moshing and crowd surfing. It seems like it would be a hard thing to enforce, and with so many heavy bands on the bill, including Every Time I Die, The Devil Wears Prada and Attila, there will almost inevitably be both moshing and stage diving. With so many stages, you’d think it would be hard to enforce. We reached out to Warped founder Kevin Lyman asking about it.
“This is really a reminder to be safe and take care of each other,” Lyman told Metal Insider. “No one has been kicked out for moshing.”
The signs will likely at least help somewhat, and it’s good to know that Warped isn’t out and out banning moshing. They’re more like an “if you see something, say something,” reminder to Warped attendees. There have been several deaths at the festival over the years, but they’ve been more attributed to dehydration than injuries suffered while in the pit or on the crowd. There’s no word on how many lawsuits have been filed for injuries suffered at the annual tour, but it can be assumed that it’s happened enough for them to put the signs up. In short, be careful out there and take care of your own. And if you’re looking for a definitive list of the heavier bands playing Warped this year, look no further than here.
