ION INDIE MAGAZINE August 2016 Volume 27 | Page 80

Story and Photography by Gary Carota • www.facebook.com/garycarotaimages
41 cities in a month and a half. 70+ bands performing on 7 different stages all in one day. Over 100 vendor and sponsor
booths. Several hundred thousand fans. Nothing short of amazing.
The largest and longest running music festival in the United States, THE VANS WARPRED TOUR (currently in its 21st year),
rolled into Charlotte, NC, on July 5, 2016--and ION Indie Magazine was there! Now in my 4th year covering this tour, every year
I'm impressed by the sheer magnitude and size of this traveling music show and the fact that EVERYDAY on the tour, it is
completely set up and broken down in a different city. It continues to get bigger and better, now featuring a multi-genre lineup
that is sure to please everyone--with the addition of rap, hip hop and modern alternative in recent years to what used to be a
predominately punk, metal and hard rock lineup.
With the temperature in Charlotte in the high 90's with stifling humidity (that eventually brought a brief bout of downpours
and thunder in the late afternoon), the weather did nothing to discourage the almost 30,000 people who attended. A fully
diverse lineup of bands, which featured some of the world's best “up and coming” new acts, some seasoned tour veterans,
and even a few "big" names, the crowds were entertained all day, choosing which bands they wanted to see on which stages.