Recap: Vans Warped Tour Houston

Closing out a summer of traveling across the states, setting up and taking down stages and tents each morning and night, Vans Warped Tour unpacked at Reliant Park for its last U.S. date.

Vans Warped Tour is one of the greatest touring music festivals around. Possibly the greatest thing about Vans Warped Tour – besides the lineup, the diversity of the bands, and how well it’s run – is the music atmosphere the tour provides. There’s rarely a moment during the day where a band isn’t playing.  All of the stages play simultaneously, creating a non-stop flow of music. This is what can truly be labeled “awesome.”

Gates opened around 11 a.m. and the crowd, ranging immensely in ages, arrived with no sign of stopping. With the sun pouring down, mobs of sweaty, sunscreen covered fans ran from stage to stage to see their favorite bands perform.  The Houston line-up included post-hardcore band Sleeping With Sirens, emo-indie-alternative band Never Shout Never, melodic metalcore band We Came As Romans and pop-punk band Forever The Sickest Kids, who were a joy to see live.

We Came As Romans’ set was phenomenal.  Every member helped to create an energetic atmosphere that the audience absolutely loved.  The band had a very unique chemistry.  From the pit, you could see the members of the band backstage huddled, performing what appeared to be a pre-show ritual.  Once the huddle broke, We Came As Romans entered the stage like a true team.  They’re absolutely a must-watch band.

Warped Tour is a great place to discover new bands.  After watching an outstanding performance by Forever The Sickest Kids on the Tilly’s stage, poppy tunes traveled from a stage nearby and caught my attention.  Following the upbeat music, I discovered electro-pop artist Goldhouse rocking the Domo stage.  He had the crowd dancing nonstop – even as rain began to strike the tops of the audience’s heads.

Every genre from rap to metalcore to pop-punk was represented on the tour.  There were loads of crowd-surfing fans, constant spraying of water, and the belting out of lyrics.

Vans Warped Tour 2013 (Houston) was absolute madness from beginning to end.  Be sure to not miss it next year!