Day one of Vans Warped Tour 2026 in Long Beach was one for the books, filled with moments for the new generation and the veteran emos and alts.
The festival returned on Saturday, July 26, for its second year after its revival and 30th anniversary last year, but one of the most noticeable differences was the bolstering sun and heat. While the event is held outside of the Long Beach Convention Center at the Shoreline Waterfront bordering the ocean, its breeze wasn’t enough to keep fans cool.
Several people were seen huddling around whatever shade was available, and a few people seemed to be wheelchaired out of crowds due to what appeared to be heat exhaustion. Others looked visibly worn out, flustered, sun-burned, sitting on benches near food stands or just lying on the grass for a moment of recovery. The strong rays of the sun didn’t seem to deter anyone from wearing black, which was the majority of the color at the festival and a true testament to fans’ alt-fashion sense.
One of the most anticipated sets was by Jimmy Eat World.
The Arizona rock icons leaned into nostalgia with a set packed with songs from its landmark 2001 album, “Bleed American.” Fans sang along to staples including “Sweetness,” “The Middle” and “Hear You Me,” with the band delivering the straightforward, no-frills performance that has made it a Warped Tour mainstay for decades.
All Time Low, meanwhile, turned nostalgia into something much more personal.
The longtime pop-punk favorites commanded one of the festival’s most energetic crowds, blending fan-favorite songs with a look back at the band’s own journey. Home videos and archival footage from the band’s early touring years played on the video screens throughout the set, reminding fans just how closely their own lives have grown alongside the Baltimore quartet’s more than two-decade career.
Before launching into the closing song, “Dear Maria, Count Me In,” frontman Alex Gaskarth paused to thank the crowd. “We’re deeply honored. It’s a privilege to do what we do,” Gaskarth told the audience, reflecting on how the band began touring straight out of high school more than 20 years ago. He thanked fans for continuing to show up, saying the band’s success had grown into something bigger than they ever imagined.
As the opening notes of “Dear Maria, Count Me In” rang out, thousands of fans sang every word, jumping in unison, and filling the air with a chorus that stretched well beyond the stage. A few crowd surfers drifted overhead as All Time Low closed out the night with the kind of joyful, communal energy that has long defined Warped Tour.
Other performances that carried the original Warped Tour energy were Simple Plan, who closed out the Vans stage. The packed crowd stretched back to the half-pipe ramp, and the crowd sang lyrics back to the band for songs such as “I’d Do Anything” and “Shut Up!” and throwback hits “Heartbreaker,” “I’m Just a Kid,” and “Perfect.” The set was a good balance between the band’s more nostalgic hits and newer material, along with some surprises for those who stayed for the whole set.
The Montreal group was joined by the singer-songwriter LØLØ, who is also based out of Canada, for a performance of “Jetlag.” The band also did a mashup of covers that featured Smash Mouth’s “All Star,” Avril Lavigne’s “Sk8er Boi,” and The Killers’ “Mr. Brightside.” Perhaps the biggest treat was the performance of the “What’s New Scooby-Doo?” theme song the band wrote for the series. Before the song, they invited fans dressed as the iconic character to come on stage and dance. A crew of Scoobys also joined them, and others dressed as members of the Mystery Inc. gang for the duration of the song.
Simple Plan wasn’t the only one playing music from kids’ shows at Warped Tour.
Bowling for Soup performed “Today Is Gonna Be a Great Day,” the theme song for Disney’s “Phineas and Ferb,” over at the Beatbox stage earlier in the afternoon. The band referred to it as their most “popular song ever,” and when they kicked off the intro of the track, children, parents, Gen Z, and millennials were jumping in excitement. That set was likely to contain the most families as well, with children dancing between the tight crowds and parents jamming out to tunes like “High School Never Ends,” “Almost,” and, of course, “1985.”
Just across the way at the Verizon stage, a new generation of hardcore led by Big Ass Truck I.E. hosted a massive crowd with little wiggle room. The band from San Bernardino wasted no time from the moment they took the stage, asking people to start moshing and slam dancing, which prompted those closer to the front to happily oblige before a single note was played.
“I hope this set is a redemption for y’all because we played at noon last year, so you better be moving your feet,” frontman Abel Abarca told the crowd.
The group performed some of their hits that have gone viral on social media, including “Corn-Fed” and “Big Ass Beer,” while teasing some newer music, “Big Ass Gun.” Before you ask, no, not all of their songs begin with “Big Ass…,” just a handful of them.
By the end of the night, the festival grounds told two different stories. Some fans were still jumping, screaming and singing every lyric back to the bands onstage, while others had collapsed onto patches of grass, exhausted after spending nearly 12 hours in the sun. Whether they still had energy left or not, it was unmistakable that attendees had poured everything they had into Warped Tour’s opening day.