The Vans Warped Tour is back and bands from it will rock the Ritz Theater in Scranton and an outdoor venue June 12 to 15.
The Vans Warped Tour, an annual tour of up-and-coming and classic punk, emo, hardcore and pop punk music, often stopped in Scranton during its 1995 to 2019 life.
Now it has been revived, with the closest of three main events in Washington, D.C. The Road to Warped Tour in Scranton is a small stop along the way.
“I am very, very excited,” said TJ Bell, the guitarist for Escape the Fate, which will perform Sunday, June 15, in Scranton after playing the D.C. show the day before. “The Warped Tour was one of my favorite tours of all time,” said Bell, who lives in Northeast Pennsylvania. (The rest of the band lives elsewhere.)
Pucker Up will play the Road to Warped tour in Scranton in June. (Pucker Up)
Tour logo (Ritz Theater)
Saosin will play the Road to Warped Tour in Scranton. (Saosin)
Armor for Sleep will play the Road to Warped Tour in Scranton. (Armor for Sleep)
A new marquee is seen installed on the Ritz Theater in downtown Scranton on Saturday, May 11, 2024.
The D.C. Warped Tour show is already sold out, although the ticket site offers a waitlist. Some of the same bands will play both the Ritz and the D.C. festival, which overlap for two days.
“It feels good to bring big things to Scranton in the music space and have a place for fans and bands to be able to express themselves,” said Ritz owner Josh Balz.
It will be the venue’s biggest event since it opened in its current incarnation last year.
The announcement comes weeks after the arrest of the former manager, James Olecki, on theft charges related to the business. Balz has also sued Olecki, who has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.
Balz said the tour is proof the venue is flourishing.
“We are not going away,” Balz said. “The Ritz is not going anywhere.”
Local and rising acts will begin at noon, with headliners in the evening. They will be all-ages shows.
More acts are planned. Here are the announced bands.
Thursday, June 12: Saosin, Red Jump Suit Apparatus, The Dangerous Summer, Amber Pacific, Millionaire$, So Much Hope Buried, Altered Pink, Tori V and the Karma, Zachary Ross of Man Overboard, James Barrett, Tempestt and Retrovai.
Friday, June 13: Memphis May Fire, Miss May I, The Word Alive, Fever 333, Until I Wake, A Skylit Drive, Over the Moon, Traverse the Abyss, No Fight No Victory and Pucker Up.
Saturday, June 14: The Spill Canvas, Driveways, Secondhand Serenade, Every Avenue, Don’t Panic, Keep Flying, Lyndhurst, Morning in May, Tiny Ships, Eibes and Armor for Sleep.
Sunday, June 15: Escape the Fate, Scary Kids Scaring Kids, It Dies Today, Letter Kills, Renesans, Awake at Last, Kissing Candice, For the Better, Suicide Puppets and Toothless.
There will be no overlapping performances, Balz said, so one ticket is good for all of that day’s acts.
There are one-day tickets, for $55, plus fees; and full festival tickets at $199, plus fees. Information and ticket sales at: theritztheater.com.
Balz plans an outdoor venue to supplement the approximately 500-seat theater, but is not ready to announce the location.
The Ritz, at 222 Wyoming Ave., also houses a goth ice cream parlor, Noir Dark Spirits restaurant and bar, a tattoo shop, a mead bar and a salon.