What’s largely missing from this year’s line-up of the Warped Tour, the country’s preeminent punk festival? You guessed it: punk. When the festival stops at the Marcus Amphitheater today beginning at noon, you’ll see Christian metalcore outfits (As I Lay Dying, The Devil Wears Prada), ostentatious emo bands (Cobra Starship, The Academy Is…), and counter-culture infiltrating major-label operatives (Katy Perry, Charlotte Sometimes). Grown-up punks will be disgusted by the line-up, but that’s kind of the point. The Warped Tour has always been less about nostalgia than simply about giving the kids an overstuffed, reasonably priced bill of music they want to hear—and this year, apparently, the kids want to hear meatheads grinding out the heaviest music they can in the name of the Lord.
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