THE NEW ERA’S FLAGSHIP TRAVELING FESTIVAL FEATURE

I recently had an idea for a hypothetical exercise where an individual would be given total control over a new traveling festival run and structured like the Warped Tours of old. It wouldn’t be about re-creating what was, but rather considering the current musical landscape, were a new festival styled on and structured like the first traveling iteration of Warped Tour to be launched, what would the “benevolent dictator”/festival organizer want that first tour to look like? We won’t be getting into the weeds with vendors, sponsors, and all of that, just focusing on the bands, but I think it’s a fun and interesting exercise to consider what shape a new scene focal point festival might look like, close to a decade after the first iteration of the Warped Tour ceased to be.

The parameters are as follows: There are eight stages of bands or artists; six will have bands or artists perform half hour sets with a changeover of fifteen minutes, one will have bands or artists perform twenty-minute sets with ten-minute changeovers, and one is a headlining stage with 45-minute sets and 15-minute changeovers. The festival runs from 11am to 10pm. Money is not an object for organizing. All bands or artists must be active or theoretically able to play and we’re operating under the assumption they will all say yes.

My festival would naturally be named All the Cores and More Fest, as that perfectly encapsulates what it would be. I understand the Warped Tour used to have rotating timeslots, but I would have the times fixed so bands and artists could get into a routine of sorts. I view this festival as a meeting of past, present, and future but with more weight placed on the latter two, as tours like Warped, Taste of Chaos, and Summer Slaughter were always more about showcasing what was most current and relevant in those scenes, though we must respect the giants whose shoulders we stand on! So, without further ado, the lineup of the inaugural All the Cores and More Fest!

The Core for Sure Stage: This is a showcase stage focusing exclusively on newer/newish metalcore and hardcore bands who deserve greater exposure as well as some of the scene’s hottest “buzzworthy” names, with an emphasis on international (read: non-American, as I’m coming at this as an American with the festival touring the US with a few Canadian dates) bands.

11:00-11:20: Sharp Tongues

11:30-11:50: No Known Weakness

12:00-12:20: Mindgaze

12:30-12:50: Escalate

1:00-1:20: Speedway

1:30-1:50: Reality Denied

2:00-2:20: Crowquill

2:30-2:50: Bodyweb

3:00-3:20: Despize

3:30-3:50: silence|me

4:00-4:20: withpaperwings

4:30-4:50: Holder

5:00-5:20: Cauldron

5:30-5:50: Still In Love

6:00-6:20: Wits End

6:30-6:50: Hellbound

7:00-7:20: Sin Against Sin

7:30-7:50: Rough Justice

8:00-8:20: Killing Me Softly

8:30-8:50: Sidestep

9:00-9:20: Impunity

9:30-9:50: Splitknuckle

The Blender Stage: This is a genre agnostic stage, a veritable potpourri of different sounds, with genre-blending/bending and innovative bands and artists that are part of the creative vanguard, Warped-esque fare, and more.

11:15-11:45: nightlife.

12:00-12:30: Superlove

12:45-1:15: Cherie Amour

1:30-2:00: Jujulipps

2:15-2:45: Juice Menace

3:00-3:30: Backxwash

3:45-4:15: Denisa

4:30-5:00: dream fatigue

5:15-5:45: sace6

6:00-6:30: Cheem

6:45-7:15: The Home Team

7:30-8:00: Static Dress

8:15-8:45: Seeyouspacecowboy

9:00-9:30: Loathe

The Lucky Me / Lucky You Stage: Very similar to the Blender Stage, with pop punk, post-hardcore, alternative, metalcore, hardcore, and other Warped-esque/core and core-adjacent sounds represented.

11:00-11:30: No Pressure

11:45-12:15: Young Guns (revival/reunion—this might be read as cheating, but with all sorts of bands coming back to perform and even record, it seems fair, especially as I noted above, all bands must theoretically be able to play!)

12:30-1:00: Twin Atlantic

1:15-1:45: Four Year Strong

2:00-2:30: Capstan

2:45-3:15: Ocean Grove

3:30-4:00: Wargasm

4:15-4:45: Ecca Vandal

5:00-5:30: ALT BLK ERA

5:45-6:15: Siiickbrain

6:30-7:00: Paledusk

7:15-7:45: I Promised the World

8:00-8:30: Don Broco

8:45-9:15: Nova Twins

9:30-10:00: Cassyette

The FutureShock Stage: This stage will be comprised of trap metal, rap, bouncy and groovy nü-metalcore, metalcore, phonkcore, and other kindred spirits.

11:15-11:45: Deficit

12:00-12:30: Fox Lake

12:45-1:15: Mimi Barks

1:30-2:00: Dana Dentata

2:15-2:45: ten56.

3:00-3:30: Diamond Construct

3:45-4:15: Changeline

4:30-5:00: Kreayshawn

5:15-5:45: E-40 (performing tracks from My Ghetto Report Card)

6:00-6:30: Alpha Wolf

6:45-7:15: Scarlxrd

7:30-8:00: Thrown

8:15-8:45: BONES

9:00-9:30: Denzel Curry

The Chimera Stage: Named after the Greek mythological fire-breathing monstrous creature, I think you’ll find with the bands on this stage the name is apropos.

11:00-11:30: Beyond Extinction

11:45-12:15: Body Prison

12:30-1:00: Graphic Nature

1:15-1:45: Monsters

2:00-2:30: Tracheotomy

2:45-3:15: To the Grave

3:30-4:00: Jerome

4:15-4:45: Abbie Falls

5:00-5:30: Psycho-Frame

5:45-6:15: Rev3rent

6:30-7:00: Despised Icon

7:15-7:45: Paleface Swiss

8:00-8:30: Darko US

8:45-9:15: Sanguisugabogg

9:30-10:00: Suicide Silence (playing material from the Mitch Lucker era exclusively with Phil Bozeman from Whitechapel on vocals)

The Pave Paradise Stage: On the Pave Paradise Stage, we have a beautiful blend of the kinds of bands you’d find on vibes-adjacent festival lineups like FYA and Outbreak. Not just hardcore but music that is also more melodic, comes out of hardcore but isn’t strictly hardcore, is hardcore-adjacent, and/or is played by hardcore “kids” that isn’t hardcore as such.

11:15-11:45: Higher Power

12:00-12:30: Drug Church

12:45-1:15: Candy

1:30-2:00: Contention

2:15-2:45: Sanction

3:00-3:30: Drain

3:45-4:15: Koyo

4:30-5:00: Speed

5:15-5:45: Split Chain

6:00-6:30: Fiddlehead

6:45-7:15: High Vis

7:30-8:00: One Step Closer

8:15-8:45: Angel Du$t

9:00-9:30: Haywire

The Shout Out! Stage: The Shout Out! Stage is a variety stage that runs the gamut from “the feels” of Heart of Gold to the montage-core of Blessed by a Broken Heart to the hardcore/rap/grime fusion of TRC to many other sonic destinations.

11:00-11:30: Blessed by a Broken Heart

11:45-12:15: Set Your Goals

12:30-1:00: letlive.

1:15-1:45: Hyphen

2:00-2:30: TRC

2:45-3:15: Native James

3:30-4:00: Moodring

4:15-4:45: VUKOVI

5:00-5:30: Heart of Gold

5:45-6:15: Belmont

6:30-7:00: Landmvrks

7:15-7:45: Varials

8:00-8:30: Fleshwater

8:45-9:15: Nothing

9:30-10:00: Deafheaven

The Main Stage: Pretty self-explanatory, this stage is comprised of some of the biggest and most relevant acts in the scene currently.

11:15-12:00: Beartooth

12:15-1:00: Architects

1:15-2:00: Electric Callboy

2:15-3:00: Poppy

3:15-4:00: Bilmuri

4:15-5:00: Spiritbox

5:15-6:00: Bad Omens

6:15-7:00: Knocked Loose

7:15-8:00: Turnstile

8:15-9:00: Sleep Token

9:15-10:00: Bring Me the Horizon