Bowling For Soup and a brief history of Warped Tour.
- Bowling For Soup
- Aug 20
- 3 min read
Warped Tour is legendary. There’s no doubting that. Founded in 1995 by Kevin Lyman, it toured the United States and Canada every year until 2019. By 2015, Warped Tour had become the largest traveling music festival in the United States. It was also the longest running. From the early years, it was kind of a big deal.
The concept itself was unheard of. A bunch of alternative bands traveling to play shows to kids who wouldn’t normally have the opportunity to see them. Warped Tour literally brought the music to thousands of teens and young adults. At the time, it was cheap, and aimed at this young demographic who may not have had a lot of money. But they sure as shit knew they loved music, and would bring an undeniable energy. The sets were short, the genres were varied, and set times were plucked out of a hat on the day. What a time.
Bowling For Soup first joined the tour back in 2003. Playing the Ernie Ball stage with Audio Karate, The Escape Engine, and Maxeen. The band played 44 shows from 19th June to 10th August. Having just released Punk Rock 101 in May 2003, it was a huge turning point in their pop-punk career. Just for nostalgia purposes, this is what Bowling For Soup’s 2003 Warped Tour set list looked like…
"Emily"
"Out the Window"
"Punk Rock 101"
"Belgium"
"Girl All the Bad Guys Want" (their major hit at the time)
"The Bitch Song"
"Surf Colorado"
As was every band’s set, it was short. But it got noticed. The following year saw them move up the Teal stage. The “main stage” of that year, if you will. It was evident at this point that Bowling For Soup were ranking as one of the top alternative bands of the time, alongside artists such as Simple Plan, My Chemical Romance, Blink-182, and Linkin Park.
Warped Tour’s 30th anniversary saw a return of the festival, and naturally, a return visit for Bowling For Soup! After 6 years, Bowling For Soup easily took to the Warped Tour stage, and on this occasion brought a friend. In 2025, when playing the theme song to Phineas and Ferb “Today Is Gonna Be A Great Day’. The band were joined by show co-creator Dan Povenmire. Dressed in Dr. Doofenshmirtz’s signature lab coat, naturally.
It’s now 2026, Bowling For Soup have just played Warped Tour’s largest ever Long Beach show to 85,000 people. A crowd most likely made up of people who were there 23 years ago. The beauty of this genre, of these loyal fan bases, is that they cherish the music. Warped Tour proved that. But what it means is that they take great pride in passing down their music knowledge to their children, and younger generations. So, there’s a reason that Warped Tour will continue to be legendary. The fans may be getting older, but the music definitely isn’t.
With this year being Bowling For Soup’s 11th year playing the festival, you still have your chance to see them in Montreal, Mexico City, and Orlando. Go wave your hands in the air, sing about high school, and laugh at fart jokes.
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