Warped Tour spirit remains with Summer School Tour visit at The Agora

Kevin Lyman knows a thing or two about organically creating a successful punk-based touring festival from the ground up. Three decades after founding Warped Tour, the original Lollapalooza stage manager and music visionary is part of a team that created the idobi Radio Summer School Tour, which is currently in its second year with a July 13 date booked at The Agora. "It was interesting because Eric Tobin (Hopeless Records) and Michael Kaminsky (KMGMT) are people that I've mentored and watched grow in the business," said Lyman, calling from Southern California. "They were kind of filling that void Warped Tour used to give bands before we ended in 2019. Some of these bands have been struggling. So we're going back to the original concept of what the Warped Tour was about -- how do you team up so 1+1= 3? The way we did it is starting off in a small level and see where it goes from there." After a successful inaugural year, including a show at The Agora, Summer School Tour returns with a new lineup featuring seven independent artists and bands -- Taylor Acorn, Charlotte Sands, Rain City Drive, If Not For Me, Beauty School Dropout, Arrows in Action and Huddy. So far, Lyman said the tour is doing OK with ticket sales rising. The one difference between Summer School Tour and Warped Tour is the former doesn't boast an outdoor component. "Really, it's economics that would drive that," he said. "To be honest, the people behind this tour, including myself, do not make a penny on this thing. Any sponsorship that comes in is invested back into the marketing of the show and the bands. We're trying to build the presence of the show. "So the economics of bringing a skate ramp and those kinds of things, that's driven by large sponsors. And this tour just hasn't fully been able to engage that." What the tour has been able to engage in is its relationship to the return of the Warped Tour, which after a six-year absence announced a 30th anniversary celebration involving three two-day festivals that recently began in Washington, D.C., with dates later this month in Long Beach and November in Orlando. For proof the nascent Summer School Tour is gaining steam, Lyman pointed to last year's artists -- Scene Queen, Stand Atlantic, Magnolia Park and The Home Team -- having an impact at the recent Warped Tour weekend in the nation's capital. "We had a successful show in D.C.," he said. "Those Summer School bands from last year who recently performed at the Warped Tour drew nice-size crowds. Through that exposure through a 25-city tour last summer and the work they've done on their own, I put them up on a nice-sized stage at Warped Tour where they held their own against bands who have been around a lot longer than them." The connective tissue between the elder Warped Tour and upstart Summer School Tour is all about creating community. Like a proud father, Lyman recounted hearing familiar stories while talking to kids who attended the recent Warped Tour date. More so, Summer School Tour boasts a grassroots vibe. "My guess is that a third of the people at Warped were at either their first festival or possibly their first concert, so I felt mission accomplished," he said. "With Summer School, that's leaning toward the younger kids, kind of like Warped Tour was when it would be the only show that your parents would let you go to because it was in your own town. So that sense of community remains with modern twists." Contact John Benson at ndiffrence@att.net.