3- Making it possible

Putting a music festival together is a pretty full time job, and a year round one for such prominent figures like Kevin Lyman [of Warped tour fame]. Kevin Lyman is the creative force behind the concept of the Vans Warped Tour, Taste of Chaos, and Mayhem Festival. Going into it's 17th run, this story is a true testament to the will of making something unique for music fans everywhere.

Lyman's experience in the industry began "by booking gigs at school when I was a student at Cal Poly – Pomona and fell [I] in love with producing live shows1." This love of music would lead him on the many musical endeavors he is famous for, and push him (still) to try to come up with fresh new concepts for live shows; including [most recently] The Country Throwdown Festival.

Lyman isn't just an innovative idea man, he works hard to get every aspect of the set the way he wants; so to him the idea of selling out to a large promoter like livenation or a major label is out of the question. Being involved in every part of the tour is essential for Lyman to maintain the credibility and integrity that many music fans see in Warped Tour. Lyman handles everything from sponsors since "There are a lot of corporations that we don't work with because they don't fit with what we do. But there are others that work very hard to support us2" [because he wants to maintain those important relations] to handpicking the line up of bands each year [for the same reason] and reveals "There are 3,000 bands I had to say no to [but] when you're traveling with the Warped Tour, you're traveling with 700 or 800 people.2"

Those are just two examples of the bulk of Lyman's responsibility, to make it less burdensome, their website offers a online application process for everything; local bands that want to play, food vendors, sponsorship, etc... While he may not personally review all the information himself, he does get the final say. Also not previously mentioned are the tireless green initiatives that Warped Tour undertakes each cycle. Lyman is widely recognized for the variety humanitarian work that he does on and off tour and is something he known to be very passionate about. Needless to say Lyman's work is seldom ever finished and with this year's planning practically done the only thing left are the day to day operations. Which 17 years later would be less improvised much more formulaic and while it sounds like a lot of work, Lyman has always acknowledged loving his job.

1^ http://thealternativepress.com/articles/interview-with-warped-tour-founder-kevin-lyman

2^ http://www.punknews.org/article/33989

3^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbwpuf8lC5o