Warped Tour ramps up sideshow action for 2009

With this year's edition of the Van's Warped Tour going to one main stage instead of previous years' two, action on the traveling festival's satellite stages and sideshows will be more interesting than ever.

Led by cleanup hitters NOFX and Bad Religion, this year's installment of the tour features a sprawling lineup of more than 50 acts, including Anti-Flag, Escape the Fate, Flogging Molly, Less Than Jake and dozens of other names. A complete list of performers is available at the tour's website.

The satellite stages will see increased action this year. Online music retailer Smartpunk.com will return for the sixth year in a row with the Smartpunk.com Stage, featuring Senses Fail, There For Tomorrow, Hit The Lights, A Skylit Drive, Breathe Carolina and The White Tie Affair. The Skullcandy Stage will see Innerpartysystem, Dirty Heads, Ivy League, The A.K.A.s, Brokencyde, Shooter Jennings, TV/TV, The Architects and others, while the solar-powered Kia Kevin Says Stage will feature "up-and-coming, local and unsigned" acts, according to a press release. Additionally, the Hurley Stage will feature a lineup that includes Saosin, The Maine, Bayside, Meg & Dia and Lights.

Other attractions during the festival include AT&T's Air Guitar Stage, where concert-goers to "receive on-stage rock star attention" while air-jamming to a variety of rock classics, the Van's "Amateur Mini-Ramp Skate Jam," with 20-25 pre-qualified local skaters in each city competing for a variety of prizes, and the Dickies airbrush tattoo parlor will allow fans to "add to [their] body art collection, pose in front of the green screen as a crowd-surfing superstar or try [their] hand at the gaming stations," the press release said.

The tour is set to kick off June 26 in Pomona, CA, and will hit 46 cities through late August. Dates are below.

"We went to one main stage for a couple reasons," tour founder and promoter Kevin Lyman said in a press statement. "Many of these bands have been around for a long time and have lots of songs to choose from, so this year, instead of limiting them to five or six songs, they will have 40 minutes to play all your favorite songs from the past and a couple of new ones.

"This year's lineup is a great mix of the old and the new and continues our attempt to keep the lineup as diverse as possible. Since times are tough, it was also important to me to figure out how to keep the ticket price low this year. This way we can accomplish that and still put on an awesome show."