Warped Tour Converse
Dec
19
8.40am

WARPED TOUR // Soled Out: A Fan’s Tribute


Some people buy tour t-shirts. Some snap a picture to save as a lock screen background. There are walls all around the world with crumpled ticket stubs; memories locked away forever in a piece of paper. Most people have their favourite gig shoes too. The ones that have taken such a thrashing from spilt beer and the miscellaneous objects in the weird carpets some venues seem to love. Festivals are a whole other beast for our soles though.

You remember the ones: probably a pair of Converse crusted with dirt from the last festival you attended. At some point they’re likely washed to scrub away the grime and dirt, prime for the next sweaty encounter with hundreds of others. For Shelby Katis, it’s an entirely different story. Her shoes? They’ve been her constant companion throughout Warped Tour. Now with the final nation-wide run set to take place in 2018, she reflects on the fond memories of the shoes that carried her from the depths of heartbreak to the pure elation in finding a new favourite band. // Jonty Simmons

Warped Tour // Soled Out by Shelby Katis

My autograph covered Converse sneakers have seen a lot of life happen since I claimed them in 2008. The canvas stretched with me until I grew out of them and I will always remember the memories that we had made. My black Chucks and I had attended many concerts together. Memories marked my shoes, covering them in sharpie graffiti created by my favorite musicians who inspired me. My favorite tours that I didn’t want to forget. They accompanied me to my very first All Time Low concert. We jumped up and down at Boys Like Girls. And each summer, we returned to our concert venue’s hot parking lot that felt like home—Warped Tour.

When I heard the news of my once favorite music festival would see its last Summer, I turned to my closet, dug for my cherished sneakers and reminisced of the times I spent at my favorite music festival. I was instantly transported to the heat of the pavement at the Comcast Center’s parking lot in Mansfield, Massachusetts that had provided a welcoming warmth that sunk into my soles each summer. They have been very loved since I first purchased them, as they had truly embraced the intensity of each memory we made. We survived the summer storms, a running joke that it poured every year without fail, which left water stains to prove it. My shoes had become weathered which have made them all the more special. Regardless of the length of the rain my friends and I would continue to sing in a sea of strangers, feeling more like a community with each song.

When I heard the news of my once favorite music festival would see its last Summer, I turned to my closet, dug for my cherished sneakers and reminisced of the times I spent at my favorite music festival.

Stereo Skyline

Stereo Skyline and I during my first year at Warped Tour.

After all this time, the scent of marijuana that steeped into the cloth and the beer that made my soles sticky were still potent. The scratches and scuffs were beautiful tattoos that adorned my shoes after each show. They are reminders of our coming of age experiences: my first kiss gifted by the bassist who signed the left heel, the signature of the only female drummer I knew of who empowered me at fifteen, and my favorite singer during my third visit to Warped tour who recognized me even after my braces were removed.

The white laces had become a silvery grey, dyed by the summers of shimmering dirt. From stage to stage my shoes followed my feet to new genres as we grew together. Emo music welcomed rap one year, and then joined screamo, and eventually even a folk band, NeverShoutNever, made an appearance. Being surrounded by a diversity of souls who had searched for themselves in the lyrics that they sung in unison each July was beautiful. My sneakers always seemed to somehow line up in a band of fans who could not only hear the music but feel its vibrations in our souls. Eventually, I grew out of them but I would never neglect the nostalgia we created each July from the warmth of the music played in the parking lot of the Comcast Center.

From stage to stage my shoes followed my feet to new genres as we grew together.

I since retired my shoes, and they have become a relic of the memories that shaped my adolescence. I can still feel the pulsing of music thumping in my chest like a heartbeat. Warped Tour was my first real music festival where I really felt like I was ‘grown up’. On my second tour, I dealt with my first real heartbreak as I shouted the emo music of Simple Plan. On my third, I discovered who my true friends were. And years later, my first and current serious boyfriend and I would hold hands to If You’re James Dean, I’m Audrey Hepburn during my screamo phase—which he inspired. A lot of firsts took place at Warped Tour. I felt that it was a place where I could be myself, and frankly grow into who I wanted to be through the music blaring out of the speakers.

Left: Cassadee Pope and I. Right: Devin from I See Stars and I, my second year at Warped Tour.

I have a new pair of sneakers now. They are white with a high top. I am different now, older. My Simple Plan-loaded iPod nano sits in a box next to my beloved black Chucks. They will never see Fall Out Boy come to life on a Warped Tour stage again. I have grown out of Warped Tour, but will never abandon my nostalgia for the special years with my favorite bands in its line-up with my best friends who I have now fallen out of touch with. Warped Tour will see its 23rd year this summer, and afterwards will no longer be a carried tradition for thousands of musicians and the millions of music fans to join together at their hometown’s venues.

They have become a relic of the times that shaped my adolescence, and I thank them for the memories.

My cherished black Chucks materialize the five years of experiences that Warped Tour gave me. Time will pass, and Warped Tour will become another memorable festival. Years will continue to keep me moving forward, but will never wither away the attachment I have to the worn out, seam split black canvas shoes in my closet. They have become a relic of the times that shaped my adolescence, and I thank them for the memories. I thank them for the ones that were made so great at Warped Tour.

Left: Zack Merrick (All Time Low) and I, my third year. Right: With Tom (Founder of Fresh Dough) at my final Warped Tour.



You can contact Shelby through her blog’s Facebook page here: @Disney Trips and Dole Whips.

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