The Vans Warped Tour is returning to Australia for the first time in over a decade this summer, kicking off in late November before rolling through the East Coast in December.

While the second Warped Tour 2013 lineup announcement is still brewing, with more bands to join festival headliners The Offspring along with a bill that features Simple Plan, Parkway Drive, New Found Glory and more, festival organisers have announced a way for ticket-holders to jump the queue to be the first in on the action for the iconic punk and hardcore event.

Warped Tour 2013 is offering punters the chance to ‘skip the lines’ with a new initiative that benefits not only music fans, but also underprivileged children.

Fans are able to skip the winding ticket queues and gain early access to Vans Warped Tour 2013 by simply bringing a donation to the event for tents set up at the entry gates for Feed Our Children NOW!, a New Jersey-based fundraising initiative that raises money for food drives to help children and their under financed families.

Donation is simply three cans of tinned food or $5 upon entry to Feed Our Children NOW! on site, allowing punters to jump the line, get in early, and generally feel pretty good about themselves in a program that has been tried and tested for the American leg of the Vans Warped Tour.

“This program has become so successful on the US tour that when given a chance to continue this on our Australia run we felt we had to,” explains Warped founder Kevin Lyman, who is working with Soundwave and now Big Day Out promoter AJ Maddah on the festival’s return Down Under. “Hunger is universal, and if our fans can help minimize it, it makes it all the more worth-while to do what we do,” adds Lyman.

Meanwhile, Maddah recently stated that sales for the Warped Tour 2013 are looking “awesome,” with the festival on track for a sell-out “sometime in Nov” for its kick-off in Brisbane, just ahead of the inaugural 29th November date.

The Brisbane demand is in stark contrast to the stiffing sales of Maddah’s Harvest festival, which had moved just 18% of its 17,500 tickets when Maddah first rang the alarm bells over the boutique festival, which was officially cancelled late last week. Maddah is also securing a new venue for the Melbourne Warped leg, which “outsold its capacity,” according to the promoter while negotiations for new location and finalised.

The second Vans Warped Tour 2013 lineup announcement, which was originally set to arrive in “mid-September” – no doubt delayed while Maddah was sorting out the final will and testament of Harvest 2013 and its lineup – is now just about ready to drop, but Maddah told a fan on his twittersphere last week that organisers are waiting on finalisation from one last band “worth waiting on” before announcing.

Another act that could be on the second Warped Tour 2013 lineup announcement could be polarising punk outfit Falling In Reverse, who could be announced for the Warped bill (or possibly the Soundwave 2014 lineup) “when visas are 100% approved,” tweeted Maddah.

The promoter has previously said to “expect another 4 or 5 internationals as well as a load of locals” to join Aussie bands Parkway Drive and Tonight Alive for the second Warped lineup announce, and in fact the festival put out an open call for recommendations for Aussie bands for each of Warped’s six dates this December.

While the promoter previously said there won’t be any Warped Tour sideshows, he’s since turned back on that decision. Simple Plan and Parkway Drive won’t be doing sideshows, while The Offspring will play a headline date in Perth, the city that was snubbed by a visit from Warped after Maddah took issue with the Western Australian Government‘s attitudes to festivals and live music in general. It’s also “quite possible” Man Overboard and We Came As Romans could play the WA capital.

Vans Warped Tour 2013 Dates

Friday 29th November Brisbane RNA Showgrounds

Saturday 30th November Coffs Harbour Showground

Sunday 1st December Barangaroo, Sydney

Friday 6th December Exhibition Park, Canberra

Saturday 7th December VENUE TBA, Melbourne

Sunday 8th December Adelaide Showgrounds, Adelaide

Tickets and info head to http://vanswarpedtouraustralia.com/

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