Elephant Ranch keeps the spirit of Warped Tour alive in Las Cruces for Halloween

LAS CRUCES, N.M. – The end of the Warped Tour music festival in 2019 saddened fans across the nation, including those in Las Cruces. Local bar Elephant Ranch has since kept its spirit alive over the past two years with a special Halloween celebration.

According to the Journeys website, Warped Tour — now known as Vans Warped Tour — was founded by Kevin Lyman and Ray Woodbury in 1995. It traveled across the United States and Canada each summer as a pop-up rock music event, including stops in Las Cruces.

“I remember going to Warped Tour in the Intramural Fields around NMSU,” co-owner of Elephant Ranch Deret Roberts said.

The tour helped launch the careers of many 2000s rock and pop-punk bands, from Fall Out Boy to Paramore. It eventually shut down in 2019, which shocked fans. Coincidentally, Roberts and Dillon Nunn opened up Elephant Ranch that same year.

As musicians, Nunn and Roberts enjoy bringing music to the community. One way they do this is through their “Warped-oween” event, an idea conceived by Love Vazquez.

“Warped-oween is a Halloween tribute to the music we listened to growing up,” Roberts said. “The emo, the scene, the pop-punk — things we don’t really get to experience anymore without Warped Tour coming through Las Cruces.”

Local band Love and The Emotions, which has played Halloween shows at Elephant Ranch since its opening, took charge of the music this year. They performed three sets, covering a range of bands such as 3OH!3, Cobra Starship and Metro Station. With the help of guest singer Jenna Ivey, they also performed some Paramore.

“If you can’t sing along to the sets we play, you didn’t listen to enough music from that era,” lead singer Vazquez said. “Every song should be a sing-along.”

Love and The Emotions delivered. The bar buzzed with energy as people in Halloween costumes intermingled and belted out their favorite tunes. Mario and Luigi were caught moshing in the corner, a witch head-banged near the stage and even Gandalf could not stay seated as he rocked out to the music.

Some people were there to support loved ones in the band, others stopped in from out of town and many attendees mentioned they had been to at least one Warped Tour. 

“I’m here for the fun, atmosphere and community,” Dakotah Shelton said. Shelton attended one of Warped Tour’s last shows in Albuquerque.

Noel Burciaga and his family, fresh from the When We Were Young festival in Las Vegas (a show similar to Warped Tour), stopped by Elephant Ranch because it is kid-friendly.

“Honestly, these guys are darn close to the Vegas show,” Burciaga said.

While Lyman has announced that Vans Warped Tour will return in 2025 for its 30th Anniversary, it will only stop in three cities — Washington, D.C., Long Beach, California and Orlando, Florida.

For those who will not be able to attend, Elephant Ranch’s Warped-oween offers a taste of that same spirit and hopes to make this celebration an annual tradition.

“We love Elephant Ranch,” Vazquez said. “Honestly, they’ve done a lot for us, and we hope we can just keep doing more for them.”