Warped Tour's punk-rock summer camp setting up tents in S.L. on Saturday

The Vans Warped Tour held its first concert in Utah at Saltair in 1995.

The all-day "punk-rock summer camp" is working on its 16th year and will head back to Salt Lake City on Saturday, with the likes of the Dropkick Murphys and Haste the Day.

Vans Warped Tour founder Kevin Lyman, who was battling a case of road flu during a stop in Detroit last week, said he doesn't remember why he chose Salt Lake City to kick off the tour all those years ago.

"It was probably the first city to take it from us," Lyman said with a laugh. "But it was somewhere we could drive to from Los Angeles. Back then, we couldn't fly to places. So, we all piled into six tour buses and drove to the show."

The second year the tour stopped in Salt Lake City, it was moved to the Utah State Fairpark, which was a good move because the first year, the smell of salt and brine did a number on the bands.

"But, I don't think it's much different this year," Lyman said with another laugh. "We're still smelling pretty bad."

Lyman said the tour is getting back to the basics this year. Part of that is the need to think more efficiently because of the economy, but another aspect is to maintain a more cutting-edge feeling the later Warped Tours have lacked.

"This year's a transition year, and our attendance is down a little bit," he said. "And we're not out there with a lot of the headliners we've had in the past. "This reminds me of 1995. This lineup is fresh and new. I mean, Mike Posner's record ("31 Minutes to Takeoff") is coming out (in a couple of days). Never Shout Never is catching on and moving out of the underground.

"It's a pretty underground, young audience coming to this thing this year. I've been talking to the promoters in each city, and there are four or five bands they know, but the rest are new to them.

"But in six months, these young bands will, most likely, gain more fans and become more popular. Sublime did it back then. We booked them for the 1995 tour, and six months later, they were huge."

However, there will always be an old-school connection with the tour, Lyman said. This year, the band Face to Face, one of the bands that played the original show, is on the bill and will return to Salt Lake City.

"It's cool to have them back," Lyman said. "They're continuing the connection with the roots of the tour and respecting the present."

Lyman said he's seen a trend this year: heavier music