E-Mail This Article to a Friend Warped weekend How to keep your cool at the hottest punk show of the summer BY MATT ASHARE

When the Warped Tour first made its way to these parts, a decade ago, the traveling punk-rock festival tour looked very much like the younger, snottier cousin of the then-booming Lollapalooza. In fact, that first year, one had to drive all the way out to Northampton, to an only partly abandoned airfield, to experience the two-stage-and-a-halfpipe extravaganza. And it took several years of finding out-of-the-way venues in Western Massachusetts and on the Cape before the Warped Tour was able to land a little closer to Boston on a regular basis. Still, every year was an adventure, whether that meant baking in the sun at the wide-open expanse of Suffolk Downs or, last year, finding the Brockton Fairgrounds.

Needless to say, Brockton didn’t offer anything more in the way of shade then Suffolk Downs. But by last year, with Lollapalooza and the rest of the ’90s package tours other than Ozzfest either defunct or sucking wind, Warped had morphed into the most popular punk-rock event of the summer, with a half-dozen stages and nearly three dozen bands. And then there were the kids, thousands upon thousands of them: an all-ages crowd from across New England wearing everything from goth paint on their faces to homemade T-shirts that read, "Emo sucks."

None of that will have changed when this year’s Warped Tour sets down in the west parking lot of Gillette Stadium next weekend. Except that this year, we have not one but two Warped Tour dates to survive, thanks to the special 10th-anniversary show that was added the day after the tour-closing August 19 Warped Tour show. (You’ll find the schedule for both dates in "Arts News," on page 4.) Fighting your way through one day of punk in the sun would be one thing — you’d have the weekend to recover. But two days in a row of loud, fast, mosh-worthy rock in the blistering August sun and humidity presents a challenge to even the most hardened punk-rocker.

I spoke to local promoters MassConcerts — who’ve been presenting New England’s Warped dates since the beginning — to get some helpful survival tips. For starters, at $30.50, tickets to the 10th-anniversary show are only two bucks more than tickets to the 19th — both quite reasonable for an event that features multiple stages of live music along with pro skaters and BMX bikers doing their thing on a halfpipe and pro motorcycle jumpers performing exhibitions off to the side of the main stage. Since most of the bands will be hanging out at booths signing autographs at various points during the day, it’s fair to assume that the fenced-in area at Gillette that’s been reserved for this year’s double shot of Warped will be full on both days.

One feature you may want to take advantage of is reverse day care. That’s right: young punks should feel free to drop their parents off at an air-conditioned tent that will be furnished with televisions and refreshments so that parents can chaperone their kids without having to be out in the pit. Parents do have to buy tickets to the event to gain admittance to this tent, but it’s a small price to pay to be shielded from the sun.

For those of you planning to go inside the gate, don’t plan on there being any shade at all. I’ve watched in past years as young punks huddled together in the small patches of shade cast by various booths and tents, and, well, it’s not a pretty sight. Instead, bring sunscreen. And this year, each ticket holder is allowed to bring one sealed bottled of water onto the fairgrounds. My advice is that you make that a gallon bottle. Of course, if you forget, don’t worry: there’ll be plenty of vendors ready to sell you small bottles of water for several dollars a pop.

The Vans Warped Tour hits the Gillette Stadium parking lot in Foxboro next Thursday, August 19; the Warped 10th Anniversary Reunion Show takes place in the same spot next Friday, August 20. Call (617) 931-2000, or visit www.warpedtour.com