There is something remarkably similar about the passion that drives a human rights activist and the passion that inspires a musician. A person who is willing to stand beneath the summer sun at a rally to hold signs and wave petitions again and again, and one who performs at their very best beneath the summer sun day after day must surely be made of similar stuff. Amnesty International, of course, has known about this overlap for fifty years, and has used music to inspire human rights activists, and human rights work to inspire musicians for nearly that entire time.

This summer, for the second year in a row, we’re doing both of these things as a non-profit sponsor on the infamous Vans Warped Tour. The longest-running music tour in the world, Warped sees nearly one million fans every summer, and reaches countless more with its annual compilation album. This year, with practically 200 bands playing throughout the United States and Canada at 43 dates, Warped and its musicians are more socially aware than ever.

Enter Amnesty International. Warped is the latest place we’ve found this overlap of passions and we’re putting it to good use. Rights like freedom of conscience, opinion and expression are the very fundamentals of a musician’s career, and the punk, emo and rock musicians of the Warped Tour are acutely aware of this fact.  So it’s only natural for bands to feel compelled to take action, whether it’s shouting out about human rights from stage, starring in a video blog or signing petitions at our tent – it’s their passion that fuels concert-goers to follow suit.  So, come to Warped to see musicians and bands like Sum 41, All American Rejects, The Summer Set and Anti-Flag play, visit our tent, and be part of the overlap.

See a complete list of bands playing and remaining dates of the tour.