Hard-core rappers Cypress Hill and punk-rockers Blink 182 and Pennywise

have agreed to play this summer's Vans Warped Tour, which will be

slimmed down in size but opened up in terms of musical styles, tour

organizers said Thursday (March 11).

The fifth annual festival tour will kick off June 25 in either Austin

or San Antonio, Texas, tour founder and organizer Kevin Lyman said.

For the first time, the punk-oriented tour will be showcasing hip-hop

acts. A formal contract hasn't been signed with Cypress Hill, but the

trio, whose most recent album, IV (1998), features

"Looking Through the Eyes of a Pig"

(RealAudio excerpt), have said "yes" to the tour, according to Keri Lee,

a spokesperson for Kevin Lyman Productions.

Already signed to the tour are soul-influenced rappers Black Eyed Peas, who sing about

"Positivity"

(RealAudio excerpt) on their album Behind the Front (1998).

"That's definitely an interesting flavor this year," Lyman said of the

hip-hop acts.

Trying to describe his band, Will I Am (born William Adams) of Black

Eyed Peas said last year, "There's so many multicultural influences that

you can't really describe the Black Eyed Peas' sound. ... It's not a

particular sound. It's just that the Black Eyed Peas have a sound kind-of

like how the Beatles had their sound."

Additionally, the country band BR5-49, known for their long, wild live

shows, will play selected dates of the tour.

Each show will feature 21 touring bands on three stages and seven

additional bands on one local stage, Lyman said. He said he's shooting

for crowds of 10,000 at the shows, which will be held mostly in parking

lots and open fields.

Last year, each Vans Warped Tour show featured 32 acts performing for

as many as 19,000 people.

"We thought the tour got too big," Lyman said. "It wasn't the backyard

party I set out to create."

In addition to the four stages, the festival will include what Lyman

called a "modern-art fashion show," a dirt-bike exhibition, a house

reggae band, a dance-party tent and an expanded ladies' lounge. Sticking

with Warped Tour tradition, the shows also will feature extreme

skateboarders and bicyclists.

In addition to Cypress Hill, Pennywise, Blink 182 and Black Eyed Peas,

the bands scheduled to play the entire tour, for which more than 40

dates are already planned in North America and Europe, are all rock acts:

Molotov, Less Than Jake, Bouncing Souls, H20, Suicidal Tendencies,

Grinspoon, The Living End, Dropkick Murphys, Frenzal Rhomb and Sevendust.

Appearing at select venues will be Lunachicks, Lit, Amazing Crowns,

Good Riddance, Zebrahead, Buck-0-Nine, Avail, Agnostic Front, Atomic

Fireballs, Jimmy Eat World, BR5-49, Leatherface, All Systems Go, Gob,

AFI, Seven Seconds, Skarhead and Spring Heeled Jack.

SonicNet is the exclusive online presenter of the tour and the

designer of its official website (last year's site can still be seen at

www.warpedtour.com).

Vans Warped Tour Dates:

June 25; Austin or San Antonio, Texas, Southpark Meadows or TBA

June 26; Houston, Texas, Astro Arena Lot

June 27; Dallas, Texas, Artists Square

June 29; Phoenix, Ariz., or Las Vegas, Nev., Celebrity Theater Lot or TBA

June 30; San Diego, Calif., TBA

July 1-2; Los Angeles, Calif., TBA

July 3; San Francisco, Calif., Pier 30/32

July 4; Lake Tahoe, Calif., Boreal Ridge

July 6; Portland, Ore., Downtown Park

July 7; Vancouver, B.C., PNE

July 8; Seattle, Wash., Kingdom Lot

July 9; Boise, Idaho, Idaho Center/Hawks Stadium

July 10; Salt Lake City, Utah, Fairgrounds

July 11; Denver, Colo., TBA

July 13; Minneapolis, Minn., TBA

July 14; Chicago, Ill., TBA

July 15; Cleveland, Ohio, The Flats at Nautica

July 16; New York, N.Y., Randalls Island

July 17; Northampton, Mass., Fairgrounds

July 18; Asbury Park, N.J., Stone Pony Lot

July 20; Pittsburgh, Pa., IC Light Amphitheater

July 21; Philadelphia, Pa., Corestates Lot

July 22; Buffalo, N.Y., LaSalle Park

July 23; Montreal, Quebec, Parc Des Lles

July 24; Toronto, Ont., The Docks

July 25; Detroit, Mich., Pontiac Street

July 27; Washington, D.C., or Baltimore, Md., RFK Stadium Outside or Docks

July 29; Atlanta, Ga., TBA

July 30; Miami, Fla., Pompano Amphitheater Grounds

Aug. 20; Hamburg, Germany, St. Pauli Stadium

Aug. 21; Berlin, Germany, Wuhlheide Stadium

Aug. 22; Inzell, Switzerland, Ice Stadium

Aug. 24; Zagreb, Croatia, TBA

Aug. 25; Ljubljana, Slovenia, TBA

Aug. 27; Minden, Germany, Weser Ufer

Aug. 28; Rural Area, Germany, TBA

Aug. 29; Reading, England, Reading Festival

Aug. 30; Leeds, England, New Reading Festival

Sept. 4; Barcelona, Spain, Red Bull Festival

Sept. 5; Madrid, Spain, TBA