In its 11th year traveling the country to spread the gospel of punk rock, extreme sports and corporate sponsorship, the Warped Tour is billing itself as "the tour that won't die." This is no empty boast. The Warped Tour is the longest-running road-tripping music festival in the United States; only Ozzfest, which turned 10 this summer, comes close to matching its persistence and longevity.

Whether the tour has succeeded because of its packaged, family-friendly rebellion or in spite of it is a debate better left for the checkout line at Hot Topic (a Warped Tour sponsor, by the way). While its blatant attempts to ensure every concertgoer leaves the festival grounds with a deep understanding of just how relevant sponsors such as Mad magazine, Dodge and MasterCard are to their lives, the tour still places much of its emphasis where it belongs: on the music. For fans of contemporary punk, emo, hardcore and ska, the Warped Tour is a great bargain. For $29.75, attendees of this Saturday's show at the Pompano Beach Amphitheatre will be treated to 85 bands spread out over nine stages. It's like an iPod catalog come to life -- though tour sponsor iRiver would likely beg to differ.

While this year's tour favors hot new groups such as My Chemical Romance and Atreyu over veteran acts such as The Offspring and MxPx by an overwhelming majority, it does offer a bit of variety. Throughout the event, emo bands (Something Corporate, The Academy Is … ) will share stages with alt-metal (The Bled), pop-punk (Fall Out Boy) and even parody acts (Reggie and the Full Effect). For the first time in its history, the Warped Tour has devoted space to female bands (the ShiraGirl Stage) and athletes (the All-Girl Skate Jam). Chuck D will reportedly join his Public Enemy bandmate Professor Griff onstage for a performance by Griff's rap outfit 7th Octave, which organizers recently added to the bill. Several South Florida-based groups (including Nonpoint and Sunday Driver) will also perform.

The tour has gone interactive in a big way this year, offering a number of MP3s and videos for download on its Web site, www.warpedtour.com. Every week, the site adds live performances from the tour, including recent downloads by My Chemical Romance and MxPx. The site also links to AOL's Vans Warped Tour radio, which streams music from all the tour's artists. Visit the site for a complete lineup of Saturday's show.

For a further idea of what to expect Saturday, read on for our interviews with The Transplants, Hawthorne Heights, The Dropkick Murphys and The Fenwicks.