The 2012 version of the Vans Warped Tour is heavy on venerable touring acts (The Used, New Found Glory, Taking Back Sunday) and upstarts (post-hardcore road warriors Title Fight, Ronnie Radke’s Falling in Reverse). Here are five must-see bands appearing at the Vegas date.

TRANSIT Transit combines the hardscrabble melancholy of ’90s Midwest emo and the askew pop instincts of early Death Cab for Cutie. The quintet’s latest LP, Listen & Forgive, is wise-beyond-its-years indie-emo with a heart of gold.

MAKE DO AND MEND These Boston-based acolytes of Hot Water Music and Jimmy Eat World are one of post-hardcore’s most exciting up-and-coming bands. Exhibit A: Its ferocious, Matt Bayles-produced new album, Everything You Ever Loved.

I FIGHT DRAGONS Come for the Chicago band’s gimmick of chiptune pop that’s constructed using zippy 8-bit sounds and whimsical keyboards; stay for its hook-laden, effervescent songs.

YELLOWCARD The pop-punk vets were last year’s comeback kids with the release of their first album since 2007, When You’re Through Thinking, Say Yes. Their chugging new song, “Always Summer” foreshadows even greater things.

DEAD SARA Fronted by versatile vocalist Emily Armstrong and guitarist Siouxsie Medley, this LA quartet is a fiery rock band with a decisively bluesy edge, thanks to the former’s hellfire shrieks and the latter’s slashing boogie.