When this festival got announced, I think we initially all had the same thoughts.
“Is this real?”
“How the hell did that get all those great bands in one place?”
“Is Travis Barker going to be the only drummer?”
“Is…no. There’s no way this is real…right?”
Well…here we go!
The When We Were Young Festival is set to take place in Las Vegas (because…where else would a bunch of religion-reeling, black wearing, post-emo-phase kids go to celebrate something like this?) in October on the 22nd, 23rd, and the 29th of this year of our Lord, 2022 running each day from 11am to midnight.
Well done on the name, by the way. This clearly demonstrates that everyone who listens to these bands are now beyond the threshold of youth, and I’m gonna bet one whole U.S. dollar that there is at LEAST one Ibuprofen stand there. Welcome to your 30s you have broken piece of shit, here’s some of your high school heroes and heroines who will also be slipping hydrocodone into their drinks as their set list ends with just enough time to reapply their daily quota of IcyHot and Biofreeze.
We’re told that each band of this STACKED lineup that included the likes of My Chemical Romance, Paramore, A Day To Remember, Bring Me The Horizon, Avril Lavigne, and more, will have between 25 and 60 minute sets, and that there will be multiple stages at this event, hosted by Live Nation on the Las Vegas Festival Grounds.
So while we’re NOT going to discuss what makes true emo…well…emo (I’ll save that for my MySpace page), what I will say is that the doubts surrounding this festival were quite real. Several bands didn’t even know they were playing the festival, and others (like All American Rejects for example) thought they were going to be 1 band of 3 or 4 bands. But as more and more bands confirmed it on their official band pages, it started to feel more legitimate.
And while I’ve personally been able to cover some of these bands for you in years prior to the pandemic, this is the motherload of lineups this year so far.
However, as the clock ticks down, tickets have sold out and your only hope is to now join the waiting list. That might not be a bad idea however, as there’s a lot that can happen in two months and people might back out, but as far as we know, that’s the only solid way to get into this festival for the time being.
On that note – only GA + VIP has the ability to leave and re-enter up to twice during the day. GA tickets have to stay the duration of the day. At least that’s what I can gather from what I’m finding on the website link: https://www.whenwewereyoungfestival.com/.
The excitement was and is also real. People lost their shit when this lineup of 65 bands got announced, and there will undoubtedly be screaming fans from each stage all the way to the parking lot (myself included if our media outlet is selected for coverage). This is, for all intents and purposes, the best of any Warped Tour lineup that we could ask for, and every ear-gauged, depressed, corporate-30-somethings will be sure to find not only nostalgia but a sense of purposeful belonging at this festival.
As far as festivals go, this is your friendly reminder to HYDRATE YOURSELVES, use sunscreen (yes, even in Vegas in October), and remember to pace yourself. I can’t tell you how many humans I saw at the SoWhat!? Music Festival who needed the attention of paramedics because they didn’t do these two things. If you’re going, you probably have kids (or pets…or both) to worry about at home, so make sure you can come home to them when the fun is over! Also, if you attend, please be respectful of security staff, Live Nation staff, tip your bartenders, and WEAR DEODORANT FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!
Anyway, welcome to the Rawring 20s (XD).
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