When We Were Young Festival: What is it, and what happened?

The starting weekend of the first ever When We Were Young Festival, taking place at the Las Vegas festival grounds, has just come to an end. This pop-punk event ran from the 23rd- 24th of last weekend and will run this weekend as well. Top charting artists such as My Chemical Romance, Avril Lavigne, and Jimmy Eat World are a few of the artists who already performed at the event. The festival sure is a blast from the past, transporting everyone back to the 90’s- early 2000’s again. Although, like all things, the festival didn’t start off according to plan.

The first day of the festival was abruptly cancelled due to high winds only an hour before the set performance time. A majority of the fans came in from across the country— some even across the world to see this event, and when news struck about the cancellation, it left almost every festival goer in a sour mood.

Thankfully, the moment news struck about the cancellation, multiple bands and performers took matters into their own hands, setting up free or reduced priced performances across Las Vegas. Unfortunately for some, not all of the venues were large enough to accommodate all 60,000 attendees. Nevertheless, with the festival promising refunds, and the opportunity to see these iconic bands for such a low price, many festival goers seemed happy with the compromise.

The following day went just as planned, even with some added surprises! Artists such as My Chemical Romance leaned into the nostalgia theme, and wore outfits and makeup, reminiscent of the early 2000’s. What’s more? Avril Lavigne’s finance, Mod Sun, made a guest appearance on stage, and Paramore played their hit song, “All I wanted,” for the first time!