I finally got to make my much-anticipated return to the annual When We Were Young music festival in Vegas after a two-year hiatus.
I say this as though it’s an annual tradition and not just something I did once before in 2022.
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When We Were Young Festival 2022!
I’m old so I don’t make it to music festivals as much as I did in my 20s, but there is absolutely nothing that will cause me to risk throwing out my back quite like Panic! At The Disco announcing a set where they’ll perform “A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out” in its entirety.
Take all of my money.
Ryan and I recently got home from a weekend in Vegas which was well worth the sore feet, 1 a.m. bedtime and ringing ears.
It was also awesome because two of my friends from Michigan, Travis and Catherine, were also in Vegas for the festival!
Throughout the day, Ryan and I caught full or partial* sets from The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus*, Mayday Parade, Boys Like Girls, The Story So Far, Yellowcard, Simple Plan* The Starting Line*, All Time Low, The Used, Alexisonfire*, Taking Back Sunday*, Avril Lavigne, Weezer, Blink-182 and Panic! At The Disco.
The highlight, of course, was Panic! At The Disco. P!ATD is one of those bands that I somehow never managed to see when I was younger. I know every single word to AFYCSO (seriously, quiz me on it) so it was beyond incredible to watch Brendon Urie perform it, beginning to end, and even give us kids an encore of “I Write Sins Not Tragedies” with Spencer Smith (!!!) at the drums.
My sad little emo heart was hopeful but not optimistic about a Ryan Ross appearance.
Plus, I’m a fucking SUCKER for full-album shows (bummed I missed last year’s festival but don’t regret the reason why) so the nostalgia almost killed me.
Well worth the admission alone.
I was also surprised at how much Simple Plan exceeded my expectations! Simple Plan is one of those bands I listened to a lot when I was in middle school, and even though I haven’t intentionally listened to Simple Plan in ages, I still somehow know all the words to most songs. I lost my shit when they played “What’s New Scooby Doo” and had a bunch of costumed Scoobies running around stage. Simple Plan was really energetic and kept that energy during a surprise appearance during Avril’s set.
I also absolutely loved The Starting Line. I will always absolutely love The Starting Line.
Besides that, other highlights were seeing All Time Low for the first time since the 2000s, seeing The Used for the third time in almost as many years, giving Taking Back Sunday a two-song redemption (we were disappointed by their set in 2022) and seeing both Avril Lavigne and Yellowcard for the first time.
I’m super bummed that we had to miss a ton of bands (like Plain White T’s, We The Kings, and Jack’s Mannequin) due to scheduling conflicts, but I’m happy we caught as much as we did.
Overall, this year felt a lot more manageable than 2022 with one fewer stage, and fewer bands. I felt like the lineup wasn’t as strong as the 2022 lineup, but honestly, probably for the best because it meant there were fewer conflicts to agonize over.
I did such an awful job taking photos and videos, too. I tried to remember to take at least one photo of each set just for posterity, but I completely spaced. I ended the festival with my phone battery above 60% because I completely neglected it the entire day, oops. I was way too wrapped up in the music and the experience.
And, being able to hang out with Travis and Catherine was a huge plus, too! Outside of the festival we grabbed brunch a few times: Once at Truth & Tonic at the Venetian, and once at The Modern Vegan.
I’m a bit bummed Ryan and I likely won’t be able to make it to the festival next October (we’ll likely be deep, deep into wedding preparations) but maybe we’ll be able to pull it off.
Stay sad!
