The Missing Pieces in When We Were Young Festival

Last week (Jan. 18), the greatest lineup you could imagine was announced. My Chemical Romance. Paramore. Thursday. Pierce the Veil. Taking Back Sunday. Bring Me the Horizon. Avril Lavigne. Jimmy Eat World. The Used. You name it; it’s there. Warped Tour who?

When We Were Young Festival is a three-day festival in Las Vegas presented by Live Nation. There are over 60 bands playing, with My Chemical Romance and Paramore as the headliners. The tickets had sold out, and a second date was added on Friday (Jan. 21), due to popular demand. A third date was added on Monday (Jan. 24). General admission was sold at $244.99 and VIP was sold between $499.99 and $519.99 There is also a waitlist for hotel and ticket packages, which includes one general admission or VIP ticket, plus a room in one of their swanky hotel options.

Now, I know what you’re thinking: How are all of these bands going to play in one day?

According to their website, they only explain that Paramore and My Chemical Romance will play the longest, while the other bands will play shorter sets.

Well yeah, I gathered that. All headlining acts play longer sets.

Their website also claims they will check vaccination cards and negative COVID-19 test results. While this idea sounds great on paper, this is not likely to actually happen. Concert-goers know that music festivals tend to be more lenient with their security. (Seriously, how many times have we seen drugs at a music festival?) Not only are music festivals more lenient, but counterfeit vaccination cards are becoming more common.

And believe me, some emo will bring a fake vaccination card for a My Chemical Romance reunion.

As these bands tweet about how excited they are, it becomes complicated for fans. On one hand, people want to take this opportunity because this will obviously never happen again. On the other, some people are skeptical on how this will turn out.

Not only that, but plenty of people feel this is a total scam. Why play a week later? Why would it be the same lineup every time? How were they not able to spread out some of these days?

There’s a lot to be answered on what could be a huge disaster or one of the coolest festivals ever. The lack of information and resources makes this seem very conniving, and Live Nation is no stranger to that.

Will this festival turn out horribly or is this a great idea? Should we be excited for When We Were Young? Have you bought tickets? Let us know!