When We Were Young festival takes over Las Vegas

After a rocky start to the weekend (thank you mother nature for always keeping things interesting), fans lined up outside the Las Vegas festival grounds awaiting to see if their luck had turned and the anticipation started to build for the first When We Were Young festival.

The first set of the day went to a personal favorite, The Ready Set. As people made their way into the festival grounds, they were met with the sound of nostalgia as he made his way through a set filled with songs that were definitely on my playlist in middle school. From Killer, to Higher, to Love Like Woe, the day was starting off on a great note.

One of my favorite parts about WWWY’s lineup was the mixture of old and new. After singing along to Face Down by Red Jumpsuit Apparatus I made my way over to check out Huddy, and it seemed like I wasn’t the only one who was curious what the tik tok star turned musician would bring to the table. After his set it was time for Mayday Parade and something about screaming “we drove out to Vegas” with thousands of strangers right beside the Vegas strip put a smile on my face.

The theme of vets with newbies continued with Boys Like Girls on one stage immediately followed by JXDN on the other. It seemed like people were enjoying the mixture of nostalgia with things they may have never heard of before. It was also around this time that a lot of people started to check out the food vendors and grab some drinks as the afternoon started to roll in.

After a quick bite to eat, it was time for some of my personal favorite bands to hit the stage. It started off with Pierce The Veil who brought out Jeremy McKinnon from A Day To Remember for Caraphernelia and Kellin Quinn from Sleeping With Sirens for King For A Day, both two crowd favorites that had everyone screaming and singing along.

I quickly ran over to see Neck Deep as the evening rolled in for a bit and watched a lot of fans crowd surf over the barricade before heading on over to see PVRIS (Hallucinations live is also another favorite moment from the day).

As the sun started to go down, it seemed like a lot of people were taking a break and checking out the merchandise tables and vendors. But for those who still energy, Knocked Loose’s set was the place to be. As someone who loves a good mosh pit, Knocked Loose has always been one of my favorite bands to see live. They never fail to bring energy and a good time and even those who came out with bloody noses had smiles on their faces.

While waiting at the merch table I had the perfect view of Black Veil Brides’ set. As someone who was a huge BVB fan in middle school, it’s always nice hearing the songs I used to sing along to with my friends in the hallway. Another band who had the same effect was A Day To Remember. From starting their set with The Downfall Of Us All to singing along to If It Means A Lot To You, it seemed like everyone there was smiling from ear to ear.

One person I was very interested in checking out was Poppy, and she didn’t disappoint. Though she’s very soft spoken, she seems to come alive when singing or screaming. She’s truly one to see and she lived up to the hype despite a few technical issues. Another band that always lives up to the hype is Sleeping With Sirens. Despite having seen them less then 48 hours before, I was still just as excited to see them again, I always look forward to hearing my favorite songs by them like Kick Me and If You Can’t Hang.

By the time Sleeping with Sirens finished it was pretty dark out, and pretty chilly as the cold desert air took over, and at this point most of the crowd headed over to main stage to watch the big headliners of the festival (if you’re deep in a crowd of 80,000 people it’s also easy to stay warm and avoid the wind chill).

Bring Me The Horizon seemed to be the first act of the night that really started gathering the crowd back. If you’ve never seen BMTH live, it can be hard to capture just how amazing their visuals are. It seems like it only gets better each time I see them. I was also really interested in what their setlist would be considering their large discography but was glad to hear a mix of songs from 2013’s Sempiternal (Can You Feel My Heart, Shadow Moses), 2015’s That’s The Spirit (Happy Song, Drown, Throne), and a mixture of their newer songs (Parasite Eve, DiE4u, Teardrops).

After the band left the stage, the focus shifted to the second main stage. The anticipation for Paramore began as thousands of fans awaited for the band to hit the stage. As the band made their way on stage, everyone was anxious to see what song would be first, and to everyone’s surprise the band started with All I Wanted making this the live debut of the song. Everyone stood in awe as lead singer Hayley Williams effortlessly made her way through the song and then immediately into That’s What You Get.

About midway through the set Hayley took some time to talk about how the punk and emo scene has evolved since Paramore formed, and more so how the scene has become more inclusive to women, POC, and the queer community.

“I can’t think of nothing more anti-establishment than young women, than people of color, and the queer community. So what I want to say to you, if you are one of those people in those subsets, there is space for you here now. We love you and we love being a part of this scene.”

The band's set consisted of old and new with classics like Bring by Boring Brick, Ignorance, Here We Go Again, and newer ones like This Is Why, Ain’t It Fun, and Still Into You (which Hayley dedicated to Paramore). The band ended with Misery Business, a definite crowd favorite.

After Paramore left the stage, it was time for the second headliner to come out. Despite the night getting colder by the second, everyone seemed to not care as they awaited My Chemical Romance.

As the band made their way on stage, all of them with prosthetics covering their faces to make them appear older, the intro to I’m Not Okay (I Promise) started. Now I’ll be honest, as someone whose favorite band has been MCR for 15 years, it’s hard to put into words what finally seeing them felt like. Out of body would probably be the closest thing to describe it.

The band played a 12 song setlist, plus 2 encore songs consisting of songs from 2002’s I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love (Vampires Will Never Hurt You), 2004’s Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge (I’m Not Okay (I Promise), Give ‘Em Hell Kid, The Ghost of You, It’s Not a Fashion Statement, It’s a Fucking Deathwish, Helena) , 2006’s The Black Parade (Welcome to the Black Parade, Teenagers, Mama, Famous Last Words), and 2010’s Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys (Planetary (GO!), Na Na Na (Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na), Vampire Money).

Some people were singing along to every song at the top of their lungs while others stood in awe. One of my favorite moments was when the famous G note of Welcome to the Black Parade played and it seemed like everyone immediately got all their energy back as they sang along. After the band finished Famous Last Words the exited the stage but the crowd screamed for more. It felt like everyone had forgotten how late it was or how cold it had gotten as they chanted “MCR!” Shortly after, the band came back on stage and ended the night with Vampires Will Never Hurt You and Vampire Money before bidding everyone a goodnight.

Despite a rocky start to the weekend, When We Were Young did what they promised to do - bring fans back to their middle and high school days when all we dreamed about was when we would see our favorite band live. And though we’d all sure feel the pain of standing, jumping, and singing our hearts out the next day, it was worth it to relive that time in our lives.

Personally, I can’t wait to go back next year. Be sure to check out the official When We Were Young website for updates on next year’s lineup and to buy tickets when they go on sale.