When We Were Young Fest
For the third year since it’s conception, When We Were Young Festival still feels fresh. With 2024’s unique performance concept of having each featured artist perform an album in its entirety, excluding the ever-mysterious headliner Fall Out Boy, tens of thousands of emos flocked to hear iconic albums from the early 2000s and on, with many bands performing tracks that have never debuted on stage before.
With 20+ iconic and new bands, plenty of food, and attractions, the festival-goers were more than busy around the Las Vegas Festival Grounds. While some opted to dress in the uniformed black clothes, others were clearly representing their favorite bands on the lineup. Dressed in clothing like a full black parade band outfit, Pete Wentz-themed shirts, and “I’m Just a Kid Adult” shirts, it’s easy to see the passion in the eyes (and outfits) of every attendee.
Spanning over 13 hours, there were almost TOO many options of performers and attractions to visit. Fans stated they were attending both days of the festival so they could see bands conflicting in their pre-made schedules. Regardless of which stage you ended up at, or even got stuck within the packed crowd, it was bound to be a good show.
Daisy Grenade
Bright and early Daisy Grenade opened up the Pink Stage with a bang. Though doors opened at 10:30, the crowd still piled in for the first set of the day. Entering stage left, looking as effortless as ever Keat and Dani kicked off When We Were Young with the 5th track from their 2023 EP, Sick In the City. The two-piece dominated the crowd with the same energy as any headliner, even within their 20-minute time constraint. Doing more than warming up the eager fans posted at the barricade, (many seemingly for Fall Out Boy based on the costuming) getting everybody in the crowd on their feet. Daisy Grenade, signed under Pete Wentz’ label DCD2 not only drew the former fans but definitely made a few new ones after their set. Running through almost the entirety of their EP Cult Classic, the pair also made their live debut of the track, “How To Hide a Body” released the night before. Even with the 24-hour debut of the song, the barricade lineup knew every single word. Check out Off The Record’s interview with your new favorite pop-punk band Daisy Grenade HERE.
LS Dunes
The members Anthony Green, Frank Iero, Travis Stever, Tim Payne, and Tucker Rule, each a part of their own respective bands, played bright and early on the Purple Stage as each of their bands played sets throughout the day. The post-punk mega-group united to play five tracks from LS Dunes discography including “2022” and “Benedryl Subreddit.” During “Grey Veins,” Green hopped off the massive speakers to embrace the audience singing “Stop trying to make it seem like you give a shit/You don't have to believe in anything” to the adoring eyes looking up at him.
Taking Back Sunday
Lazzara’s stage presence never falters with a Mick Jagger-esque floppiness and impressively controlled microphone tricks only acquired from years of performing. Guitarist and vocalist John Nolan screamed along with his featured parts effortlessly with a smooth smile on his face. The band took to perform their 2002 album, “Tell All Your Friends” in it’s entirety while fans screamed along.
The Used
Bert McCracken, known for his rambunctious on-stage comments threw out a “We are the best band in the world!” then a few songs later asked the crowd to boo the band to keep them humble. The set was red hot, laced with flaming pyrotechnics as the band played the iconic “In Love and Death” album. Bassist, Jeph Howard, pulled his command, bounding across the stage. Donning his clothing line, McCracken grinned as the front row threatened to almost toss themselves over the barricade in reaction to the absolute hit, “All That I’ve Got”.
Cobra Starship
Cobra Starship made their return to the stage with founding members Nate Novarro, Gabe Saporta and Vicky T with new additions. Cobra, often known for the use of an ironic schtick, touched down to the Purple Stage (fittingly) with an airline theme complete with a safety direction video from Vicky before the band smashed through the cockpit with head pilot Gabe Saporta in tow. Set to perform their iconic “Viva Las Cobra,” except well…they didn’t. The first two songs threw the crowd for a loop as the band performed tracks off their albums, “While the City Sleeps, We Rule the Streets” and “Hot Mess”. Once the first few songs ran through, the band disappeared from the stage as a prerecorded video of lead singer Saporta, dressed as Elvis, covered Gwen Stafani’s “Hollaback Girl” to pacify the crowd as they changed their attire. Saporta paid respects to their long-time collaborators, Fall Out Boy, through the set performing “Pete Wentz Is The Only Reason We’re Famous”, dedicating “Guilty Please” to Patrick Stump (who produced and laced his vocals all over “Viva Las Cobra”), and finally inviting Stump onstage for “Kiss My Sass.” This festival is a breeding ground for anticipated stage collaborations, and Cobra Starship held up on their end. Having Patrick Stump out to sing “Kiss My Sass” (who later joined Motion City Soundtrack on the Ghost Stage), JULES IS DEAD straight from Toronto to rap on “Bring It (Snakes on a Plane), and We The Kings’ Travis Clark dancing along.
Simple Plan
Pierre Bouvier repped the iconic lyrics “I'm Just a Kid” scrawled on his t-shirt with a strike through the word “kid” to replace it with “adult”. This was a touching signifier to remind the crowd exactly what When We Were Young Festival is about, celebrating the elder emos, many of which had this saying on their own shirts, and coming together while ushering in a new generation of pop-punk/emo fans. “I’m Just a Kid” went viral on social media as a nostalgic trend with participants comparing their younger and older selves, it’s evident that it resonated as even those in the back of the full crowd took the time to sit up and chant along. While not a part of their album “No Pads, No Helmets…Just Balls” the band intro a crowd favorite with “Who knows Scooby Doo?” and jumped right into their cover of the Scooby Doo theme song. Bouvier tossed in an announcement that their documentary is set to release on Amazon Prime next year and was being filmed and the WWWY attendees would be a part of the movie magic.
A Day To Remember
In true fashion to the band and their preset album, “Homesick”, A Day To Remember stormed the stage to disrespect their surroundings with a massive tossing of toilet paper rolls, beach balls, and t-shirt cannons into the crowd. The band was thrilled to be there not only for their own sake but in support of the other bands. With each break in the set guitar riffs of Fall Out Boy or My Chemical Romance songs would blast over the festival fields as Jeremy McKinnon iterated their excitement to see the headliners. From the first drum kick of the set, both objects and people were flying through the air; a mosh pit opened including a flag held up reading “Mosh Pit” then the crowd was throwing themselves at each other with grins on their faces. Maybe the general public will never understand the appeal of moshing, but it’s evident through A Day To Remember’s set that it’s not to harm others but a way to embrace a community of musically like-minded individuals.
Fall Out Boy
The Pink Stage was filled to the brim for headliners Fall Out Boy, barricaded with fans dressed to match the band’s music videos and inside fandom jokes. As they graced the stage, the LED visuals flashed a blue brick wall to represent their debut (ish) album “Take This To Your Grave.” Each album era came accompanied by fun skits and visuals to match, in typical fashion for the band. Beginning the set with Stump laying in a hospital bed backstage and ending with Wentz flying above the stage seemingly held up by a bouquet of balloons for the finale, “Saturday.” Stump began a piano break of “What a Catch Donnie” — teasing the crowd as the lights swiftly dimmed before the second verse which is normally filled with features (including almost half the festival’s lineup). The band played some of their greatest hits following the era's formula as the crowd traveled through their extensive discography. Fall Out Boy shows have come to be famous for their surprise songs, known as the magic 8-ball portion of their set. When We Were Young not only got two surprise songs, but a special guest. Pete Wentz introduced the first of the two surprises reminiscing on the “Boys of Zummer” Tour of 2015, as Stump keyed in the piano chords to Charlie Puth’s “See You Again”, the very special guest Wiz Khalifa entered stage left to rap along. The second of the two surprise songs were from the 2008 release, “Infinity on High”, another cult classic song, “G.I.N.A.S.F.S.”
While getting the whole audience to scream their lungs out to hits like “Dance, Dance” and “My Song Know What You Did In The Dark (Light ‘Em Up).” Wentz introduced the cult favorite song, “Bang The Doldrums,” with a light-hearted “We found out y’all like the weird stuff.” The track was never played through the height years of the album “Infinity On High”’s release, but garnered enough affection throughout the years that it made its live debut on their last tour. The four-piece sat at even levels of stage, having drummer Andy Hurley directly next to Wentz adding to the sentiment that Fall Out Boy works as a unit meant to simultaneously bring out the best and best sound in each other. The band is known for their diverse genre-bending throughout the years, Wentz iterated the importance of staying fresh and open by stating, “Whatever it is that you’re making, keep making art.”
My Chemical Romance
While they aren’t (unfortunately) technically back together as a recording band, MCR kindly graced the masses with a headlining set at WWWY. Of course, the album the band chose to perform “The Black Parade” included the most well-known emo anthem, “Welcome to the Black Parade.” The crowd was buzzing as a stationed acoustic guitar was set at center stage, and the lights dimmed. Guitarist, Ray Toro, smoothly walked across the stage bearing his electric guitar over his shoulder as he settled himself to start the first track, “The End.” Many of the tracks have not been played since 2007 (funnily also the last time My Chemical Romance and Fall Out Boy played the same lineup). For the emotional track “Cancer” and paralleled crashing song “Mama” the band was joined by violinist Kayleigh Goldsworthy to create a cinematic score while accompanying the band.
Right before the band set into “I Don’t Love You” a fan yelled from the crowd asking for singer Gerard Way’s love, he responded with “I can only give you the gift of music,” and that they did. Each band member compliments each other in their own way with Gerard Way’s erratic and captivating movements to his brother, Mikey Way’s, still and calming presence, while guitarists Frank Iero and Ray Toro thrash their heads respectively. A MCR show never goes without its chaos as a fan hopped on stage during “Teenagers”, which appeared to “scare the shit” out of everyone involved (a massive appreciation to security that handled the incident quickly). As a lucky surprise, once the Black Parade album finished, MCR threw in some extra tracks from “Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge” featuring singles “I’m Not Okay (I Promise)” and “Helena”.
To quote headliners My Chemical Romance, so long and goodnight; When We Were Young Fest we look forward to another year with you in 2025.
