Don’t Threaten Us With A Good Time: A Recap of When We Were Young 2025

The Maine

Photo courtesy of When We Were Young Festival & Sophia Juliette

This past weekend America’s favorite emo music festival, When We Were Young, returned to the Las Vegas Fairgrounds. The famous two-day festival brought in over 80,000 people on both days, ranging from all ages and countries. This years line up consisted of some returning bands such as Mayday Parade, The Used, Simple Plan, Boys Like Girls, We The Kings, as well as some pop-punk favorites like Avril Lavigne, Weezer, Blink-182, and the highly anticipated reunion of Panic! at the Disco.

The festival was packed with show after show, with fans seen dashing between stages to catch their favorite bands. As usual, it was clear that When We Were Young was a celebration of everything that makes up the alternative scene. Major band promotions were seen in different corners of the festival grounds and fans were crowd surfing at every set.

The Allianz stage was played by iconic bands such as Arm’s Length, Plain White T’s, PVRIS, Story of the Year, and Ice Nine Kills. With each band putting on high energy sets, and playing to the attention and love of the masses.

The Movielife opened up the Ghost stage, packed with Warped Tour nostalgia and such an excited audience you would’ve thought you stumbled back in time. The stage was packed with alternative legends like The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, We The Kings, The Cab, The Maine, Taking Back Sunday, and was closed by the always iconic Asking Alexandria, packed with fans ready to show their love for the heavier side of the alternative scene.

As always the Purple Stage, now known as the 7-11 Stage, hosted an alternating schedule with the attached Pink Stage. Stages switched off with sets so there was almost always a band playing at any given time. The alternating schedule opened with The Summer Set, followed by Destroy Boys and Mayday Parade. These stages were packed with major bands and there was never a moment of silence. Between iconic sets, and die hard fans screaming the lyrics back to icons like The Used, All Time Low, and Simple Plan, it was a beautiful example of the community that has been built in this long lasting scene.

Despite the intense Las Vegas sun, people were camped out for hours at the main stages to ensure a good spot for the highly anticipated Panic! at the Disco. The band announced their disbandment at the beginning of 2023, leaving fans devastated. At the end of last years When We Were Young, it was announced that the band would be reuniting to headline the festival next year and perform their debut album A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out in full. Fans were filmed sprinting once gates opened to try and secure a front row spot for the famous Vegas native band. Lead singer Brendon Urie gave a show stopping performance, blowing every expectation out of the water. Circus-esque lights covered the stage and the different levelled platforms. The theming of A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out covered Vegas with pop ups at the festival and at the iconic corner of 4th and Fremont Street in the city itself. The corner of the streets being referenced in the song “Build God, Then We’ll Talk” from the headlining album. Previous band member, Spencer Smith even made an appearance, drumming with Panic! for the first time in 12 years.

Overall, it marked another spectacular year for When We Were Young Festival, full with the same love and excitement as always.