A year ago, I was still bitter. I had bough tickets to When We Were Young Fest 2022, booked two nights at the Sahara, driven out to Vegas that Friday, and prepared for a great weekend. Instead, high winds canceled the day I had bought tickets for, made laying by the pool miserable, and attempting to get into any of the pop-up shows was near impossible. I drove back to Los Angeles that Sunday saying I would never return to the city of sin.
Then I saw the line-up for When We Were Young Fest 2023, and reconsidered this stance. The second I was approved for a media pass, I booked a cheap Spirit Airlines flight into Vegas, found a dirt-cheap motel a few miles from the strip, and crossed my fingers that WWWY 2023 would redeem my past experience.
For all intents and purposes, it did. Despite the insane Las Vegas heat, the long lines for almost everything, and the uncomfortable crowding of the event, the incredible music throughout the day made it all worth it. While the number of conflicts made it so I was often stage-hopping and weaving my way through the crowds to grab a decent view, I managed to pack in a lot of performances despite not arriving at the fest until 1:30pm.
After grabbing an unsurprisingly expensive teriyaki chicken bowl, I made my way to the pink stage to catch the end of New Found Glory‘s set. As the band launched into “Dressed to Kill”, a great song from their break-out album but one that was never a big radio single, I still saw every crowd member passing me singing along. This was my crowd – thousands of people who spent time playing their pop-punk cds over and over again until every lyric was ingrained in their memory. And the singing didn’t stop there; NFG broke out their shameless cover of “Let it Go”, and finished things off with their biggest hit “My Friends Over You”.
If you are just going between the main stages, you didn’t even have to move to watch the bands on the green stage, but as Yellowcard were next, I wanted to get as close as I could. Since reuniting, the band has had one of the best years of their lives, with sold-out tours and a solid new EP released (speaking of Yellowcard EPs – someone tell Fueled by Ramen to get the Underdog EP up on streaming services already). As the band came onstage, with Ryan Key donning a blink-182 t-shirt, they couldn’t stop sharing their gratitude with the fans throughout the set. And it was a solid set; “Way Away” and “Breathing” got the crowd riled up, and the band then live debuted their song “Three Minutes More”, and brought out Pierce the Veil to join them for their collaboration. The band later brought out another surprise guest, Cassadee Pope, for “Only One”. And of course, the band closed out with their biggest hit, “Ocean Avenue”, which everyone felt deep in their souls.
I caught the end of Citizen‘s set on the Ghost stage while waiting to see Finch. One of Drive-Thru Records first splashy bands, the emo/screamo band would have fit in just as well on the 2022 bill. While I couldn’t stay for the whole set, getting to hear classics like “Letters to You” and “Stay With Me” brought me back to my college dorm room and a flood of other memories. I moved over to the Stripe stage to watch Goldfinger bring some ska flavors to the day. “Counting the Days” and “Open Your Eyes” still slap, and mega kudos to frontman John Feldman for his tribute to Social Distortion and Mike Ness (currently recovering from cancer) with a nice cover of “Story of My Life”.
While I was pushing my way back to the pink stage for All Time Low, I got caught at the Ghost stage for The Academy Is. This band had everything needed to blow-up at the time when their debut album hit, yet somehow didn’t achieve crossover success. Listening to their excellent single “Slow Down”, I’m still shocked they didn’t get a gold album out of Almost Here.
All Time Low have been one of the biggest pop-punk success stories of the last decade. It took me a bit of time to come around on them, as some of their earliest songs felt a little derivative of blink-182. Maybe frontman Alex Gaskarth wanted to pay tribute to that influence, as he too was wearing a blink shirt as he came on stage (overall, I would say blink-182 merch was the most widely worn throughout the fest). Teasing the audience with the opening of “Dear Maria, Count Me In”, the band put an end to that and launched into the excellent “Weightless”, the first song that made me realize this band were going to be more than a throwaway pop-punk group. And since then, they have more than come into their own. Tracks like “Lost in Stereo” and “Damned If I Do Ya (Damned if I Don’t)” stand on their own merits, and their songwriting evolution can be heard on new tracks like “New Religion”, for which they brought out rising star Teddy Swims for the R&B-leaning alt rock track. The band then blew away everyone by brining out the Sk8ter Queen herself, Avril Lavigne, for their new collaboration “Fake as Hell”, and then her pop-punk bop “Sk8ter Boi”.
It was hard to top this, so even as the band went into recent hits “Sleepwalking” and “Monsters” (sadly without a blackbear cameo), the audience couldn’t quite bring themselves to the same energy as before. But that changed again, as the band went into “Dear Maria, Count Me In” for real this time. The track that has become the soundtrack to the “It’s Not a Phase” movement released a wave of emo energy that was contagious.
I finally needed a break, and thankfully, I had been invited to the Redemption Whiskey bar for a special cocktail tasting. Chatting with the brand ambassador Karlsson, I enjoyed two very tasty and refreshing rye-based cocktails in the shade, which certainly revived me. After taking some complimentary sepia-toned photos in their little photo area, I bid my whiskey oasis farewell to catch the beginning of Rise Against‘s set. I love this band, and was sad I couldn’t stay longer, but I had agreed to meet up with a friend back at the Stripe stage for Gym Class Heroes and needed to keep my appointment.
I’m very happy that the alternative hip-hop act GCH are back, and I’m hoping we get some new music from them soon. “Cupid’s Chokehold” still puts a chokehold on audiences, and while I wish they had played more of their songs like “Clothes Off!” instead of Travie’s “Billionaire” (which I saw him perform at Beachlife Fest earlier this year), they at least closed their VERY short set with “Stereo Hearts”. I then rushed back to the green stage to catch Good Charlotte. Aside from seeing them play one song at a Warped Tour from a distance way back in the day (and seeing the Madden brothers around Hollywood’s Neuehouse while I was a member there), I had never seen GC play a full concert, and they put the focus on a hits-filled set. “The Anthem” and “Boys & Girls” went off like gangbusters, and their early hit “Little Things” pleased their old school fans (though I had voted for “Motivation Proclamation” to enter the setlist). “Hold On” and “Dance Floor Anthem”, very different sides of the band, were both pleasing to fans, and they pulled off “The River” even without help from Avenged Sevenfold. Closing their set with “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous”, it made me look back at all the hate the band got from the punk-purists, yet I would argue making a song like that into a mainstream hit was pretty damn punk of them.
I returned to the Ghost stage, where Simple Plan was in the midst of their set. While it didn’t veer at all from their recent show with The Offspring, they did bring out some guests. Jax joined them for “Iconic”, which they just rereleased with her feature on it. And for “I’m Just a Kid”, Mike Herrera of MXPX and Jaret Reddick of Bowling for Soup joined the band. So from one of the poppiest bands on the bill, the stage then went for one of the hardest bands on the bill, Thrice. That’s not to say the band doesn’t have some radio-friendly tracks. Songs like “Under the Killing Moon”, “Stare at the Sun” and “The Artist in the Ambulance” had fans passionately singing back every word with an intense energy. But it was their hardcore-leaning tracks that got the mosh pit going. Funnily enough, their other radio singles “All That’s Left” and “Image of the Invisible” were left off the setlist. Still, the band’s performance was intense and perfectly balanced, despite frontman Dustin Kensrue admitting to some vocal problems.
And now it was headliner time. The majority of the festival attendees moved to the pink stage to watch blink-182 play, a day after the release of their excellent new album One More Time (take a listen in our NMF Playlist). I saw blink back in May at BMO stadium, and as they launched into their set, I began to worry they weren’t going to veer far from their recent setlist. “Anthem pt II”, “The Rock Show” and “Feeling This” were all expected and welcomed, while “Violence”, “Dumpweed” and the underrated “Up All Night” were solid but familiar choices. My fears were washed away as the band played “More Than You Know”, a ripping punk number from the new album that would have fit on the Untitled album. And while “Edging” is still fun, their newest single “Dance With Me” is so much better – it’s destined to be a crowd favorite party song.
“Happy Holidays, You Bastards” got played twice (the second time sped up), before things slowed down again for the emo-leaning “Stay Together for the Kids” and the Cure-esque “Always”. As per usual, the band’s banter was sophomoric and on point, keeping them and their fans youthful in the ways that matter. What came next was single after single, all crowd-pleasers (even “Bored to Death” has grown in status, even if most of the songs on Nine were better IMO). While the crowd seemed to think things were over after their effervescent hit “Dammit”, the band chose to go out with current single “One More Time”, which added an emotional heft to the night. As blink-182 have vowed not to make the same mistakes that broke them up again, it also felt like a statement for all the audiences to never give up on the music they grew up with and love.
The day had been long, hot and tiring. Some people started to leave. But Green Day is not a band to be missed. With Dookie celebrating its 30th anniversary and a new song coming out this week (which they played), the band and its fans have a lot to be excited about. In a pop-up show the night before, the band played all of Dookie, along with rarities like “Oh Love” and “Letterbomb”. I would have loved to be at that show, as while their WWWY show was just as energetic and anthemic as past times I’ve seen them, there weren’t too many surprises. Okay, maybe the fact that they played both “Jesus of Suburbia” and “Homecoming” in full was pretty amazing. And getting “Know Your Enemy” and “Burnout” was fun. And a “Tequila” tribute to Paul Ruebens and new track “The American Dream is Killing Me” were refreshing. What am I saying – any show of Green Day‘s is a great show. I could make a Greatest Hits album of their songs that weren’t singles. They just have that many good songs.
And yes, aside from the brand new song, they didn’t play any tracks off of albums post-21st Century Breakdown (I guess if they weren’t mega-hits, they weren’t worth a festival setlist), though they have plenty of great songs from those albums. But the audience that was there ate up all the American Idiot and Dookie tracks, along with the excellent “Minority” from Warning. If one band was going to keep me going and standing after that day, it would be Green Day.
As they closed out with the timeless “Good Riddance (Time of You Life)”, the crowds began their shambling exit. While I had been put on the list for an Emo Nite afterparty, I was dead on my feet and could only dream of being in bed. I had lived through WWWY 2023, had the memories and experience, and didn’t need anything else in my day. Whether I’ll ever come back, I can’t say. Maybe I’m not young enough for these kind of hot days and crowds anymore, but I’ll always embrace this music that made me.
Here’s a playlist I found someone made for the festival. Be sure to check out our socials (@TheIndyReview) for more pictures and videos from the fest!
The Indy Review 
1 Comment