It was a crisp 62 degrees as I stepped out of Harry Reed International Airport in Las Vegas, Nevada and made my way to the ride share pickup location. Vegas is already an epicenter for entertainment, but something different was in the air with the addition of When We Were Young just 10 minutes down the road.
The airport was an array of Dr Martens, Vans Checkered Slip-Ons and Converse as people all over the country converged this weekend to celebrate the best in emo, pop punk, and alternative music. I hopped into my Lyft and made my way over to the Las Vegas Festival grounds. Once I’d arrived I picked up my wristband and proceeded through ID and security check into the festival grounds (which was surprisingly quick for arriving just after doors opened).
The festival grounds immediately felt like a Disneyland for emo kids (they even had churros!). The archway at the entrance lead into a photo spot of boxes with the covers of the albums that would be played that day and the sides of the walkway were lined with delicious smelling food and drinks. The performances by Daisy Grenade and The Paradox echoed through the grounds as they kicked off the first sets of the day.
I worked my way through the crowd, marveling at the photo ops and other visual elements throughout the grounds as I headed over to catch the last half of pop-punk duo, Daisy Grenade. The self-proclaimed “power punk bubble grunge” band’s vibrant energy and hard hitting musical elements had the crowd buzzing with excitement. The band mentioned their new song and music video, “How to Hide a Body” before playing it for the screaming fans in the crowd. Take a listen and fall in love with their magnetic sound as much as I did. Their set
was definitely an “add-to-playlist” kind of performance for me.
I had a chance to chat with Dani Nigro and Keaton Whittaker of Daisy Grenade a little bit later in the day. When asked about preparing for a festival versus a tour, the duo told me:
"We really try to give the same show no matter what the venue is and no matter where we are."
It’s clear these ladies care so much about their music and their fans. “I really do enjoy ‘Sick in the City’… or ‘Riot’. I really do like to play ‘Riot’,” Nigro shared about which song is a favorite to play live.
Once I got settled in by the main stage, the next set I was most anticipating was Neck Deep performing their 2015 album Life’s Not Out to Get You.
This album was with me through my pivotal high school and college years and I couldn’t help but feel a deep sense of nostalgia as the band played songs like, “December” and “I Hope This Comes Back to Haunt You.” I’ve had the chance to catch Neck Deep on tour previously and they always bring an electric energy to any performance they give. The crowd was just as excited as I was which meant I could scream along to the songs and know everyone around me was doing the same.
Having left my apartment at 6:15am and immediately heading to the airport, I was hungry. Thankfully the festival had an incredible array of food options, from your classic chicken tenders and fries to Birria and Bulgogi. No matter what kind of food you like, there was an option for everyone. I went with chicken tenders and boy, I’m glad I did. They were perfectly seasoned and perfectly cooked and exactly what I needed to fuel me through the rest of the jam-packed afternoon.
The next few hours were a blur of running from stage to stage trying to catch as many sets as possible. The lineup this year was phenomenal and really kept me on my toes throughout the day. Dashboard Confessional put on an amazing performance on the Purple Stage and lead singer, Chris Carrabba said this about their experience on The Strip the previous night before playing ‘Stolen’: “I was walking through a casino last night and ran into a couple who told us they were
dancing at their wedding to one of our songs. This one goes out to them and their new life together,” to which the crowd erupted in cheers.
Another incredibly memorable set was Cobra Starship. The band, making their comeback this year at When We Were Young, had such a fun and whimsical set. The performance started off with visuals of two band members as pilots in a plane, which blended seamlessly with the band entering the stage through a prop plane door dressed as pilots and flight attendants.
The band played perfectly and the crowd buzzed with excitement. After the first song, vocalist Gabe Saporta told the crowd that one of the guitarist’s in-ear monitors weren’t working so someone was clapping side-stage to keep him in time with the music, which was incredibly impressive in my opinion.
The rest of the set was just as exciting with outfit changes and more props and even a special guest! As the band started to play ‘Kiss My Sass’ they brought out Patrick Stump of Fall Out Boy who helped them write the song. With Fall Out Boy being one of the main headliners, you can imagine how insane the crowd went seeing him perform with Cobra Starship.
After their incredible performance, I began to make my way through the festival grounds again in search of merch. Earlier in the day the lines were astronomically long, but they had dwindled down by this point so I hopped in line for the festival merch. They had a wide array of choices, all of which were very well-designed. It made for a really tough decision but I ultimately landed on a sweatshirt I know I’ll be living in once it finally drops below 90 degrees here in the southwest.
At this point, my feet were killing me and, thankfully, the festival did a really great job at creating seating areas nearby to each stage setup so you could rest for a little bit without missing too much of the action.
I found a spot in the grass near the main stages and caught Simple Plan and Taking Back Sunday from there. In exciting news, Simple Plan was filming their performance and when addressing all the cameras, they told the crowd that they were filming a documentary for Amazon Prime releasing sometime next year! The crowd was understandably ecstatic and the energy reverberated through the rest of their set.
As the sun started to set in the late afternoon, the temperature began to drop as well, bringing to air to a slight chill. I moved from my spot on the grass as The Used took the stage and started migrating towards the Purple Stage in anticipation for Pierce The Veil’s set.
Collide With The Sky practically saved me throughout high school so this was one of my most anticipated performances of the day. I found a great spot and focused in on enjoying the rest of The Used’s set on the Pink Stage which was incredible. About two-thirds of the way through, they began setting up the Purple stage with a recreation of the Collide With The Sky album cover. I began to get really excited and so did others around me as well.
As The Used wrapped up, the lights went up on the Purple stage and Pierce the Veil stepped out. Beginning the set with ‘May These Noises Startle You in Your Sleep’, vocalist Vic Fuentes brought out a megaphone to add a muffled effect like the beginning of the song and the crowd lost it!
They played the entire album in order, and even included a few special guests. Jason Butler of Fever333 came out and did his part in ‘Tangled In The Great Escape’, Kellin Quinn of Sleeping With Sirens came out for ‘King For A Day’ and Jenna McDougall helped out on the bridge in ‘Hold On Til May’ for the band’s final song. They even played ‘One-Hundred Sleepless Nights’ live, for the first time ever! It really was everything I could have ever dreamed of and I know based on the energy and noise in the crowd through the entire performance, other festival go-ers all felt the same as well.
The last handful of sets of the night for me were A Day To Remember and Sleeping With Sirens, two more bands I went through high school and college listening too and both sets were packed full of fun and memories.
Overall the festival was an incredible culmination of the best of emo, pop punk and alternative music. Every single band put on an incredible performance and you could tell they were as excited to play these older albums as fans were to hear it. I am incredibly excited to see where this festival goes from here because this year’s edition will be incredibly hard to beat!
