Las Vegas emo/pop punk-centric festival When We Were Young returns this Saturday (10/18) and Sunday (10/19) with the same lineup each day, and we’ll be there, along with our friends at Alternative Press, Revolver, and Veeps, as the official backstage media partner. We’ll be interviewing many of the bands between sets, and our coverage will stream live on Veeps.com. Also keep an eye on the @BrooklynVegan socials for even more real-time coverage. Tune in!
Over 50 bands are playing across four stages, including headliners blink-182 and Panic! at the Disco (performing A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out in full for its 20th anniversary), and since it’s not possible to catch everyone, we’ve put together a list of 10 bands that we think are not to miss if you’re attending this year’s edition of the festival. We tried to keep it to some of the slightly less obvious names, but of course we’re also excited to see the headliners and other big bands like Weezer, Avril Lavigne, and Taking Back Sunday.
Read on for the list, in alphabetical order…
Alexisonfire
Alexisonfire’s comeback has been such a big deal to us that we teamed with the band on an entire 80-page magazine about their career (paired with career-spanning vinyl reissues and a box set), so needless to say, we’re excited to see them at WWWY. Their 2022 reunion album Otherness stands tall next to their classics, and the classics hold up especially well. They helped invent the kind of melodramatic screamo-pop that blew up in the early 2000s with their self-titled 2002 debut LP, and they made remarkable departures from that kind of music with later albums Crisis (2006) and Old Crows / Young Cardinals (2009). No matter what eras AOF focus on this weekend, their sets will be special.
Set time: 6:10 PM on the Ghost Stage.
Arm’s Length
When We Were Young is largely about late ’90s/early 2000s emo/pop punk nostalgia, but there are some great newer bands on there and one that is very worth showing up early for is Arm’s Length, who play at 11:50 AM on the Allianz Stage. The Ontario band are some of the best torch-carriers for the kind of soaring, cathartic emo/post-hardcore that early aughts bands like Thursday and Silverstein (who toured together with Arm’s Length earlier this year) brought to the masses, and they also fan the flames for 2010s bands like The Hotelier and Pianos Become the Teeth. They released their sophomore album There’s A Whole World Out There on Pure Noise this year, and it’s one of the year’s best albums, emo or otherwise.
Set time: 11:50 AM on the Allianz Stage.
Bad Religion
When the early 2000s era that WWWY’s 20-year nostalgia cycle celebrates was happening in real time, Bad Religion were already over 20 years into their career. But they fit in on this festival more seamlessly than most other bands from the ’80s hardcore scene because they reinvented themselves and put out some of their career-best records in the early 2000s like The Process of Belief and The Empire Strikes First. They were forebears and peers of that decade’s punk scene all at once, and they remain one of the most important punk bands around. (They actually recently confirmed that they were back in the studio, so maybe we’ll learn about a followup to 2019’s Age of Unreason soon.) On top of all that, Bad Religion are just one of the best live bands that you can see. Any opportunity to do so is worth taking.
Set time: 5:25 PM on the Ghost Stage.
Destroy Boys
Arm’s Length aren’t the only great newer band playing early at When We Were Young. Right after their set, you can head to the Pink Stage to catch Destroy Boys. They’ve become one of the most prominent bands in the modern punk scene, and they’re fresh off releasing one of their best albums to date, Funeral Soundtrack #4, which came out last year on Hopeless Records. It’s home to the already-iconic feminist punk anthem “You Hear Yes” (which features the lead singers of both Mannequin Pussy and Scowl), and lots of other powerful, tuneful punk songs.
Set time: 12:20 PM on the Pink Stage.
Drain
Drain were just added at to When We Were Young at the last minute, and they’re an incredible addition. They nail a balance between hardcore fury and California beach party that pretty much no other current band even attempts, and they’re at the top of their game right now. Their third album …Is Your Friend is coming November 7 via Epitaph (and available on exclusive color vinyl in the BrooklynVegan shop), and the singles they’ve released from it have been sticking with us. Whether it’s groove metal-infused ragers like “Nights Like These” and “Stealing Happiness From Tomorrow” or the melodic SoCal skate punk of “Who’s Having Fun?,” these are some of Drain’s catchiest songs yet.
Set time: 1:35 PM on the Allianz Stage.
The Gaslight Anthem
The Gaslight Anthem took off a little bit later than most of the bands on this fest, but at this point, albums like The ’59 Sound and Handwritten are just as classic as the most-loved albums by the bands in the bigger font. Not to mention, the band has been in the midst of a triumphant comeback, including the release of their 2023 reunion album History Books. Their heartland rock-infused punk also stands out from a lot of the other music you’ll hear this weekend, and I’m sure they’ll make for a great change of pace.
Set time: 4:50 PM on the Ghost Stage.
Knocked Loose
When We Were Young carries the torch for Warped Tour, and this year they’ve got a lineup that balances out the emo and pop punk with a hefty dose of metalcore, just like Warped did in its later years. Of all the heavy bands, the one we recommend the most is Knocked Loose. They’ve been on a historic run lately, bringing heavy hardcore to places it rarely goes like the Grammys, late night TV, Slipknot arena tours, and Coachella, and they just never cease to amaze us. While most of the metal is on the two smaller stages, Knocked Loose are on the one heavy band on either of the two main stages, and I bet they’re gonna turn that main stage area into an absolute warzone.
Set time: 4:05 PM on the Pink Stage.
The Starting Line
Last year at When We Were Young, The Starting Line performed their 2002 debut album Say It Like You Mean It in full. But this year, they’re fresh off releasing their first album in 18 years, Eternal Youth, so that’s even more reason why we’re excited to see them. It’s an excellent comeback album that feels like the perfect next chapter for a band who always seemed like they broke up amidst unfinished business, and it really reinforces that The Starting Line have so much more going for them than a nostalgia-inducing debut and its era-defining hit single. But don’t worry, we’re sure they’ll induce a massive singalong with that one too.
Set time: 3:40 PM on the Ghost Stage.
Straylight Run
We’re of course excited to see Taking Back Sunday at the fest, but for the purposes of this list, I’d like to turn your attention to the much rarer set from TBS offshoot Straylight Run. John Nolan, Michelle DaRosa, Shaun Cooper, and Will Noon haven’t shared the stage together since opening Taking Back Sunday’s 2021 holiday shows (which were their first shows in 12 years and first with Michelle in 13 years), and those shows were a triumphant return for the band. With TBS touring guitarist/backing vocalist/pianist Nathan Cogan in the band, they sounded bigger and fuller than ever, and I expect they’ll be similarly blissful this weekend.
Set time: 1:55 PM on the Ghost Stage. Straylight Run and Taking Back Sunday also play a Friday night sideshow together at Fontainebleau.
Sunami
Sunami have the unenviable position of playing during Panic! at the Disco’s headlining set, but if you’d like a much heavier reprieve from the main stage’s emo-pop cabaret, Sunami is a pretty perfect option. (They also do start 20 minutes later than P!ATD, so maybe you can catch a little of both.) Like Drain, who play the same stage much earlier in the day, Sunami have a reputation for putting on some of the wildest live shows in the modern hardcore scene. I mean, just take a look at the footage of their Sound and Fury set from a few years ago and you’ll know you don’t wanna miss this.
Set time: 10:20 PM on the Allianz Stage.
**
When We Were Young takes place Saturday, October 18 and Sunday, October 19 at the Las Vegas Festival Grounds, presented by 7-Eleven. More festival information, remaining tickets, set times, nighttime sideshows, festival map, and more at the WWWY website.
Our interviews all weekend will be streaming at Veeps.