When We Were Young Festival 2024

Earlier in the day with the sun still out in full force, Daisy Grenade, a younger band composed of duo Dani Nigro and Keaton Whittaker, kicked off the day at the Pink stage with a high-energy set featuring a handful of songs across their two E.P.s and debuted newest single, “How To Hide A Body.” Mayday Parade evoked raw emotion with A Lesson In Romantics, while 3OH!3 kept it lighthearted and fun, bringing a party atmosphere with Want. Never Take Friendship Personal from Anberlin, now fronted by Matty Mullins for live performances, got an enthusiastic reception from the crowd, and Stephen Christian, the band’s original vocalist who went on hiatus last year, returned to the stage for a song! Over at the Verizon stage, which featured some of the heaviest bands on the lineup, were some of the best crowds throughout the day. Metal-core band The Devil Wears Prada, playing Plagues, and pop-punk band The Wonder Years, playing The Greatest Generation, really brought out the energy of the crowd at the smaller and shaded stage, with consistent moshing, circle pits, and crowd surfers.

There were also notable reunions at this festival much to the fans’ delight – Tonight Alive reunited to perform The Other Side and took to the stage as a band as if they never went on hiatus, Cassadee Pope and Alex Lipshaw reunited as Hey Monday to perform Hold On Tight, and Cobra Starship reunited to play a show together for the second time in 12 years – the first being a few days prior at a When We Were Young sideshow – and played a collection of their hits. These reunions, along with all the times bands jumped on stage with each other throughout the day – Patrick Stump of Fall Out Boy joined Cobra Starship on stage, all of Pierce The Veil’s collaborations, Hey Monday was joined by Tonight Alive’s Jenna McDougall, the Daisy Grenade duo, and We Are In The Crowd’s Tay Jardine, and so on – added a sense of celebration to the festival.

Leading up to those final acts of the night, Pierce The Veil delivered a standout performance of Collide With The Sky, featuring appearances from Jason Aalon Butler on “Tangled In The Great Escape,” Jenna McDougall of Tonight Alive on “Hold On Till May,” and Kellin Quinn of Sleeping With Sirens for the general-population and crowd favorite “King For A Day.” It also was the live debut of “One Hundred Sleepless Nights.” Jimmy Eat World kept the energy high on Bleed American, stirring up the crowd with hits like “The Middle” and “Sweetness.” Boys Like Girls, a week-of addition to the lineup, played an incredibly fun set at the Ghost stage with half the set coming from their debut self-titled album. Sleeping With Sirens packed the same stage afterwards (at the same time as Fall Out Boy) to play their sophomore album Let’s Cheers to This, ending with the high-octane “If You Can’t Hang.” 

Fall Out Boy, who headlined the Pink stage, played a varied set dubbed “Days of Fall Out Past,” playing a few songs from each of their albums, giving the crowd a taste of each era in their discography. This was a set that they have been doing for a few festivals this year, and it featured many hits along with a few deep cuts. They were joined by Wiz Khalifa for a cover of “See You Again” and ended the set with “Saturday” from their 2003 album, Take This To Your Grave. With set changes, pyrotechnics, confetti, wire work by Pete Wentz, and a grand fireworks finale to end their set, it was a spectacle fitting for the grandeur of Las Vegas. It almost felt as if it were the finale to the night, but alas…

In a stark contrast to the prior set, My Chemical Romance’s headline set on the Purple stage was much more understated. Being one of the most-anticipated sets of the festival with a full play-through of The Black Parade, there was almost an expectation that it would be as theatrical as the album lends itself to, but instead, they stuck to a minimalistic set design and production. To say it took away from the performance would be entirely inaccurate – it was clearly a deliberate choice, and they made a dramatic impact with plain white sheets surrounding the three sides of the stage, where spotlights at the front of the stage projected shadows of the members, all dressed in black, across the space. While most songs kept the lighting neutral, a few songs deviated into stronger colors, like during “Sleep” when red and blue lights washed over the stage, accentuating the intensity in the song. The front-to-back play of the album treated fans to live performances of “Disenchanted” for the first time since 2007 and “The Sharpest Lives” since 2008. They concluded their Saturday set with fan-favorites “I’m Not Okay (I Promise)” and “Helena” from Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge, and as the final “so long and goodnight” rang out over the gathered crowd, the long day of incredible, genre-defining music ended.

When We Were Young continues to solidify its status as a pilgrimage for fans of emo and pop-punk music. For those who grew up with these bands, it was a thrilling look back. For newer fans, it was an amazing way to immerse in the music that defined a subculture, proving that the angst, emotion, and fervor of these genres continue to resonate. In essence, the festival is both a tribute to the early 2000s emo era and a space for fans to relive – and reimagine – what the music means to them today. And whether it be from young bands like Daisy Grenade, bands like the supergroup L.S. Dunes of veterans that represent something new, as well as all the bands that are still thriving and making music, we can see how the genre is not just a thing of the past, but rather is one that is continuing to exist and evolve.

When We Were Young is returning to Las Vegas in 2025, but until then, check out the gallery from this year below!