By: Dylan Evans

Las Vegas, NV., Jan. 21: Earlier this week, a music festival was announced featuring many bands from the late 1990’s and early 2000’s. The festival, named When We Were Young, features many Millennial and Gen Z favorites, including My Chemical Romance, Paramore, Avril Lavigne, AFI, and over twenty more pop-punk and emo bands.

The announcement of the music festival has sparked plenty of excitement from young and adult fans. The festival is taking place in Las Vegas in October of this year. Ticket prices for the festival start at approximately $230 USD, with the VIP tickets being $500 USD minimum. The festival is a tour de nostalgia, encouraging fans born in the 1990’s and 2000’s to see tens of their favorite bands from the era.

The festival has also sparked a fair amount of controversy since its recent announcement. With Covid-19 and its new Omicron variant still present, many fans fear the safety of being in such a large city with an immensely huge festival. The number of people already stating their interest in attending can cause paranoia of spreading the virus and its new variant, with not only many bands playing, but a large turnout of fans from around the country and world is likely.

Another point of controversy is the hosts of the festival, Live Nation— the same organizers behind the recent Astroworld tour, held responsible for the unfortunate deaths of several fans in the crowd due to overcrowding and lack of precaution. Many fans of the lineup have already declared a boycott on the festival, despite their love for the bands, because of Live Nation’s involvement in the show.

A final concern amongst attendees of the festival is the high price of the tickets. With a minimum of $230 USD for a single day at the festival, many were discouraged from going because of the high prices. The tickets also happen to be non-refundable— meaning that if any of the bands were to drop out before the festival, or complications due to Covid-19 would delay the festival, the fans can only choose to wait or not attend, wasting their money.

Though there are several controversies concerning the festival, When We Were Young is certain to attract a large attendance from fans of punk, pop-punk, and emo music from their adolescence. The nostalgia for these performers is much too strong amongst their fanbases and is sure to bring in copious amounts of revenue despite the small boycott and paranoia of Covid-19.

Image Credit: New York Post