Hi, gang. How’s everyone doing? Good? I sure hope so.
Me? Well, I’m just swell, all things considered.
This past weekend, my friends and I, at long last, ventured across the country to beautiful Las Vegas, Nevada, for what was intended to be a weekend unlike any other. Since January, we’d been eagerly awaiting When We Were Young Fest, an emo, pop punk, punk rock festival for the record books. It was basically setup to be like the resurrection of the original years of Warped Tour, when Warped Tour was more of a punk rock show than a metal show (as it had kind of turned into in its latter years).
We waited. We prepared. We made it to Vegas. And when it finally came time to venture out from our hotel and indulge in one of the greatest days of our lives…
We all kept a fairly level head in the moment, but here’s what was actually going through my mind at the moment of finding out this information:
“Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!”
Needless to say, this came as a huge punch in the gut. Like, what utter horseshit luck.
However, despite of this tragic development, we didn’t let it completely destroy our weekend. After all, we were in Vegas, so it’s not like we had nothing to do. In place of a festival, we decided instead to utilize our free time and explore the casinos, shops, and other sights of the city, of which there was no small shortage.
I think it goes without saying that Vegas is a gorgeous place. Lots to see and do, tons of wacky people to interact with (or not), and plenty of places to throw away your money. Thankfully, the tables and slots didn’t get the better of any us in my group. In terms of betting, I think we all actually left with house money from the casinos. That said, we most definitely came home poorer, since drinks and food cost way too much over there. Still, there was endless entertainment wherever we went.
Some obvious highlights include Caesars Palace, The Venetian, and the alley tucked between The LINQ and the Flamingo, which featured plenty of cool pubs and shops. We also found the Player 1 Video Game Bar during our Friday night out, which features loads of free arcade cabinets and console video games to play, delicious drinks, and staff members that all dress up in cosplay. We checked out Fremont Street as well, which seemed really cool, but the environment proved to be a little too unsavory for some in our group, so we elected to bail out of there before too long. I also got to see an old friend from my time studying abroad in England whom I haven’t seen in ages, which was amazing. If you’re reading this, friend (you know who you are), and I’m so glad I got to see you again!
Of course, it was practically impossible to escape the dour tone on Saturday as we went about our adventures, what with all the people walking around clad in black clothes and dark makeup and looking absolutely depressed to not be at the festival. As one Twitter meme aptly put it, the Las Vegas Strip had become the Boulevard of Broken Dreams.
Many bands that were on the docket for the day started doing pop-up shows throughout the city, including the All-American Rejects, Senses Fail, and Hawthorne Heights. My friends and I attempted to grab tickets to the Bring Me The Horizon show that night, but of course, those sold out in minutes. So, alas, Saturday was a bust for the festival, but a plus in terms of actually getting to experience more of Vegas.
In reality, it was the right call to can the festival. Between the strong wind gusts and all the dust getting kicked up from the desert into the city, it’s safe to assume things might’ve gotten kind of ugly real quick. Parts of the stage rigging or the massive screens that would’ve been hung up would almost certainly have been blown down, and it’s hard to imagine anyone, least of all the bands, getting away with breathing in dust all day.
Of course, while it’s great that Live Nation and the local authorities actually decided to put people’s safety first, it didn’t sting any less when Sunday came along and the festival went ahead as scheduled. In hindsight, my friends and I probably could’ve gotten tickets from someone online for the Sunday show, but of course, there’s a great deal of risk involved with that, one that it just didn’t seem safe to take. We instead opted to bite the bullet and take the eventual refund for our tickets (which, in turn, is actually pretty good, because now I can justify going on some other fun excursion next year).
However, I can’t escape the feeling that we really should have taken that risk, because I’m still immensely sore about missing out on this show! Gah! I’m not getting over this anytime soon.
Whatever. Sunday was still put to good use to explore more of Vegas and enjoy a pleasant night out, with all of us looking absolutely spectacular.
It was at this point that we really dug into all of the casinos and sat down for some fun at the tables. Blackjack was our game of choice for the most part. Eager as we were to try out some craps (that game where you roll dice across the long table with all the numbers on it), that game proved too confounding for us.
Now, with all of that being said, I would like to take a moment to invite all the naysayers of When We Were Young Fest to politely clam up at long last. Because despite this festival seeming too good to be true and all that at first, and despite Saturday being tossed out the window, and despite Live Nation being a sucky company (aside from the Astroworld debacle), if you look anywhere online for details or videos about the show from Sunday, it actually seems to have gone off without a hitch.
All the bands played, people had the time of their lives, and it was an absolute win for everyone involved (except for the Saturday crowd, of course, but don’t remind me). I understand the initial trepidation towards the whole thing, but I seriously hope everyone who’s been ragging on this show since January can now stop being so damn miserable about it. Believe it or not, good things do happen every once in a while.
Sorry, rant over.
Bottom line: Las Vegas was super fun, even if we got screwed out of going to one of the greatest live music events of all time. I’m very much inclined to return to the city someday, though, now that I’ve got a good lay of the land and know a lot of fun spots to revisit. Plus, next time, maybe I won’t have to spend almost $300 on a concert ticket and we can instead do more gambling or see other shows. Fun stuff, you know?
And here’s hoping that whatever festival we pick to go to next year blows WWWY Fest out of the water (Adjacent Festival in Atlantic City actually looks pretty fun, I must admit…), because boy do I need a pick-me-up after this one.
Until next time, peace.