LAS VEGAS (CelebrityAccess) – The highly anticipated first day of the emo-infused When We Were Young Festival (WWWY) was scheduled to take place Saturday (October 22). However, approximately an hour before headliners Paramore and My Chemical Romance were set to take the stage, organizers called it off due to a high winds weather advisory.
The National Weather Service website claimed that Vegas could get winds up to 65mph with down power lines and blown trees, a possibility alongside power outages and travel troubles. Some wanna-be festival attendees posted to social media that they did not see the wind advisory posted. However, some Vegas residents posted on TikTok and FB that their outdoor furniture and decorations were being blown away due to the force of the winds.
— When We Were Young (@WWWYFest) October 22, 2022
After the festival was announced, fans took to social media in shock over thousands of travel dollars lost on lodging, admission, etc. While fans were offered a full refund for the canceled Saturday show, they didn’t get an offer to attend another day. Multiple bands scheduled to play Saturday jumped on their social media accounts to let fans know they were working to find indoor venues to hold a concert anyway – with a lot being free of charge.
Red Jumpsuit Apparatus and Hawthorne Heights were two of the first to let fans know they were trying to come through for them in light of the canceled first day. And they did just that, performing with the opening band Armor for Sleep at the Strat hotel, which was within walking distance of the festival grounds. The All-American Rejects followed suit with a free show offered down the street at Soul Belly BBQ, with Variety reporting the following from frontman Tyson Ritter.
“Regardless of the radio of it all, the MTV of it all, you guys listened, and you fuckin’ gave a shit,” he said before their final song. “Every kid that is a little emo, or a little weird or a little queer, or a little fuckin’ lost, that listens to this music or listens to all this shit, and felt seen — we’re those kids too. That’s why we wrote this shit.”
Senses Fail, Thursday, Bayside, and Anthony Green played a free show at the Sand Dollar. Bring Me the Horizon teamed up with Knocked Loose and Travis Barker’s son, Landon Barker, for a show at the Palms costing $80 a ticket. The Wonder Years, La Dispute, Mom Jeans, and Sweet Pill charged $40 for a show together at the Rockstar bar.
The show went on Sunday (October 23), and it appears to be a success. Paramore’s Hayley Williams addressed the crown on Sunday regarding the festival’s cancellation decision.
“I know that this weekend got off to a rocky start, and I know it wasn’t a particularly popular decision to everyone out there, but I wanna say that it means a lot that the festival is looking out for all of our safety.”
WWWY holds one more day with the same lineup on Saturday (October 29).
