The When We Were Young Festival began in 2017 in Santa Ana, CA and was revived in 2022 at its new home at the Las Vegas Festival Grounds. Since 2023, When We Were Young has been a two-day festival of the same lineup. Headlining this year was Blink-182 (Travis Barker) and the return of Panic! At the Disco for two very special performances celebrating the 20th anniversary of their debut album A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out. This was Panic! At the Disco’s first performances since disbanding in 2023. Their lineup with drummer Dan Pawlovich on drums, was the same as 2023, and original drummer Spencer Smith joined in on the final song “I Write Sins Not Tragedies.” There was a total of 15 bands on the two side by side main stages, so there were no overlapping set times. In addition to Blink-182 and Panic! At the Disco, Weezer (Patrick Wilson,) Avril Lavigne (Chris Reeve,) The Offspring (Brandon Pertzborn,) Simple Plan (Chuck Comeau,) Boys Like Girls (John Keefe,) and Yellowcard (Jimmy Brunkvist,) performed on those stages. For anyone that grew up in the 90s, this was certainly a dream lineup. Additionally, there were 40 bands on the rotating side stages including Ice Nine Kills (Adam Reed,) Bad Religion (Jamie Miller,) Alexisonfire (Jordan Hastings,) and The Plot In You (Michael Cooper.)

Next year, the Sick New World Festival, also produced by C3 Presents, will return to the Las Vegas Festival grounds. It will feature an all-star lineup of System of A Down, Korn, Bring Me the Horizon, Danny Elfman, Ministry, Evanescence, AFI, Mastodon, and many more.

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