Emo Kids Unite… Or Not?
Emo kids are coming out of retirement this week, thanks to the announcement of the We Were Young festival. The event is bringing together bands for a one night Warped Tour like festival. The 12 hour festival has headliners including My Chemical Romance, Paramore, ADTR, Avril Lavigne, and so many more. For former emo kids this is pop punk heaven… or is it hell?
While many of us wish Warped Tour would make a comeback, it seems that the WWY festival has people second guessing this shot at reliving the 2000s. There are some issues with the event that have everyone buzzing. Twitter and Tiktok have been running up a storm with people making jokes about the festival and creating skits where they pretend to be a part of a documentary after the potential failure of the event. It seems like nobody believes the WWY fest is actually going to be good.
The biggest concern people have has to do with timing. Originally, word going around was that there would be three stages. With the lineup hosting around 60 bands in 12 hours and 3 stages even I, with my mathematical challenges, can see that the math isn’t mathing. With those numbers, the amount of time is limited to around 30 minutes per band. Imagine after every 30 minutes, you're pushing through a sweaty crowd of people trying to get to the other stage to see your faves. By the time you get there, their set is halfway over.
Don't get me wrong. Festivals generally have short sets, but if you factor in time for setting up and breaking down equipment, how many songs are you really hearing? Other festivals are spread out over days and have plenty of information to be found about who's playing when and where. With WWY, that's not the case.
To curb fear of the timing issue, Live Nation announced that there would be “multiple stages” with headlining bands getting around 45 minutes to an hour long set and openers getting about twenty minutes worth of playtime. That’s normal for festivals, but it seems the announcement came a little too late for people to believe it. There's a bit of a Mandela effect happening around the three stages rumor, with some people claiming they saw it on the WWY website, but not being able to find it anymore. Perhaps, Live Nation decided to make some changes after seeing the backlash, but the lack of information has got people wondering what's really going on.
On top of that, GA tickets are starting at about $225. That’s a pretty price to pay for 12 hours of 30 minute sets. If you calculate it, the amount comes out to $18.75 an hour. VIP will run you even more at $500. Not to mention, these are non refundable.
Depending on how much you miss blasting 3Oh!3 or Jimmy Eat World on your iPod in 2008, those prices might be worth it. However, another major issue fans are bringing up is Live Nation’s rep and safety concerns. The company received major flack for the Astroworld event it organized in November 2021 that ended in tragedy and fans are rightfully concerned about the safety measures of this festival. Despite the Astroworld disaster, it’s worth pointing out that Live Nation is one of the biggest names in the entertainment industry and has put on countless successful concerts and festivals. That being said, with Astroworld being so fresh in everyone’s minds, it makes sense for fans to be worried.
On top of all of these issues, allegedly, some bands didn’t know they were slotted for the festival. I’m sorry? The performers don’t know they’re performing? Seems like a recipe for disaster. Some say the artists were joking or being sarcastic with their surprise about being on the lineup...but were they? I'm just here for the conspiracy theories. (TBH, I don't buy it. Nobody plays a festival unknowingly.)
Honestly, while it does not look well for Live Nation, the truth is tickets will sell anyway. After all, who would pass up a live emo night?
I do think it’s amusing that even though most of the talk I’ve seen has been on the negative side, there has been major buzz. It’s kind of genius marketing. Plan an event so poorly with almost no information on how things will proceed in order to get everyone to make videos and post on social media about said event. You know what they say. There’s no such thing as bad publicity.
Tickets are on sale today and while I will not be purchasing one, I am looking forward to seeing what comes from this event.