The dream of the mid-2000s will be alive at ‘When We Were Young’ festival in Las Vegas

Paramore performing at the 2007 Van's Warped Tour at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in San Antonio, Texas on July 13, 2007. (Gary Miller, 2007 Gary Miller)

Grab your eyeliner and flat irons, because a music festival featuring the titans of mid-aught emo music are playing for one day only at the appropriately titled “When We Were Young” music festival in Las Vegas on Oct. 22.

The organizers of this festival absolutely understood the assignment when curating this lineup.

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They are targeting millions of millennials from around the world who listened to every emo alt rock band during middle school and high school. This is pure early 2000s nostalgia that millennials will eat up.

Headlined by punk pop icons My Chemical Romance, Paramore, Avril Lavigne and Jimmy Eat World, the entire lineup is packed with bands that were on every first-generation iPod.

There are so many fantastic acts on this lineup that it’s nearly impossible to pick just a few to name, but some of my absolute favorites that will play include Taking Back Sunday, A Day To Remember, Dashboard Confessional, All-American Rejects, Mayday Parade and 3OH!3.

There are even a few bands playing the festival that didn’t become popular until more recently, like Car Seat Headrest and Wolf Alice.

It’s like this lineup could have totally been believable as a lineup for the infamous Warped Tour during the mid-2000s.

Warped Tour, as those who loved emo music will know, was a touring music festival featuring the most popular and up-and-coming acts in emo and alt rock.

Seriously, this will be a trip down memory lane, and anyone who is lucky enough to get tickets, just know that millions of your fellow millennials are insanely jealous.

You can check out the lineup below:


About the Author:

Jack is a Digital Content Editor with a degree in creative writing and French from Western Michigan University. He specializes in writing about movies, food and the latest TV shows.

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