If you ever wondered what it’d be like to step into a time machine set for 2005, the When We Were Young Festival 2023 was about as close as you’ll get. Picture it: the Las Vegas Strip, a sea of black eyeliner and band tees, and enough studded belts to put Hot Topic back on the stock market. With headliners like Green Day and Blink-182, it felt like Warped Tour had come back with a vengeance, and I, for one, was here for every overly emotional second of it.
Green Day rolled out Dookie like it was 1994, and yes, “Basket Case” still slaps just as hard. Blink-182 had the crowd in the palm of their hands, Tom DeLonge walked on stage and you could hear everyone’s dick and poop joke making 13 year old selves clawing to escape their bodies. They played all the classics, making everyone remember why we loved songs about teenage angst and aliens. And for those who missed seeing them in the early 2000s, Simple Plan was out there like it was their duty to remind us of every cringey teenage breakup we ever had.
As if that wasn’t enough, Lil Wayne showed up with Good Charlotte, because why not, and Avril Lavigne made a surprise appearance just to make sure we were all properly overwhelmed by nostalgia. Newcomers like Jean Dawson kept things fresh, even if we all secretly knew we were there for the bands that made us weep into our MySpace profiles.
And just when you thought things couldn’t get any more surreal, Tony Hawk himself showed up during Goldfinger’s set to belt out their hit “Superman.” Yes, you read that right. The skateboard legend hopped on stage, grabbed a mic, and made us all feel like we were back playing Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater on our PS2s. The crowd went wild, and suddenly it felt like every skatepark from our childhood had come to life. It was a beautiful, chaotic mess, with Hawk proving he’s got pipes to match his legendary board skills. Honestly, if that doesn’t make you want to dig out your old console, I don’t know what will.
But credit where it’s due—this was one of the rare festivals that actually ran on schedule. Miraculous, considering it was full of bands whose main skill was showing up fashionably late to things. It was a chaotic, over-the-top, emotional rollercoaster, and honestly, I’d do it all over again. So, if you missed out, no worries; they’re bringing it back in 2024, because apparently, we all still have more teenage angst to work through.
It’s just a phase…