Yeah, About When We Were Young
Warped Tour is back!
Or, well, kind of. Emo kids of yore lost their minds earlier this week after the announcement of When We Were Young, a festival taking place Oct. 22 and 23 in Las Vegas dedicated to the scene that for so many of us is synonymous with our teen years — my Facebook feed blew up with posts from my high-school classmates in particular. The lineup boasts some of the biggest, most beloved bands who dominated the scene 20 years ago, like My Chemical Romance and Paramore. Today, organizers announced a second day instead of just one, and both days are already sold out.
But after the flurry of truly hilarious memes and, “Let’s go to Vegas!” texts sent by 30-somethings nationwide subsided, skepticism set in and questions arose. The criticisms zeroed in on a few things, like organization, the logistics of over 65 bands playing in one day, and ticket prices many, many times higher than what we paid for essentially the same bands years ago, but three in particular have stood out — the involvement of Live Nation, nonrefundable tickets, and the relevance of the acts on the bill.
Live Nation has long been the subject of criticism, and rightly so. Just two weeks ago, a class-action lawsuit was filed essentially accusing the company of being a monopoly due to the limited choice both venues and concertgoers have when it comes to tickets.
To make matters worse, Live Nation is coming out of the tragedy of Astroworld, where hundreds of concertgoers were seriously injured and ten were killed in a rush to the stage, leading to an investigation and multiple lawsuits against the company. It’s a terrifying scenario for all concertgoers, and that’s saying nothing of what it was like for those who were there or who lost loved ones to the disaster. Live Nation’s association with When We Were Young is giving people pause, from worries about safety to some accusing the pop-punk festival as being a ploy to rake in money to cover legal fees. And while these concerns are understandable, they ignore the fact that Live Nation remains one of the country’s biggest names in the concert industry and that they’re putting on shows around the country every single night, with countless more to come — and again, concertgoers have little choice but to get tickets through Live Nation. It may be a shitty game, but it’s the only game in town.
Live Nation addressed safety concerns in a statement: “The safety of fans, artists and staff is thoroughly planned for among event organizers and in coordination with local authorities. We have seen a lot of excitement around this festival and we look forward to putting on an incredible event for all of the fans this October. We encourage fans to check the festival website and socials for all of the latest updates.”
No-refund policies are about as ubiquitous as Live Nation, and not just in the concert industry. Tickets for theater, sporting events, and just about everything almost always come with a disclaimer that they’re nonrefundable.
Nostalgia tours have long had appeal and always will — the clamor over the announcement and subsequent sell-out is proof of that — but this isn’t merely parading around long-inactive bands to churn out their greatest hits. My Chemical Romance, for example, had announced a reunion tour prior to the COVID outbreak. Anberlin wrapped a tour in the fall. The Used has other festivals on their schedule. AFI released Bodies in June and has a tour starting in weeks. PVRIS also released an album in June, and having formed in 2012, is one of the younger bands on a bill dominated by acts started a decade or more prior.
None of this is to say that the criticisms are completely unwarranted — when you’re shelling out over 200 bucks for a ticket, you want to be sure it’s worth it, and above all, you want to know you’ll be safe. But Live Nation’s involvement and their no-refund policy are both pretty typical, especially to avid concertgoers, and plenty of these bands have proven they’re still capable of putting on a fantastic show.
