I went to the When We Were Young Festival in Las Vegas last night

[Mister Freeze]

A few observations...

Green Day knows how to be a great headliner. These guys can do arenas, stadiums, festivals and own the crowd no problem. Looked great. Sounded great. Got a ton of hits from different eras that everybody knows. Billie Joe Armstrong even whipped out a little bit of "Shout" like he was Jon Bon Jovi in 1988. A good bucket list band to cross off your list.

Reunited Blink-182 was good too. I wouldn't say I got "bored" watching them, but after a while, you get what it's all about. I started wondering if anyone was at either of the small stages while one of the headliners was on. So I wandered off to see the last few songs of Bowling For Soup, who had a surprisingly large crowd. They're a lot of fun. Enjoyed being closer to the stage to see them than watching Blink 182 from a distance.

Offspring was the tightest band I saw. They're a ferocious live act. Singer looks good and still has the vocals. (Actually, everybody I saw still had their vocals. No one's in the Jon Bon Jovi/Paul Stanley/Vince Neil category yet.) They have a great drummer who's probably in his early 20s.

Cool to see so many people enjoying rock on this level. I guess you could call this the post-grunge era. Smart idea for a festival.

[LAglamrocker]

Review start
This show sounds like actual torture. Being in Vegas and wasting time at this bad bad life choice
Only reason to show up Bowling For Soup song Alexa Bliss
Bowling For Garbage probably passed on that
Review over

[JizzySynatra]

Offspring singer never "had the vocals"

[SterileEyes1]

100% agree about Green Day and will never understand why Blink 182 has basically become their equal in popularity and such. I remember they co-headlined a shed tour around 2002 or so and I’d imagine it’s similar now where if both bands play the same night it’s pretty obvious where the substance is.

[Mister Freeze]

100% agree about Green Day and will never understand why Blink 182 has basically become their equal in popularity and such. I remember they co-headlined a shed tour around 2002 or so and I’d imagine it’s similar now where if both bands play the same night it’s pretty obvious where the substance is.

That's pretty much how it was. From what I could tell, there was no feeling during the festival that Blink should've gone on last. Don't get me wrong. They were good, but their performance kinda felt like a straight line. There was a lot more audience investment with Green Day. (Side note: it's hard to believe American Idiot will be 20 years old next year. In my head, it's still their "new" album.)

Blink-182 are riding high on the reunion hype. They just announced their own tour yesterday with a mix of arenas and stadiums (PetCo, Fenway, etc.). They'll be back in Vegas at the T-Mobile Arena in July. A few years ago, scab Blink were at the Palms Pearl Theater, which for reference, Cheap Trick just played.

[DangerZone]

did you lose a bet?

[ElectrickMagick]

I was there on Sunday, and agree with Mister Freeze's assessments. Green Day is simply one of the best live acts I've ever seen. Billie Joe is just a terrific frontman. They are also smart enough to supplement their sound to fill the environment they now find themselves in. I think they've got a keyboardist and two extra guitar players now, one who also plays the saxophone. They've done "Shout" on and off over the years, I wanna say I saw them do that in Detroit fifteen years ago.

You know who could benefit from some help onstage? Blink-182. I will say that they sounded better than I thought they would, but I went in with low expectations and I like Blink. I was on the Blink side of the double stage and everyone around me was really into them. Our area cleared out a bit after they were done. Some of that might have also been because getting out of WWWY was a giant pain in the ass.

The Offspring might have been my favorite band of the day. They were tight, and played a short set of nothing but hits. It was really fun. I also enjoyed Sum 41's set, again quick set, with nothing but songs I knew.

The wife and I were annoyed that Bowling For Soup was playing during Blink's set. Would have really liked to see them.

I found the whole day a little overwhelming between the sun, the heat, and the lack of places to sit. It's called "WHEN We Were Young," meaning we aren't young anymore and this old man could have used a few more places to sit down and hide out. Given the sheer amount of bands, I thought even the VIP tickets we scored were a steal.

[Mister Freeze]

I was there on Sunday...

Were you the guy wearing the TUFF t-shirt?

I'm not joking. I saw one there.

[Nate S Axel]

I was one of the few to score tickets to see Green Day's "surprise show" at Fremont Country Club last week; I'm barely a block away, and it was the venue I saw my first concert in Vegas (Hookers & Blow) when I moved here three years ago. Nothing to say about Green Day that Mister Freeze hasn't already. Great band, great show.

It's always incredible getting to see a band like that perform at a smaller venue. I remember years back in Minneapolis when Metallica played a last-minute show at First Avenue before their concert. I was at another show a few blocks away and half the crowd left to head to First Avenue to try to get tickets for Metallica.

I had a few friends attend WWWY, but I didn't like enough of the bands to want to go on either day. Glad people enjoyed it from what I've seen or read.

[ElectrickMagick]

I was there on Sunday...

Were you the guy wearing the TUFF t-shirt?

I'm not joking. I saw one there.

Definitely not me. I saw a couple of Iron Maiden t-shirts, but that was about it for metal.

[500DaysofNight]

Offspring singer never "had the vocals"

I saw him them at Warped Tour in '05 and he had someone on stage singing with him because he couldn't hit the higher notes.

[Mister Freeze]

Offspring singer never "had the vocals"

I saw him them at Warped Tour in '05 and he had someone on stage singing with him because he couldn't hit the higher notes.

He was definitely hitting the high notes in Vegas last weekend.