Panic! Riot! Sonny! Our Predictions For Next Year’s When We Were Young
Just two days ago, the third annual When We Were Young Festival wrapped up at the Las Vegas Festival Grounds, with headlining performances from My Chemical Romance and Fall Out Boy, the former playing their iconic album The Black Parade from start to finish. In fact, over ninety percent of the acts at the festival followed this theme - playing a seminal record from their catalog from start to finish. For the most part, this strategy worked, having great success and resonating with festival goers, making this a truly unique fest. Add in that When We Were Young has become synonymous with bands getting back together for high profile reunion shows, and you have a one-of-a-kind experience.
For fun, we decided to share our predictions for next year’s lineup, if the festival is to continue the “full album playthrough” . Some of these predictions are very out there, but stranger things have happened. Join us.
Panic! At The Disco - A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out
We know - Panic! At The Disco officially wrapped up a year ago, along with the announcement that longtime frontman and sole original member Brendon Urie was retiring to raise his newborn daughter and spend time with his family. But as history has taught us, “we are never ever getting back together” really means “we just need some time to take a break and get a fresh start.”
But what would be more out there is the possibility of Urie, guitarist Ryan Ross, drummer Spencer Smith, and bassist Jon Walker getting back together. Ross and Walker left the band after touring on their sophomore album Pretty. Odd, and Smith left after the release of Too Weird To Live, Too Rare To Die. But the band truly never had a fantastical wrap-up, and they never played a show as big as the crowds at this festival. We know it’s wishful thinking, but one more hometown show with the original members performing A Fever You Can’t Sweat from start to finish? Imagine it.
Paramore - Riot!
It seemed impossible to believe that Paramore would ever perform “Misery Business” again, until Hayley Williams, Zac Farro, and Taylor York brought it out of retirement for a monumental performance at the first When We Were Young back in 2022. Does it seem that outlandish to think that the band could return for another headlining performance to run through every song on the high energy masterpiece that is Riot? We think there’s a possibility that it could happen one day, particularly if it’s a one-off show like this.
From First To Last - Dear Diary, My Teen Angst Has A Body Count
Hear us out: While Sonny Moore has been dominating the music business as producer/DJ Skrillex, he has created new music with the band in the last few years, and even performed with them. Even though it doesn’t seem that Moore is on the new songs that have been released this year (wonderfully performed by longtime guitarist and vocalist Matt Good), is a one-off performance of one of the cultural touchstones of screaming out of the question?
Good Charlotte - The Young and the Hopeless
Good Charlotte often give rare performances these days - the Madden Brothers have their hands in so many other projects, including production and management. When the band gets together onstage, it’s a special occasion, and they’ve played the festival on the main stage once before. If the album play-through theme continues, then a performance of the album containing “The Anthem”, “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous” and “The Story Of My Old Man” could prove to be one of the craziest shows in the band’s history.
Finch - What It Is To Burn
Finch has broken up and gotten back together a few times over the years, but it seems that they’re active again, and they always bring forth a phenomenal show. Finch is one of a handful of bands that managed to create their masterpiece early in their career - the band’s first album What It Is To Burn is synonymous with the wave of screamo that burst onto the scene in the early 2000s. Can you imagine thousands of people screaming the words to that iconic song out in the desert heat? We can.
Thrice - The Artist in the Ambulance
Thrice has always been a bit of an outlier in this scene - every album they’ve produced is flawless, and while they play with a lot of the emo and scene bands of this era, they’ve managed to break off into a progressive world entirely their own. Last year, the band celebrated the 20th anniversary of one of their best albums, The Artist in the Ambulance, and they have yet to appear on stage at this festival. Could 2025 be the year that we’re all yelling “Late night, brakes lock, hear the tires squeal”?
Yellowcard - Ocean Avenue
With the Florida pop-punk act officially back on the scene and the touring circuit, this seems like a no-brainer. They returned to the world after breaking up, performing the entirety of Ocean Avenue from start to finish to critical acclaim. They’ve played this album through before, notably on an acoustic tour years back. With a performance at this fest already under their belts, this seems to be the most likely possibly. Let’s hope it happens.
Blink-182 - Enema of the State
There can be only two headliners, so we are just listing possibilities, but can you imagine? Think about hearing the opening riff of “Dumpweed” in front of 50,000 people with Mark, Tom and Travis back together again. It would be pandemonium, and not out of the question. The band once toured and played the full album through, when Matt Skiba was filling in for longtime vocalist/guitarist Tom DeLonge. Blink fans would lose their collective minds. We can only dream.
Scary Kids Scaring Kids - Scary Kids Scaring Kids
The Arizona six-piece came to an unfortunate end when lead vocalist Tyson Steven’s passed away. In 2022, a number of the original remembers got back together, and have been touring with a rotating lineup of lead singers to honor Steven’s’ memory and performances. The band is currently on tour playing their second, stellar self-titled album each night, so we could see this as a possibility. “Snake Devil”, “A Pistol To My Temple”, and “Degenerates” would go hard in the desert heat.
Sky Eats Airplane - Sky Eats Airplane
Come on, Jerry. Let’s make it happen.
Rise Against - The Sufferer and the Witness
Chicago four-piece Rise Against have released countless outstanding albums over the years, but there was something special about The Sufferer and the Witness. Every song is categorically perfect throughout its runtime, and it has some of the best songwriting from the band throughout their catalog. It seems imminent that, at the very least, we’ll all be singing the anthemic chorus of “Prayer of the Refugee” next year.
Bring Me The Horizon - Sempiternal
While it would be amazing to see Bring Me The Horizon bring forth a full-scale performance of Suicide Season, that era of the band seems to be done (not to mention how much of a killer all of the screaming would be on Oli Sykes’ vocal cords). But this album was the one that catapulted the band out of the traditional “screamo” territory, and pushed them beyond what everyone knew they were capable of creating. Hearing “This Is Sempiternal” from a roaring crowd would be a chill-inducing experience.
It’s unlikely, but with the minor resurgence in the electro-crunkcore scene the last few years, it would be fun to see David Schmitt and Kyle Even reunite for a one off performance of Hello, Fascination. The duo-turned-band-turned-DJ outfit once performed on the main stage at Warped Tour for many summers, and this album had a hold on an entire generation of fans. While Hell Is What You Make It was the absolute standout record in their catalog, Hello Fascination is a special release and time capsule in the neon-clad era of the scene.
The Cab - Whisper War
The Las Vegas group fronted by Alex DeLeon brought a unique brand of pop-rock to the scene, and Whisper War is an exceptional debut album from a band that was once comprised of kids just out of high school. While the lineup will most likely not feature everyone from the Whisper Wars era, there’s no doubt that DeLeon and Co. would put on an incredible performance revisiting these pop and rock classics. Maybe Patrick Stump will join them, too, as he did this year with Cobra Starship and Motion City Soundtrack. Who knows?
