Every fall, When We Were Young makes us feel nostalgic as hell. More than that, though, the Las Vegas emo festival gives people a chance to either see bands that they missed out on before or relive their teenagerdom, deepening their affection for the groups that got them through hard times. This year was no exception, featuring a stuffed roster of bands playing some of their most significant albums in full — from My Chemical Romance’s The Black Parade to Jimmy Eat World’s Bleed American. Because the festival went down last weekend, we asked our readers to name the best bands who played When We Were Young 2024. These are the top picks, ranked accordingly below.
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5. Sleeping With Sirens
Since releasing Let’s Cheers To This in 2011, Sleeping With Sirens have gathered up milestone after milestone, including nonstop touring, Warped Tour appearances, and going platinum with “If You Can’t Hang.” In September, the post-hardcore vets headed out on a nostalgic anniversary tour with Holding Absence, which concluded at When We Were Young. “We felt free to be whoever we wanted to be as a band,” Kellin Quinn told us earlier this year, reflecting upon the album’s creation. “We weren’t thinking about how the record would do, what it would sell — we were just excited to make music that lit us up.” That rang true during their set, where they gave new energy to songs that were over a decade old.
4. The Used
This past weekend, the Used looked back at their sophomore album, In Love and Death, which turned 20 this year. After the intensity of their self-titled, the band stepped up and created an LP that sounded even bigger while losing none of the darkness. The songs hold up, too, oscillating between throat-shredding choruses and heartfelt ballads. During both of their performances, it’s clear why they made this list. The band still possess the ability to tug at our heartstrings and make everyone around them feel less alone as they bear immense trauma.
3. Fall Out Boy
Unlike most of the bands on this year’s WWWY roster, Fall Out Boy didn’t play a specific album in full. Instead, the emo vets designed an era-spanning setlist, playing at least one song from all of their studio albums. The result was immensely satisfying as they ripped through beloved hits that went all the way back to the early 2000s. The encore included a cover each night — Wiz Khalifa’s “See You Again” with the rapper himself on Saturday and Gym Class Heroes’ “Cupid’s Chokehold featuring Travie McCoy on Sunday.
2. Piece the Veil
AP cover stars Pierce the Veil took the stage in the evening to play the album that changed their lives, 2011’s Collide With the Sky, in full for the first time ever. To prepare, they needed to relearn two songs — “The First Punch,” which Fuentes says is the fastest song they’ve ever written, and “One Hundred Sleepless Nights,” which they’ve never played live until WWWY. Even so, the band soared during their set, bringing out Sleeping With Sirens’ Kellin Quinn for “King For A Day” and Tonight Alive’s Jenna McDougall for “Hold On Till May,” which made the performance all the sweeter.
1. My Chemical Romance
My Chemical Romance playing their masterclass third album, The Black Parade, was no small feat, so of course our readers were most excited about this performance. Their 2007 LP isn’t just an enrapturing concept album, either — it’s the band at the very top of their game, executing an intricate vision that boasts some of their greatest songs ever. The emo legends brought the album to life with just as much painstaking detail, too, featuring a shadowbox stage that made The Black Parade feel brand new.