When We Were Young Festival

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About

The When We Were Young Festival, alternatively dubbed the Emo Fyre Festival, is an emo, punk and scene music festival that was announced on Instagram in early 2022, set to be held in late 2022 in Las Vegas. The festival was set to host multiple, nostalgic emo bands for a millennial audience, including Paramore, My Chemical Romance, Pierce the Veil, Avril Lavigne, Jimmy Eat World and many others. News of the festival inspired reactions and memes from fans across platforms like Twitter and Instagram, generating hype in January 2022. In October 2022, Day 1 of the festival (October 22nd) was canceled due to high wind warnings amid a windstorm in Las Vegas. The postponement ultimately caused more memes on Twitter.

Background

On January 18th, 2022, the official Instagram page of the band Paramore made a post^[1] that announced they'd be part of a new music festival called the "When We Were Young Fest," hosted by Live Nation and set to be held in Las Vegas, Nevada on October 22nd, 2022. The post received roughly 463,300 likes over the course of one day. Additionally, they tagged the Instagram page of the new festival, which also posted on the same day with the official poster that featured the full lineup (shown below). The post^[2] received roughly 526,900 likes in the same amount of time. The festival also posted an announcement tweet^[3] that received roughly 87,100 likes in one day.

Online Reactions

Early and common reactions to the festival's announcement were comparisons between it and the Fyre Festival disaster. Many online thought that the band lineup was too good to be true or potentially a hoax or scam. For instance, Twitter^[4] user newabnormaI replied to the announcement tweet on January 18th, 2022, with "emo fyre festival," earning roughly 1,800 likes in less than a day. Twitter^[5] user brentschmidt posted a tweet that included a photograph of a poorly prepared meal, captioning it, "I can already see the food offerings…" in reference to the bad food served at Fyre Festival. The tweet (shown below) received over 800 likes in less than 24 hours.

Many users were simultaneously excited about the promise of the festival, posting positive affirmations, like Twitter^[6] user Pandashiza, whose tweet used an exploited version of Surprised Pikachu with the caption "*when I saw this lineup," earning over 400 likes in less than a day (shown below).

Concerns

Other internet users expressed concerns about the festival in regards to its expensive pricing. On the poster, it was advertised that tickets were $20, but people, such as Twitter^[7] user mereeedithh, noticed that the presale price was roughly $225. Mereeedithh also noted in her tweet (shown below, left) that the ticket price for a one-day concert was not worth it for her, earning over 800 likes in one day. Twitter^[8] user MykeAHoward also tweeted a screenshot of the expensive pricing, captioning his image, "Yeah I’ll just be listening on Spotify," earning over 350 likes (shown below, right).

Other people online raised concerns about the inclusion of TikTok star Lil Huddy being included in the lineup, resulting in memes across platforms. For instance, Instagram^[9] page bitchmisery posted a meme on January 18th referencing just this and received roughly 1,000 likes in less than 24 hours (shown below).

Early on January 18th, 2022, memes about When We Were Young centered on excitement as well as nostalgia for emo music. For instance, Twitter^[10] user jesroxx tweeted a Starter Pack style image consisting of My Chemical Romance merchandise, captioning it, "Already picked out what I am gonna wear." The tweet (shown below, left) received roughly 3,400 likes in less than a day. Facebook^[11] page Young And Aspiring also posted a meme on the 18th using the catchphrase "Take her somewhere special," earning roughly 10,000 reactions in under 24 hours (shown below, right).

More memes regarding millennial nostalgia for emo music were posted to Instagram on January 18th. Instagram^[12] page chillwavekittens posted a meme that used two photos of Jonah Hill, earning roughly 4,700 likes in less than a day (shown below, left). Twitter^[13] user CSantiago1001 also posted a meme using emo Jonah Hill, including a GIF of him flipping his scene hair, captioning it, "Showing up to my 9-5 office job the day after the festival." The tweet (shown below, right) received roughly 1,700 likes in less than 24 hours.

Other meme creators started to use the festival's poster as an exploitable by inserting it into other meme templates. For instance, Twitter^[14] user cameronhurley posted a meme on January 18th that object labeled the Is This A Pigeon? template to reference millennials, earning roughly 126,400 likes in less than 24 hours (shown below, left). Additionally, Twitter^[15] user soupinthering photoshopped the poster to surround Shinji in the Shinji In A Chair format, receiving roughly 84,200 likes in a similar timeframe (shown below, right).

More memes appeared across platforms going into the rest of January 2022, with many referencing other emo-centric memes like the Emo Dad, ^[16] using him as an exploitable reference.

Developments

Day 1 Canceled Due To High Wind Warning

On October 22nd, 2022, the Twitter^[17] account of the When We Were Young Festival posted an infographic, announcing that Day 1 of the festival (October 22nd) had to be canceled due to a high wind warning in the Las Vegas area (shown below). "Dangerous 30-40 mph" were reported which the festival thought might injure staff and fans. The tweet received over 3,000 likes in one hour.