When I was young – close to 12, but who can truly say – my friend gave me a burnt CD with the likes of blink-182, Sum 41, Simple Plan, Good Charlotte, and more iconic pop punk bands. And thus began my foundational love for pop punk music and the fun-loving spirit that comes along with the pop punk scene. So, when the Warped Tour-esque show giants in When We Were Young announced their 2023 lineup featuring pretty well every pop punk band I grew up loving, I knew this was a once in a lifetime opportunity to gather some friends and relive the glory days.

First question on everyone’s mind: was it worth it? Not a single doubt in my mind: YES! While we were nowhere near being able to see every set from every band on this lineup, I was able to catch 90% of the bands on my “must-see” list, and even some not on the list. Kicking off the day with one of my newest pop punk loves in Knuckle Puck and closing the day with one of the first pop punk bands I ever truly loved in Green Day – American Idiot was one of the first CD’s I ever bought for myself and I abused that disc – was the perfect concert-going experience. Bouncing from stage to stage, I caught Yellowcard and Pierce The Veil on the main stage, Hot Mulligan and Simple Plan on the Ghost stage, and of course Good Charlotte, blink-182, and Green Day on the main stage. It’s incredibly tough to describe the elated emotions that came along with the day I had at When We Were Young, but you can get a taste of it in the summary post below that we made on Instagram – pure happiness in its simplest form.

Aside from the lineup and the performance memories that will now last a lifetime, there are some extra things I also wanted to bring attention to. I will say, these experiences are only from my own perspective, so they may not be representative of all experiences. But, with that said, When We Were Young had their shit together. Lines, very manageable for a festival with 80,000+ people in attendance. After obtaining our wristbands at Box Office (easily the longest line of the day), the entrance into the festival was quite reasonable, with a variety of line options for those with various access: GA, GA+, VIP. Once inside, the massiveness of the grounds truly hit. In terms of food and drink, there wasn’t a section of the festival you could stand in – except maybe the barrier of the main stage – where you couldn’t at least see a vendor. If the line was relatively long at one vendor, we would walk to another vendor and get food within minutes. Prices were of course high, but that’s to be expected at any stadium show in your hometown, so why would you expect any different at a massive festival? Nonetheless, the options were seemingly endless, but I will say, chicken tenders and fries never hit so good.

In terms of staff, security and vendors were polite, quick to respond, and in some cases, seemed like they wanted to be in the mix of things just as much as we fans did. To sum things up, I was very impressed by the setup, the amenities, and the overall experience I had at When We Were Young. While I’m not sure what next year’s lineup will look like, I know the experience I had in 2023 will be a driving factor for me wanting to attend, no matter the lineup.

Finally, I want to just give a big thank you to When We Were Young and the team at Big Picture Media for inviting us out to be a part of such an epic event. I am eternally grateful for your generosity!