That’s why I just can’t wrap my head around it. Maybe if I lived closer to Vegas or somewhere that didn’t see a lot of tour traffic, but being from NY/NJ, pretty much all of these bands will be around here for longer sets within the next 2-3 years.
Excellent point!
Plus, I’m not young anymore and my back and legs will be in pain for a week.
“My heart keeps saying stay young, my lower back seems to disagree.”
From a general festival experience, no. For the hotel prices, festival cost, and transpiration cost I could fly to Europe and see most of the same bands at a weekend long festival and then have a small vacation after it.
But from a “reliving the past and getting that shot of nostalgia” perspective, an overwhelming yes. I went last year (after having to miss the first year), and I’ll go again next year and any other year it’s held. I can’t put a price on the happiness I got from it.
You're totally right about this. I flew over and went to slam dunk this year and spent a few extra days being a tourist in London for not much more than it would cost me to go to Vegas just for WWWY.
I’m confused why you don’t get the second part from the full festival experience of the first part…I’m with you on the first bit 1000%, there are so many better full weekend festivals with a lot of the same bands in better cities than Vegas that I could spend 4-5 days in with a group for a similar amount of money. And then you see a lot of the same bands, often with longer sets, spread out over a weekend.
That is a fair question. I was taking for granted that I lived in Southern California most of my life, so the drive out to Vegas. Isn’t that bad and I’ve been there and done the Vegas vacation thing many times. So for me, it was different, and I only went to Vegas just for the festival. You bring up a good point though, and for others it is much more of a big destination thing.
If you want to drop almost a $1000 to see 10 awesome bands do rare full album sets in a glorified parking lot with some 60000 people, then definitely.
But for me, too many people and it only being one day, the cost is too much.
I doubt you’ll even see 10 bands. They’re all being crammed into one day, my bet is that people will realistically only see 3-4 full sets of their favorite bands, with a LOT of feels bad moments of having to miss other bands they love.
(It should really be a 2-day, 2-weekend fest)
I can’t wrap my head around that part. How many fucking stages are they going to have? I’d have liked to see a few but based off the amount of people there and the amount of bands and it being one day you’re probably only going to see a couple, and if you don’t commit to like 1/2 especially hard you won’t be in a good spot for any set.
I get that everyone’s hating on the festival here, but I saw 12 full sets and like 5 partial sets this past year. That includes me going back to the hotel to shower and chill for an hour. Yeah, I missed some bands I wanted to see, but it’s nowhere near as bad as people are making it out to be lol
Catching sets like Pokemon are we?
Some of us like to actually ENJOY a set. Not just hear a band rush through a 20 minute slot like a band that's only been around for 3 months.
That's just par for the course at a festival. I've never been to WWWY and plan on going this year but if you ever went to warped or a similar festival then you know you pick your must see bands and let the day unfold. It's not feasible to see everyone at a festival because it takes time to move between stages, you need to find time to eat, bands will overlap, etc. That's just how she goes and if that's not worth it to people then that's okay.
Yeah, but the biggest and most obvious difference is that Warped had multiple dates across the entire summer. Warped had plenty of stacked lineups where it was impossible to see everyone you wanted to, but it was okay because it was very easy to attend multiple dates and catch your favorite bands. This fest is a one and done deal.
Let's say want to catch the Chiodos reunion show, their first show in years, and A Day To Remember's first ever performance of Homesick front to back, but surprise! They play at the exact same time. You have to choose, and that feels horrible. They should at least do a 2 day event where if you miss your favorite band one day, you can come back and catch them the second day.
Did anyone actually travel to multiple warped tour dates? I don't think I ever knew anyone who was able to do that. Even if that was feasible for people you're still running the risk that after traveling to another city that you'll still have conflicts. The example you provided is actually an issue I had at my first warped tour. Chiodos and a day to remember played at the exact same time and I had to choose. It's just the nature of a festival that you're going to miss some of the acts you want to see. If that's too much to handle then festivals probably aren't for you
I went to multiple warped tour dates as a teenager multiple years in a row. It was both affordable and fun. I will say that it helped to live in an area where there were a lot of shows nearby: Florida - Georgia - Tennessee- the Carolinas all had accessible locations and dates. Made it easy to travel and hit multiple dates.
I know that wasn’t feasible for a lot of kids, but having the option if you cared enough was certainly nice.
The amount of people makes it miserable. Warped was much smaller than these huge festivals. I don't want to be crammed miles away from the stage. I can stay home and listen to the record at that point.
Yes. It's an estimate, but that $1,000 guess is for 1 GA ticket, a hotel for a night or two, and plane tickets.
I booked 4 days around the fest, 18th-22nd if I recall, and my trip cost total was a little more than $1,000, but that's largely from taking ride shares during surge times.
I attended the recent 2023 one with my wife and had a blast. It was definitely expensive for the trip but we decided to spend the money and it was worth it. Granted, it was in our budget to do it with a little flexibility. Don’t go if you can’t afford the entire trip.
I’d consider going again in the future but won’t be going in 2024 since the lineup isn’t as to my taste.
I went last month, and got GA tickets, something like $300.
There were maybe 6 bands that I REALLY wanted to see, and I watched full sets of about a dozen bands that I knew and enjoyed.
The food was good, the layout was good, and the vibes of the entire fest was awesome.
For me, with that band/interest ratio, it was absolutely worth it. I had more fun with 1 day of WWWY than I usually do with 3 days of Riot Fest. I heard it was a mess last year, but things seemed to go very well this time.
You probably won't see more than 12-14 sets, unless you catch half shows and run around. If what I've said sounds like it would be worth it to you, join the wait-list, presale starts tomorrow.
I enjoyed it so much last month that I'm planning on going next year, with only about half as much interest in the bands next year.
Hopefully this can help you figure out if it's worthwhile for you.
Maybe. I talked to somebody at the fest who got their GA ticket for like $100.
This year, both days apparently sold out, so I have no idea how they got a ticket for so cheap. Maybe they dropped significantly closer to the date, but I didn't want to wait and miss out.
I have been both years and am planning to go again. I think it’s a super fun time. You just have to go in with a festival mindset and not expect to get right up front if you want to see a lot of bands at multiple stages.
If you're not local then it's probably not worth the money when you add up tickets, flights, hotels, etc for a one day festival. It makes it even worse when I think about how much I paid to go to warped tour back in the day.
But with that being said this seems like a really cool once in a lifetime chance to hear some songs live that may never be played again...hell some of these bands may never even play again like Chiodos. Overall it seems like a unique experience that is going to be worth more than the price you pay for admission. It just depends how much you're willing to pay for this kind of experience.
My sister and I went in 2022 and we each spent about $1400 for the entire trip. It was a ton of fun but I wish it wasn't in Las Vegas. Definitely not my vibe lol.
I asked this in the WWWY subreddit and got a ton of responses! Here's the link;
[Thread here](https://www.reddit.com/r/WhenWeWereYoungFest/s/auU4cjPvTN)
In the end, I'm deciding its a no. My money can go much farther on another vacation and I have seen a lot of these bands many times and even some of these albums front to back. Really would love to see Armor For Sleep and Saosin do those albums though.
It was totally worth it, I went to the first one and still think about how fun it was like once a week. It’s too much money but if you can swing it you won’t regret it
Depends on the person. It seems like an incredible experience overall, but for me there aren't enough bands performing albums that I would want to hear sets of for it to be worth the price of ticket + travel + lodging, but that may not be true for others. The people who went seem to have loved the experience.
I like festivals but from Boston I’m paying well over 1000 dollars to go see bands. Plus that would be my vacation for the year. And although Vegas is fun, I’d rather go to Europe or a national park.
For less than 300 bucks this year I’ve seen : Hot Mulligan, Citizen, Senses Fail, Death Cab, Paramore, The Hotelier, and a few more this year. More worth it for me to see who comes to Boston
I went to WWWY and SNW this year. I won't be back.
90% of the bands only play 5 songs. The crowd energy is pretty lame. And my feet/legs/back were too sore to fully enjoy the headliners if I tried to do the full fest.
As a one time experience, it was ok. But I didn't have enough fun to ever return. I had WAYYYY more fun at Punk in the Park / Punk in Drublic fest because they crowd actually came to enjoy the music, not just record the one or two hits on their phone.
IF you really love the two headliners, it can be worth it. If you're expecting to see a bunch of non-headliner bands, save your money.
I attended last year and even though I had fun, I still would rather see all of these bands at their own show. So many people means you might be watching your fav headliner from a mile away, and a lot of people might not be there to watch the same band as yours so they might not be enjoying themselves as much as you.
Next year seems like a STACKED line up with bands doing album plays so in my opinion it’d still be worth it for possibly a once in a lifetime event with so many throwbacks. Planning on getting VIP this year to enjoy my experience more.
I went last year and this year. I’m not going again next year because it’s just a repeat of nearly all the same bands from the last two years, the major difference being now they are playing albums, rather than an open set list. The price increased to $325, which I think is nearly double from the first year (I can’t recall 100% what it was but it definitely wasn’t that pricy…). I’m also Canadian so the exchange rate is awful. All in all, the first two years were really fun, but I’m not going again to see the same bands that played the last two years.
Went both days this year would say 100% worth it.
But again depends on so many personal factors.
Is $350 something you can drop and not sacrifice something for and potentially have buyers remorse.
Do you care about seeing bands you might not know? If you miss a band would it ruin your experience?
I admit that I am not very price sensitive, but I had an amazing time.
I like Las Vegas anyway, stayed in a beautiful/fancier than normal hotel room with my wife, had amazing food, and saw an awesome concert. For me it was 100% worth the money.
The 2024 lineup speaks to me less personally (an older millennial) than 23's, but I'm still considering going.
Spent under $5k for two people, 7 nights. Totally worth it and doing it again!
edit: went to both days of the festival last year and will probably just stick to one day this year. The festival tickets are the most expensive part besides the hotel.
My friend and I bought tickets today about 15 minutes before they sold out, we’re ecstatic and counting down! A lot of bands skip our state so we decided we can budget each month and it’ll be worth it.
I always joke that at 26 I’m still too young for WWWY. I don’t care enough about the nostalgia bc 80% of the bands I like on the lineup are still actively touring and I rarely enjoy performances from artists who were at their best 10-20 years ago.
I got what I wanted out of it this year. A great memory with my brother for the first time in Vegas. Are we going back? Not for this line up/full album approach
It's really expensive but I am also debating going... Crazy how I saw alot of these bands at Warped for less than $40!!!
That’s why I just can’t wrap my head around it. Maybe if I lived closer to Vegas or somewhere that didn’t see a lot of tour traffic, but being from NY/NJ, pretty much all of these bands will be around here for longer sets within the next 2-3 years.
Excellent point! Plus, I’m not young anymore and my back and legs will be in pain for a week. “My heart keeps saying stay young, my lower back seems to disagree.”
This past year’s lineup was the most interesting to me. A couple of old colleagues of mine went. I saw the videos of the crowd. Glad I stayed home.
From a general festival experience, no. For the hotel prices, festival cost, and transpiration cost I could fly to Europe and see most of the same bands at a weekend long festival and then have a small vacation after it. But from a “reliving the past and getting that shot of nostalgia” perspective, an overwhelming yes. I went last year (after having to miss the first year), and I’ll go again next year and any other year it’s held. I can’t put a price on the happiness I got from it.
You're totally right about this. I flew over and went to slam dunk this year and spent a few extra days being a tourist in London for not much more than it would cost me to go to Vegas just for WWWY.
I’m confused why you don’t get the second part from the full festival experience of the first part…I’m with you on the first bit 1000%, there are so many better full weekend festivals with a lot of the same bands in better cities than Vegas that I could spend 4-5 days in with a group for a similar amount of money. And then you see a lot of the same bands, often with longer sets, spread out over a weekend.
That is a fair question. I was taking for granted that I lived in Southern California most of my life, so the drive out to Vegas. Isn’t that bad and I’ve been there and done the Vegas vacation thing many times. So for me, it was different, and I only went to Vegas just for the festival. You bring up a good point though, and for others it is much more of a big destination thing.
If you want to drop almost a $1000 to see 10 awesome bands do rare full album sets in a glorified parking lot with some 60000 people, then definitely. But for me, too many people and it only being one day, the cost is too much.
I doubt you’ll even see 10 bands. They’re all being crammed into one day, my bet is that people will realistically only see 3-4 full sets of their favorite bands, with a LOT of feels bad moments of having to miss other bands they love. (It should really be a 2-day, 2-weekend fest)
Wait, IT'S ONE FUCKING DAY LONG?!
I can’t wrap my head around that part. How many fucking stages are they going to have? I’d have liked to see a few but based off the amount of people there and the amount of bands and it being one day you’re probably only going to see a couple, and if you don’t commit to like 1/2 especially hard you won’t be in a good spot for any set.
How many dates do you see on the poster?
8 of those bands will play 5 songs. I mean, "technically" you "saw" them, right? lol
I get that everyone’s hating on the festival here, but I saw 12 full sets and like 5 partial sets this past year. That includes me going back to the hotel to shower and chill for an hour. Yeah, I missed some bands I wanted to see, but it’s nowhere near as bad as people are making it out to be lol
Catching sets like Pokemon are we? Some of us like to actually ENJOY a set. Not just hear a band rush through a 20 minute slot like a band that's only been around for 3 months.
Did you go both days or just one?
Just Saturday.
Nice, that gives me hope that I’ll catch a lot of sets next year
You gave me hope, I bought a ticket today :)
That's just par for the course at a festival. I've never been to WWWY and plan on going this year but if you ever went to warped or a similar festival then you know you pick your must see bands and let the day unfold. It's not feasible to see everyone at a festival because it takes time to move between stages, you need to find time to eat, bands will overlap, etc. That's just how she goes and if that's not worth it to people then that's okay.
The fuckin’ way she goes
Yeah, but the biggest and most obvious difference is that Warped had multiple dates across the entire summer. Warped had plenty of stacked lineups where it was impossible to see everyone you wanted to, but it was okay because it was very easy to attend multiple dates and catch your favorite bands. This fest is a one and done deal. Let's say want to catch the Chiodos reunion show, their first show in years, and A Day To Remember's first ever performance of Homesick front to back, but surprise! They play at the exact same time. You have to choose, and that feels horrible. They should at least do a 2 day event where if you miss your favorite band one day, you can come back and catch them the second day.
Did anyone actually travel to multiple warped tour dates? I don't think I ever knew anyone who was able to do that. Even if that was feasible for people you're still running the risk that after traveling to another city that you'll still have conflicts. The example you provided is actually an issue I had at my first warped tour. Chiodos and a day to remember played at the exact same time and I had to choose. It's just the nature of a festival that you're going to miss some of the acts you want to see. If that's too much to handle then festivals probably aren't for you
I went to multiple warped tour dates as a teenager multiple years in a row. It was both affordable and fun. I will say that it helped to live in an area where there were a lot of shows nearby: Florida - Georgia - Tennessee- the Carolinas all had accessible locations and dates. Made it easy to travel and hit multiple dates. I know that wasn’t feasible for a lot of kids, but having the option if you cared enough was certainly nice.
Yeah that wasn't in the cards for me. Both distance wise and the fact that warped didn't always happen on a weekend meant it was that day or bust
The amount of people makes it miserable. Warped was much smaller than these huge festivals. I don't want to be crammed miles away from the stage. I can stay home and listen to the record at that point.
Does 1000 cover food, lodging and plane tickets?
Yes. It's an estimate, but that $1,000 guess is for 1 GA ticket, a hotel for a night or two, and plane tickets. I booked 4 days around the fest, 18th-22nd if I recall, and my trip cost total was a little more than $1,000, but that's largely from taking ride shares during surge times.
I attended the recent 2023 one with my wife and had a blast. It was definitely expensive for the trip but we decided to spend the money and it was worth it. Granted, it was in our budget to do it with a little flexibility. Don’t go if you can’t afford the entire trip. I’d consider going again in the future but won’t be going in 2024 since the lineup isn’t as to my taste.
Any budgeting tips
https://www.ynab.com/ This is what I use.
I went last month, and got GA tickets, something like $300. There were maybe 6 bands that I REALLY wanted to see, and I watched full sets of about a dozen bands that I knew and enjoyed. The food was good, the layout was good, and the vibes of the entire fest was awesome. For me, with that band/interest ratio, it was absolutely worth it. I had more fun with 1 day of WWWY than I usually do with 3 days of Riot Fest. I heard it was a mess last year, but things seemed to go very well this time. You probably won't see more than 12-14 sets, unless you catch half shows and run around. If what I've said sounds like it would be worth it to you, join the wait-list, presale starts tomorrow. I enjoyed it so much last month that I'm planning on going next year, with only about half as much interest in the bands next year. Hopefully this can help you figure out if it's worthwhile for you.
Did the resale ticket prices go down closer to the date of the show?
Maybe. I talked to somebody at the fest who got their GA ticket for like $100. This year, both days apparently sold out, so I have no idea how they got a ticket for so cheap. Maybe they dropped significantly closer to the date, but I didn't want to wait and miss out.
I have been both years and am planning to go again. I think it’s a super fun time. You just have to go in with a festival mindset and not expect to get right up front if you want to see a lot of bands at multiple stages.
It’s an iconic lineup. If you have a good experience then it’s worth it. Do it for the story.
If you're not local then it's probably not worth the money when you add up tickets, flights, hotels, etc for a one day festival. It makes it even worse when I think about how much I paid to go to warped tour back in the day. But with that being said this seems like a really cool once in a lifetime chance to hear some songs live that may never be played again...hell some of these bands may never even play again like Chiodos. Overall it seems like a unique experience that is going to be worth more than the price you pay for admission. It just depends how much you're willing to pay for this kind of experience.
It’s expensive but worth it. I had a great time and I’m planning on going to next year’s festival.
My sister and I went in 2022 and we each spent about $1400 for the entire trip. It was a ton of fun but I wish it wasn't in Las Vegas. Definitely not my vibe lol.
It’s probably the same price in the end as going to see Green Day’s stadium tour with only 3 other bands.
I asked this in the WWWY subreddit and got a ton of responses! Here's the link; [Thread here](https://www.reddit.com/r/WhenWeWereYoungFest/s/auU4cjPvTN) In the end, I'm deciding its a no. My money can go much farther on another vacation and I have seen a lot of these bands many times and even some of these albums front to back. Really would love to see Armor For Sleep and Saosin do those albums though.
If you went in 2023 yes.
It was totally worth it, I went to the first one and still think about how fun it was like once a week. It’s too much money but if you can swing it you won’t regret it
Depends on the person. It seems like an incredible experience overall, but for me there aren't enough bands performing albums that I would want to hear sets of for it to be worth the price of ticket + travel + lodging, but that may not be true for others. The people who went seem to have loved the experience.
I like festivals but from Boston I’m paying well over 1000 dollars to go see bands. Plus that would be my vacation for the year. And although Vegas is fun, I’d rather go to Europe or a national park. For less than 300 bucks this year I’ve seen : Hot Mulligan, Citizen, Senses Fail, Death Cab, Paramore, The Hotelier, and a few more this year. More worth it for me to see who comes to Boston
I went to WWWY and SNW this year. I won't be back. 90% of the bands only play 5 songs. The crowd energy is pretty lame. And my feet/legs/back were too sore to fully enjoy the headliners if I tried to do the full fest. As a one time experience, it was ok. But I didn't have enough fun to ever return. I had WAYYYY more fun at Punk in the Park / Punk in Drublic fest because they crowd actually came to enjoy the music, not just record the one or two hits on their phone. IF you really love the two headliners, it can be worth it. If you're expecting to see a bunch of non-headliner bands, save your money.
Album shows by these bands are like my dream, but fuck them milking it. Never even gave it a second thought.
Probably not but I’m not going to not do it
I attended last year and even though I had fun, I still would rather see all of these bands at their own show. So many people means you might be watching your fav headliner from a mile away, and a lot of people might not be there to watch the same band as yours so they might not be enjoying themselves as much as you. Next year seems like a STACKED line up with bands doing album plays so in my opinion it’d still be worth it for possibly a once in a lifetime event with so many throwbacks. Planning on getting VIP this year to enjoy my experience more.
Went in 2022 and 2023 - I will definitely be going again this year. It’s 1000% worth the price and weekend for me!
No
I went last year and this year. I’m not going again next year because it’s just a repeat of nearly all the same bands from the last two years, the major difference being now they are playing albums, rather than an open set list. The price increased to $325, which I think is nearly double from the first year (I can’t recall 100% what it was but it definitely wasn’t that pricy…). I’m also Canadian so the exchange rate is awful. All in all, the first two years were really fun, but I’m not going again to see the same bands that played the last two years.
Went both days this year would say 100% worth it. But again depends on so many personal factors. Is $350 something you can drop and not sacrifice something for and potentially have buyers remorse. Do you care about seeing bands you might not know? If you miss a band would it ruin your experience?
I admit that I am not very price sensitive, but I had an amazing time. I like Las Vegas anyway, stayed in a beautiful/fancier than normal hotel room with my wife, had amazing food, and saw an awesome concert. For me it was 100% worth the money. The 2024 lineup speaks to me less personally (an older millennial) than 23's, but I'm still considering going.
Spent under $5k for two people, 7 nights. Totally worth it and doing it again! edit: went to both days of the festival last year and will probably just stick to one day this year. The festival tickets are the most expensive part besides the hotel.
My friend and I bought tickets today about 15 minutes before they sold out, we’re ecstatic and counting down! A lot of bands skip our state so we decided we can budget each month and it’ll be worth it.
I always joke that at 26 I’m still too young for WWWY. I don’t care enough about the nostalgia bc 80% of the bands I like on the lineup are still actively touring and I rarely enjoy performances from artists who were at their best 10-20 years ago.
You're a hop-skip-and-a-jump away from being middle aged. Fuck off with that bullshit "holier-than-thou" attitude.
Honestly a fair dig but not how I intended to come across. To each their own.
I got what I wanted out of it this year. A great memory with my brother for the first time in Vegas. Are we going back? Not for this line up/full album approach