If you’re anything like me and you’ve been on the internet at all over the last week, you’ve definitely probably seen the pink and black line-up poster of every emo band you could possibly think of. Live Nation has announced that in October 2022, they’ll be presenting the “When We Were Young” Festival, with bands headlining like My Chemical Romance, Paramore, Pierce the Veil, Black Veil Brides…the list is jam-packed. Initially, it seems like every recovering emo kid’s dream – the closest thing we’ll get to the magnitude of Warped Tour. But, the more people find out about it, the sketchier the whole thing seems.
For starters, the line-up itself is MASSIVE. Like, insanely so. To the point where something feels off. How were they thinking they could possibly have everyone perform on just one day? On Friday, 1/21, when the tickets went on sale, they went fast. Within a few hours, they announced a second date. While this may seem like a solution to the quick sell-out time, how were they able to just announce another date? In my experience, it takes way more time and planning for bands to add or re-arrange show dates.
But, the biggest concern I have is with the fact that Live Nation is the corporation behind it all. Lest we forget they were the ones in charge of the tragic Astroworld crowd crush that killed 10 people not even 3 months ago. Plus, Live Nation has a duplicitous history of festival scams – the controversy surrounding the Lovers and Friends tour (with Snoop Dogg and Megan Thee Stallion) is one of the more notable ones. It shouldn’t be as difficult as it is to find info about that tour, which was scheduled in 2021 but has been postponed and reorganized a bunch of times. If you try to do any research on it, all of the websites saying that it isn’t a scam are not reliable sources in any way and are written like they were being paid to do it. Even more suspicious is they announced on social media that prices “started at $19.99 down” , when in reality, the absolute cheapest tickets are $225 a piece, AND they’re non-refundable. In the middle of a pandemic, with cases skyrocketing as much as they are, making the tickets non-refundable is just straight up evil. My guess is they stockpiled up on bands so when they start dropping out like flies that it won’t make that much of a difference.
The thing I don’t understand is just why the tickets are so expensive. With similar tours like Riot Fest and Warped Tour, those tickets were $60 at the maximum (and refundable). With all of the legal trouble the corporation must be in, it really seems like they’re trying to use the money to settle the disputes from Astroworld, and they’re playing our emo hearts like fools.
If the tour actually does happen, I’ll definitely be sad I missed the star-studded line-up, but it just doesn’t seem worth the risks. The red flags are all waving, and I’ll reside myself to pray for the day Warped Tour comes back.