When We Were Young Festival Is Taking 2026 Off
Well, the rumors were true. When We Were Young just confirmed they're not doing a festival in 2026. The announcement dropped today on their Instagram and honestly if you've been paying attention to the festival landscape lately this shouldn't come as a huge surprise.
The official statement hit all the right notes about "the songs, the memories, the moments" and promised a return to Las Vegas in October 2027. But reading between the lines there's a lot more going on here than just a breather year.
What They Said
The festival posted a statement saying they've "decided to take 2026 off to give this festival the care it deserves and to make sure what comes next feels just as special as what came before." They ended it with "this isn't goodbye, it's just a pause." I'll be real, a lot of people in the comments are comparing it to the kind of thing a band says right before they quietly never come back. Fans are also pointing out the whole thing reads like it was written by ChatGPT which is not exactly the emotional sendoff you'd hope for.
The timing is worth noting too. Every previous year, WWWY would wrap in October and drop the next year's lineup almost immediately. After the 2025 edition came and went with zero announcement, fans spent weeks spiraling on Reddit and Twitter before this confirmation finally landed.
The Bigger Picture
Here's the thing. WWWY isn't the only festival going dark. Lovers & Friends, Darker Waves, Besame Mucho, Primavera Sound LA, and even Cruel World have all either been canceled or gone silent for 2026. Best Friends Forever, another Vegas emo fest, lost its venue entirely. Punk Rock Bowling is sitting out too. The festival landscape across the board is shifting and a lot of events are pressing pause right now.
Add in the Las Vegas wind problem. Anyone who was at the 2022 edition remembers when Day 1 got canceled an hour before doors because of 60 mph gusts. Between rising costs of insurance and logistics you start to see why a "break" makes sense even if they don't want to say that out loud.
What a Run Though
Whatever happens next you can't take away what WWWY delivered over the last four years. My Chemical Romance headlining twice. Blink-182 twice. Paramore, Green Day, Fall Out Boy, Panic! at the Disco performing A Fever You Can't Sweat Out in full for its 20th anniversary. The 2024 edition had 50+ bands doing complete album sets. For an entire generation of emo and pop-punk kids this festival was a time machine and there was nothing else like it.
It also proved that the nostalgia market is real and massive. 60,000 people showing up to scream every word to songs from 2005 isn't a fluke. That demand doesn't just disappear because one festival takes a year off.
Where to Get Your Fix in 2026
If you're hurting for emo and punk festivals this year, Warped Tour is back and expanding to five cities globally in 2026 including DC, Long Beach, Montreal, Mexico City, and Orlando. Riot Fest in Chicago is set for September 18-20. Furnace Fest in Birmingham is confirmed for 2026 too. And Sad Summer Fest will be hitting multiple cities if you want that touring festival vibe.
Bottom Line
I hope WWWY comes back in 2027 like they say. The scene needs it and the fans clearly want it. But the festival industry is going through something right now and pretending everything is fine doesn't help anyone. For now, the pause is on. We'll see what happens when October 2027 rolls around.
Cover photo by Skylar Watkins