I was on VIP on Saturday, at the rail that divided VIP and GA, and starting ADTR I saw mass of people constantly being pushed to the front on the GA side, fans started being carried out by security and even jumping the barricade themselves as there was no security at all at times. I really felt they were lacking security personal on the main stage. It wasnt as bad as it was at Riot 2022, but I expected for things to improve on Sunday, not to get worse.
I think after three years of a niche genre festival, they're definitely at a crossroads. Look no further than Sick New World, which has already abandoned the "nu metal festival" tag and is just Welcome To Rockville in Vegas (absolutely nothing wrong with that, its an awesome lineup, its just worth mentioning). But for WWWY, I think there are basically two obvious headliners left before they start going outside the box, and I don't think either of them are gonna do it: Brand New (who I believe - correct me if I'm wrong - @Jason Tate revealed have already been asked several times and declined) and Brendon, Spencer, Ryan and Jon reuniting to play A Fever You Can't Sweat Out. Off of that, I don't think there's anyone left. And you cannot get any bigger than blink and Green Day. So if they can't get at least one of Brand New or Fever-era Panic, I think The Killers are the next choice. They're massive, they're from Vegas, they broke on The OC, the crossover fandom is there. Maybe Death Cab for the other headline slot? Go full OC? They had Bright Eyes three slots from the headliner on the main stage in year one, so its not out of the realm of possibility (even if that was a awful choice). I don't know, its just tough when, in your first three years, you've had blink, Green Day, My Chem, Fall Out Boy, Paramore, Avril and Bring Me The Horizon. That's the top of the mountain right there and I don't think anyone else from this scene can pull it off. Am I nuts?
Had a really great time again this year. Some notes: - Less Than Jake show friday was awesome and perfect start to the weekend - VIP was way too packed this year, they definitely oversold it. Could barely get to the stages for some of the non main stage acts. - Not being 100 degrees this year rocked - I agree a lot of the crowds sucked. People are such assholes for no reason lol Mostly main stages. - Spent a lot of time catching people at the back barricade during State Champs in the Verizon "vip" pit since there was only 1 security guard who couldn't really manage all of the surfers. - Did a lot of full set watching first day and a lot of bouncing around Sunday. Was nice to see a little of everyone I wanted to see over the weekend. - Every band I saw sounded good, except the starting line who I've never seen sound good (but also never seen them play indoors) something about their mix is always super off. TBS also sounded bad but that was expected. Didn't expect John to sound so bad too though, but he definitely just had a blown out voice - MCR's minimal production was awesome imo. - FOB 8 ball songs were a huge bummer both days - Favorite sets: MCR, ADTR, STD, 3oh3, Champs, Bayside Would go again depending on the lineup. I know Warped is going to likely suck so will be an easy decision if I'm picking between the two
When I saw them on Saturday, I thought John absolutely crushed it and more than picked up the slack from Adam. Super aggressive with his vocals, I loved it
Wasn’t later era Panic way bigger than Fever-era? I don’t think they need to do a Fever reunion when the weird/bachelor era were massive.
Death Cab replaced Avril on the first year and I think people wasnt into it. Maybe having The Killers as headliner will have a crowd that are more into them, but still dont see them as a headliner at this particular festival. I think that can do something like The Killers/Twenty One Pilots and move a lot of tickets. If they want to keep doing album plays, next year is the 10th anniversary of Blurryface
Stranger things have happened, but I just don't see Fever-era Panic reuniting. Brendon solo Panic did way better commercially than Fever. Musically better? Nah, but I just don't see it happening. That being said, justice for Vices & Virtues era Panic.
Totally forgot that Death Cab subbed in on the second weekend that year. I went the first weekend when Avril was there. I agree, 21P could probably pull it off.
Make no mistake - I definitely do not see it happening. But if you're trying to a big appeal to this fanbase? People would lose their shit for a Fever album playthrough, plus the big hits.
Death Cab has a following, but when you replace them with an artist people were specifically looking to see in a different subgenre of people who already have their tickets, it's not going to go well. Death Cab fits WWWY, they just need to be part of the initial rollout for it to work.
Twenty One Pilots and Weezer would work – a step down from this year, but good enough, especially if they drop it down to a single day.
Yeah and a Death Cab doing a 20th anniversary Plans set could definitely headline this. There's also the band that shall not be named who are always rumored to be reuniting, but I'd like to believe major festivals wouldn't touch that with a ten foot pole.
Hopefully this festival considers a sponsorship from a chapstick brand in the future. My lips were fried by 3pm and all the medical tents were like "go to CVS." Echoing the all-male thing, too - none of them were even remotely approachable dudes either.
There was a rumour they werr asked to play Deja Entendu this year. If they agreed to it, I wonder if they would have played a main stage.
I'm still really confused as to how people talk about this festival like it has any sort of morality, ethics, or principles guiding it. They'll book whoever. They're obviously overpaying artists to try and choke out other festivals. They clearly didn't have the artists in mind with the album play idea and what's come out about that. They're pretty bad as far as diversity in the line-up is concerned. And they show zero interest in "developing" newer artists. It's literally a way for LiveNation to print money. No more, no less. I get why people enjoy it and I find the line-up curation super interesting/fun to look at... But this fest is as soulless, corporate, and separate from the hypothetical "scene" as it gets.
Its not intended to develop new artists, its proudly and unabashedly a nostalgia festival. The other 19,000 festivals can worry about developing new artists.
For a festival catered to pure nostalgia, I feel like they still did a decent job at developing some newer artists. At a quick glance they've had Beach Bunny, Daisy Grenade, Games We Play, Meet Me at the Altar, The Veronicas, Kennyhoopla, Ekkstacy, Magnolia Park, Hot Mulligan, Mom Jeans, Alex G, Nessa Barnett, Royal and the Serpent, Jxdn, The Paradox and Carr.