Ephney Tsai When We Were Young (WWWY) music festival is coming back for its second Las Vegas run this year. Featuring the same lineup on both October 21st and 22nd, the festival boasts an impressive variety of artists within the pop punk genre, including several with Asian American band members.
The first WWWY festival took place at The Observatory Grounds in Santa Ana in April 2017 as a smaller scale event, featuring headliners Morrissey, Descendents, and AFI. The second time the festival came around was last year, when it officially moved east to Las Vegas. Last year’s event was headlined by My Chemical Romance and Paramore, though Day One was unfortunately cancelled due to dangerous weather. About a week prior to the 2022 festival, this year’s event was already announced with Blink-182 and Green Day as headliners, and on February 22nd, a second date was officially added.
Several Asian American musicians are set to perform at WWWY. These include soloist Michelle Branch, Thrice’s lead guitarist and keyboardist Teppei Teranishi, AJJ’s drummer Kevin Higuchi, Saves the Day’s guitarist Arun Bali, Sum 41’s lead guitarist Dave Baksh, and Zebrahead’s lead vocalist Ali Tabatabaee.
The full lineup, in alphabetical order, consists of 5 Seconds of Summer, AJJ, All Time Low, Beach Bunny, Blink-182, Bowling for Soup, Citizen, Ekkstacy, Fenix TX, Finch, Games We Play, Goldfinger, Good Charlotte, Green Day, Gym Class Heroes, Hot Mulligan, Jean Dawson, Joyce Manor, Kenny Hoopla, Knuckle Puck, Less Than Jake, Lit, Magnolia Park, Michelle Branch, Motion City Soundtrack, Movements, MXPX, New Found Glory, No Pressure, Pierce the Veil, Plain White T’s, Relient K, Rise Against, Saves the Day, Say Anything, Set it Off, Simple Plan, Something Corporate, Sum 41, The Academy Is, The Ataris, The Front Bottoms, The Movie Life, The Offspring, The Veronicas, The Wrecks, Thirty Seconds to Mars, Thrice, Tigers Jaw, Turnover, Waterparks, Yellowcard, and Zebrahead.
