With Punk Rock Bowling and Best Friends Forever having already announced that they were taking 2026 off, Las Vegas’ once bountiful punk and emo festival scene has taken another hit: When We Were Young will also not be coming back this fall.
“After an unforgettable run in Las Vegas, we’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,” festival organizers announced on the When We Were Young’s website and social media outlets.
The good news: they also confirmed the event would return in October 2027.
Today’s announcement was more of a confirmation than a surprise: for past outings, both festival dates and line-ups have been announced by this time of year, leading to much speculation that When We Were Young would hit the pause button for 2026
Debuting at the Las Vegas Festival Grounds in 2022 after originating in Southern California in 2017, When We Were Young became a massive annual gathering for the scenes in question, drawing 50,000-plus fans a show while boasting such big name headliners as My Chemical Romance, Paramore, Fall Out Boy, Blink-182, Green Day and Vegas’ Panic! at the Disco, who topped the bill last October.
Fans will have to wait a little longer to see who’ll be featured next.
“Thank you for showing up with your whole hearts every year,” fest organizers wrote in their announcement. “This isn’t goodbye — it’s just a pause. We’ll see you in 2027.”