When the When We Were Young festival lineup was announced earlier this year, the excitement over the 2000s-era emo and pop-punk bill was tempered slightly by fears that it was too good to be true. According to Alkaline Trio frontman Matt Skiba, those concerns weren’t entirely unreasonable.
Speaking with Vulture, Skiba reveals that the When We Were Young lineup was announced “before anybody said yes.”
“It was a Fyre Festival kind of stunt that worked,” Skiba says. “And I only know that because my band was on that initial flyer, with every other band from our whole ilk. And they almost expertly started advertising it before they had a single band on the bill.”
“Somehow, all the bands agreed to do it,” he continues. “I’m not making this up. Somebody may correct me, but I know that Alkaline Trio, we hadn’t confirmed anything. And when we read that, we called other bands that were playing, and nobody knew about it.”
Skiba, by the way, has personal experience with the Fyre Festival. He was set to play the infamous 2017 event with Blink-182, who dropped off the lineup as the doomed festival was falling apart.
When Were We Young, however, seems to be actually happening — the jam-packed set times schedule was revealed Monday.
“Congratulations to whoever masterminded that, the Lex Luther of promoters,” Skiba says. “And I think everybody, including us, is really pumped about it. It’s going to be a great time.”
When We Were Young takes place October 22, 23 and 29 in Las Vegas. The lineup also includes My Chemical Romance, Paramore, Bring Me the Horizon, Jimmy Eat World, A Day to Remember and Avril Lavigne.
Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.