Attendees react to cancellation of ‘When We Were Young’ opening day

LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) - Festivalgoers were disappointed and “expected better” from organizers after the highly-anticipated When We Were Young festival was canceled due to high winds.

Some one-day ticket holders had traveled from around the world to see their favorite pop punk and rock musicians play.

Luisa Decempo and Annika Fraser flew all the way from Australia. Months ago they got up in the middle of the night Australian time just so they could purchase tickets for the festival.

“I mean we understand there’s nothing they can do about weather but it is really disappointing like don’t people know it’s windy in Vegas? Don’t they plan for this? It’s very disappointing,” Fraser said.

The pair took three flights and traveled for a total of 24 hours to see their favorite bands play. Their tickets were only good for Saturday’s lineup. They were trying to see if they could purchase tickets for Sunday.

“They’re very expensive and hard to find so they’re selling for thousands of dollars at the moment so we’re not sure if we’ll be able to go,” Decempo said.

News of the cancellation was posted on social media as festivalgoers were on their way to the the Las Vegas Fairgrounds.

One group from Knoxville found out the shows were cancelled when they were in their Uber.

We spoke to a couple from Boston that had just arrived.

“They send you a text for the tickets and the times and everything but they don’t text you before that the show is cancelled – who looks at Instagram before the shows canceled they should’ve at least done something better people are still pulling up,” Cassandra Dirico said.

“This whole trip costed me thousands of dollars I’m going to say 6,000 and that’s lowball,” Christian Pizziferri said.

Organizers with WWWY festival said attendees should expect a refund within the next 30 days.

One couple from San Diego said that’s not enough.

“We don’t even get a ticket for next year because they already started selling them a couple of days ago before the festival started which is kind of like the messed up part cause I would totally accept a ticket to next year but that’s not even an option you guys just get your money back and that’s it,” Sandra Mejia said.

Throughout Saturday, several pop punk and rock bands offered free concerts for festival goers at casinos and restaurants and bars throughout Vegas.

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