Best Friends Forever ‘25 - Recap and My Emo Journey

Although my peripheral musical interests always included Emo, it wasn’t until recently that I decided to truly explore the genre, from its origins to its modern iterations. It all began with compiling Alex’s Emo Emporium, a playlist designed to track all the cool artists I was discovering and to sample some of their tastier tracks. Many of these artists were classic 90s Emo, such as Penfold, Mineral, Knapsack and Texas is the Reason, each foundational to the genre in their own ways. Others were Emo Revival juggernauts who had simply passed me by, such as Empire! Empire!, Snowing and Tigers Jaw.

Around the same time, I was delving into Fifth Wave Emo, with passionate bands like awakebutstillinbed, February and Crochet catching my attention. I would go on to begin my end-of-year tier list project, where I rate all the releases I’ve listened to from the past year and rate them within my personal tier system.

It was at this point that I would don the name Emo Emporium and begin posting my content online. With my interest in the genre at an all-time high, I discovered many fantastic releases that took place during Emo’s maligned 3rd Wave, so I set out to do a ten-part project to Recontextualize Third Wave Emo from an Underground / DIY Perspective. I covered releases from artists such as Bear vs. Shark, Cursive, The Appleseed Cast and more, singing the praises of their authentic Emo soundscapes.

Years later, Best Friends Forever Fest 2025 was announced, and the lineup was a perfect representation of Emo’s evolution. However, it was also a lineup tailor-made for Emo Emporium, featuring legendary artists that I thought I’d missed out on. Mrs. Emporium and I took the journey into the glittering desert landscape of Las Vegas for a truly unforgettable weekend.

The sets I experienced were truly incredible, with many bands turning back the clocks to their absolute primes. All the bands I already mentioned in this piece played phenomenally, with particular mention to Penfold and awakebutstillinbed for melting my brain. Additionally, sets from the more popular artists like Minus the Bear, Rilo Kiley, Jimmy Eat World and Marietta were sensational with maximum audience interaction.

Speaking of, it should be no surprise that at Best Friends Forever Fest, the friends we made along the way were probably the best part. A diverse audience, from absolute youngins to the true vets of the genre, crowded the Las Vegas Downtown Event Center to create a fun and relaxed atmosphere. The moshing and dancing started bright and early at 12 pm and never relented, with the energy somehow increasing as the weekend went on. Notably, almost every band had some crowd surfing going on during their sets, with greats like Jenny Lewis surprised to see such surfing in the desert.

Was the event perfect? Of course not, but I don’t want to get bogged down on the minuscule negatives when the overall experience was so tremendous. The artists were all sweethearts and excited to be at the festival as fans as much as they were as performers. But with all the historic comebacks, killer sets and friendly atmosphere, the greatest thing this fest did was celebrate Emo as a whole. My goal as Emo Emporium is to spread the gospel of this amazing genre to the masses, stemming from my desire to strengthen the community. With that goal in mind, I’d say Best Friends Forever 2025 knocked it out of the park and deepened the unfelt connection we all feel as Emos.