In January 2023, Brendan Laverty had the perfect idea for celebrating his 30th birthday: bringing together a group of longtime friends and musicians to perform three full hours of the music they grew up listening to in front of a live crowd. What he didn’t know was that it would become the best live show any of them had ever played and mark the inception of When We Were Thirty.

Comprised of members from the Watertown-based bands Against What’s Best and The Northmen, it wasn’t long before word spread throughout the North Country that a new group had formed. Promoters quickly began reaching out to book them for upcoming shows. The only problem was that this had never been intended as a band, but rather as a one-time event. However, the idea of continuing something that had already been such a huge success was too exciting to pass up. As a result, six of the original nine musicians reunited to build on the growing buzz and turn the project into something more.

Performing an extensive collection of 2000s pop-punk and emo hits from bands such as Blink-182, Taking Back Sunday, My Chemical Romance, and many more, When We Were Thirty quickly found an audience among the region’s 20- to 30-somethings who grew up with this music. In just over a year, the band performed at events ranging from the Downtown Block Party in Watertown’s Public Square to The Gig at Turning Stone Casino in Verona, New York. Constantly refreshing their ever-growing setlist, the band also puts its own pop-punk spin on popular songs, including fan favorite “Mr. Brightside” by The Killers. With a catalog that continues to evolve, you’re never getting the same performance twice.

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