On March 22, the 2019 BUKU Music + Art Project kicked off in New Orleans with two days full of live performances, vibrant graffiti and more. Chart-topping artists including Lana Del Rey, A$AP Rocky and Dashboard Confessional were featured on the lineup for the weekend-long festival, and BUKU proved to be the music festival for every genre with heavy guitar riffs from We Came As Romans and emo ballads from Mayday Parade, as well as DJ sets by Dog Blood and soothing sounds from Ella Mai.

One of the best parts of the BUKU festival weekend was without a doubt the various after parties that happened throughout the city. After a long day of live music and fun in the Louisiana sun, fans descended on the various post-festival events to keep the party going well into the night. When news broke that From First To Last would be reuniting to perform for the first time in two years at one of the after-parties, the emo community went wild, with the show selling out in the blink of an eye. FFTL teamed up with Emo Nite LA to make what would be a once in a lifetime opportunity come together in New Orleans.

Leading up to the late night after-party, FFTL’s Matt Good and Travis Richter performed a DJ set at BUKU before heading off to Republic for a full band performance on Friday, March 22. Doors were at midnight for the long-anticipated sold out event, with fans lining up and anxiously awaiting to get inside. Once doors opened, attendees were greeted with a DJ set full of nostalgic emo feels courtesy of Emo Nite LA before FFTL officially hit the stage. Limited edition merchandise was also a must-have of the night, with options including t-shirts and bright yellow hoodies.

As 1:30 a.m. approached, FFTL finally hit the stage, resulting in mosh pits and crowd-surfing from both the band and fans in the sold-out crowd. While vocalist Sonny Moore noted they had only practiced for about four days, the high-energy performance went off without a hitch, with every fan smiling ear to ear throughout it.

Courtesy of Alyssa Buzzello for Emo Nite
Courtesy of Alyssa Buzzello for Emo Nite
loading...

The intimate concert was clearly for the fans, making the evening that much more special. The set list included the band’s 2018 track “Surrender,” “Kiss Me I’m Contagious,” “Make War” and more. Moore went onto joke that the computer was their bass player for the night and even played “Note to Self” twice in a row to get it just right. (It’s safe to say fans had absolutely no problem with that.) To close out the evening, FFTL tugged at fans' emo heartstrings once more by performing the band's iconic “Emily," fans singing along to every single lyric before the band walked off stage to a roaring applause.

The set was nostalgic in the best way possible and gave FFTL fans a special memory to hold onto and soak up every minute of. The night was full of emo dreams come true, further proving that hiatus or no, FFTL are definitely one of those bands that have not and will likely never lose their touch.

Songs Artists Regret They Recorded

More From PopCrush