Yesterday’s nationwide ground stop of all American flights was, of course, about as disruptive a travel event as it’s possible to imagine, as even those travelers who were somewhat forewarned (courtesy of national early aeronautics alert system Flavor Flav) had travel plans massively impacted by the FAA blocking takeoffs of all flights for more than five hours. And also, several of them were listening to Hoobastank.
See, it’s like this: Among the other events people might foolishly have wanted to take a plane to this weekend—uncaring of the fact that our national aviation infrastructure was in surprise need of a massive infusion of $50 billion of immediate Congressional cash that nobody in the Trump administration seemed to know they needed back on Thursday—was the final run of the 2026 incarnation of Vans Warped Tour, taking place in Orlando on Saturday and Sunday. As such, the soon-to-be-clogged arteries of the American airways were filled with a surprising number of musical artists who had previously reached their tallest heights circa 2003, and who were already scheduled to give a surprise performance to passengers as part of Southwest Airline’s “Live At 35” in-flight concert series.
As reported by Variety, it’s not clear whether the concert—which featured performances from Hoobastank, The Used, Simple Plan, and Lolo—happened before or after the ground stop was announced. (The flight reportedly left Los Angeles at 11 a.m., about two hours before the FAA shut everything down.) Still, we can’t help but imagine what a weird day that must have been for this small, and now extremely specifically marked coterie of travelers: You’re minding your business on a cross-country flight, and then, bam, “The Reason,” coming at you down the aisle. And then, when you try to tell anybody about one of the single strangest things that can happen to a human being on a commercial airline flight, you’re instead landing in the utter chaos of our live-in-the-moment public enshittification. Friday was a pretty weird day for anybody trying to travel in America, as it turne dout, but spare a thought for those whose experience was that extra layer of surreal; why, they’ll probably never be able to think of the musical works of Simple Plan the same way ever again.
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