As the nation was gripped by a historic ground stop, one Southwest flight sat for a performance of a lifetime when rock bands, including Hoobastank, serenaded passengers with hit 2000s songs.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued a nationwide ground stop on Friday afternoon for five hours following an ‘extraordinary’ communication problem that officials believed was due to a problem with routine management on outdated air traffic control equipment.
The ground stop prompted thousands of cancellations and hundreds of delays nationwide. It also impacted Vans Warped Tour’s stop in Florida this weekend.
The iconic music festival was scheduled for Orlando on Saturday and Sunday, with fans and bands flying into the Sunshine State before the weekend.
Hoobastank members were on a Southwest flight en route to the festival when news of the ground stop broke.
They decided to make the best of the situation, so lead singer and original member Doug Robb grabbed a microphone and serenaded the flight with Hoobastank’s nostalgic 2003 hit, The Reason.
Passengers created a makeshift stage, plugging in an amplifier and using their phone flashlights as Robb made his way up the aisle while passengers sang along.
Canadian pop-punk artist Lolo was also on the flight and shared the video, writing on Instagram: ‘Thank u Southwest for the memories.’
Hoobastank lead singer and original member Doug Robb sang the band’s hit song, The Reason, for a Southwest flight during Friday’s historic FAA ground stop
Simple Plan’s lead singer Pierre Bouvier also took the plane’s makeshift ‘stage’ and sang the early 2000s hit, I’m Just a Kid
Canadian pop-punk singer, Lolo, shared clips online of the mini in-flight concert
‘Every plane was grounded today, but the emo gods made sure this one flew,’ she added.
Clips of the impromptu performance went viral online, with one writing: ‘Stuck on a plane for hours and you end up with a free Hoobastank show. Honestly not the worst way to wait it out.’
‘The best…love taking/making positives out of a such a negative situation!’ another added.
‘This makes me so happy, music can bring so much joy to crappy situations,’ a third agreed.
‘Deep down, we always knew Hoobastank or Nickelback would save us,’ a fourth joked.
Lolo shared in another video that the plane was chartered for people attending Warped Tour, and the popular pop-punk band, Simple Plan, also performed.
Videos of their performance showed bass guitarist and lead singer Pierre Bouvier playing an acoustic version of the band’s hit song, I’m Just a Kid.
One TikToker shared a video singing along to the song, writing: ‘When my childhood dream comes true and Simple Plan performs on my Southwest flight to the Vans Warped Tour.’
Kevin Lyman, one of the founders of Warped Tour, said on Saturday morning he had never experienced a nationwide ground stop during his 32 years of running the festival.
He added that some bands were unable to get to the event and have canceled, but most acts are still scheduled to perform, while some will be moved from Saturday to Sunday.
Simple Plan rose to fame in the early 2000s as a pop-punk band. They are pictured above at a red carpet event in 2005
Hoobastank was a staple rock band during the early 2000s and are pictured above at the start of their career
Warped Tour has yet to announce the updated performance schedule for the weekend or whether refunds will be issued to those who could not attend the festival due to the nationwide ground stop.
The flight halt was the first since January 11, 2023, after a key FAA computer system malfunctioned, and just the second since the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Saturday morning that operations were ‘slowly returning to normal’ and planes are safe to fly, but delays will continue.
There were almost 15,000 total delays, with over 4,000 within, into or out of the US as of Saturday at 1pm EST, according to flight tracking data from FlightAware. Over 4,400 flights within, into or out of the US were canceled on Saturday.
