As the nation faced a historic nationwide ground stop, one Southwest flight turned into an unforgettable in-air concert, with rock bands including Hoobastank entertaining passengers with beloved hits from the 2000s.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) imposed the five-hour ground stop across the country on Friday afternoon after an “extraordinary” communications failure. Officials believed the issue was linked to routine management problems involving outdated air traffic control equipment.
The halt led to thousands of cancellations and hundreds of delays across the US. It also disrupted the Vans Warped Tour’s Florida event, scheduled to take place in Orlando on Saturday and Sunday as fans and performers traveled to the Sunshine State.
Members of Hoobastank were aboard a Southwest flight heading to the festival when the ground stop was announced.
Rather than let the disruption dampen the mood, lead singer and founding member Doug Robb picked up a microphone and performed Hoobastank’s nostalgic 2003 hit, The Reason, for the cabin.
Passengers helped create a makeshift stage by connecting an amplifier and lighting the aisle with their phone flashlights. Robb then moved through the plane as travelers sang along.
Canadian pop-punk artist Lolo was also aboard and posted footage of the performance on Instagram, captioning it: “Thank u Southwest for the memories.”
Hoobastank lead singer and founding member Doug Robb performed the band’s hit The Reason aboard a Southwest flight during Friday’s historic FAA ground stop
Simple Plan frontman Pierre Bouvier also took the plane’s makeshift “stage” to perform the early-2000s hit I’m Just a Kid
Canadian pop-punk singer Lolo shared clips of the impromptu in-flight concert online
“Every plane was grounded today, but the emo gods made sure this one flew,” she added.
Videos of the unexpected concert quickly spread online. One person wrote: “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 such a negative situation!” another commenter said.
“This makes me so happy, music can bring so much joy to crappy situations,” a third person added.
“Deep down, we always knew Hoobastank or Nickelback would save us,” another joked.
In a second video, Lolo explained that the aircraft had been chartered for people traveling to Warped Tour. Simple Plan also took the opportunity to perform for the passengers.
Footage showed the band’s bassist and lead vocalist, Pierre Bouvier, performing an acoustic rendition of Simple Plan’s hit I’m Just a Kid.
One TikTok user posted a video singing along, writing: “When my childhood dream comes true and Simple Plan performs on my Southwest flight to the Vans Warped Tour.”
Kevin Lyman, one of Warped Tour’s founders, said Saturday morning that he had never encountered a nationwide ground stop during his 32 years of running the festival.
He said several bands were unable to reach the event and had canceled, but most performers remained scheduled to appear. Some acts were being moved from Saturday’s lineup to Sunday.
Simple Plan rose to prominence as a pop-punk band in the early 2000s. They are pictured at a red carpet event in 2005
Hoobastank was a defining rock band of the early 2000s and is pictured above at the beginning of its career
Warped Tour had not yet announced an updated performance schedule for the weekend or confirmed whether refunds would be available to fans who could not attend because of the nationwide ground stop.
The flight suspension was the first since January 11, 2023, when a key FAA computer system malfunctioned. It was also only the second nationwide halt since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Saturday morning that operations were “slowly returning to normal” and that aircraft were safe to fly, although further delays were expected.
Flight-tracking data from FlightAware showed nearly 15,000 total delays by 1pm EST Saturday, including more than 4,000 flights within, into or out of the US. More than 4,400 flights within, into or out of the country had been canceled that day.