There’s a moment early in Cypress Hill’s set that crystallizes everything Sick New World is about. B-Real steps to the mic, the opening chords of Rage Against the Machine’s “Bombtrack” ring out across the field, and he leans into it with a simple explanation: “Because of all the fucked-up shit happening in the world right now, this song is needed.” The crowd erupts in cheers, a shared exhale from the thousands of people who came here dressed up in their finest alt gear, to feel something real together.
That sense of communal catharsis was the throughline of this year’s Sick New World. Through long merch lines and some frustrating sound issues, the festival delivered on the thing that matters most: the feeling that you are exactly where you’re supposed to be surrounded by people who get it. I attended this festival with my mom who (thankfully) introduced me to all the ALT, metal, and rock bands at a young age. As soon as we stepped foot onto festival grounds, we immediately felt that sense of pride and belonging to such an amazing community of people.
Entry was Successful!
Entry and security, a pain point I’ve heard from the past years, ran surprisingly smoothly. It was a small but appreciated upgrade that set the right tone before a single note was played. The crowd arrived eager and dressed to the nines: corsets, platform boots, face paint, band tees, and patched vests. The energy before the gates even opened was high and had me buzzing.
We had GA+ tickets and overall, the experience wasn’t anything to write home about. It offered a middle-ground upgrade with a small area in the back that hosted a few bar and food stalls and private bathrooms. The designated area, with a modest shaded patch of grass and some water misters, lacked meaningful sightlines to the stage and left those who paid for the tier feeling somewhat shortchanged. The weather was a breezy 70 degrees but if it was that hotter Vegas weather, I do think GA+ would’ve felt more significant in value. VIP, by contrast, offered ample real estate, and did seem worth the price. Although the GA crowds far surpassed the overall energy of VIP, which is often the case at music festivals.
The Performance Nitty Gritty
Lords of Acid, one of my mom’s favorites, kicked off the day with the kind of unhinged energy you want from an opener. Dressed in a leather red dress with an ACID choker, the frontwoman Carla Harvey wasted no time by hair flipping, running through the barrier, holding hands with the crowd, and announcing simply: “The lords are here.” They were.
Cypress Hill sounded phenomenal and brought an energy that matched their legacy. Classics like “Insane in the Brain” and “How I Could Just Kill a Man” landed exactly as expected, but the surprise was the closing stretch with a cover of “Bombtrack” in solidarity with the current climate. They ended their set with House of Pain’s “Jump”, the crowd dropping low in unison before exploding upward at the drop. It was a genuinely joyful ending from a group who you can always count on to fully show up and deliver.
AFI brought a different kind of spectacle. The band’s lead singer Davey Havok was in full glamorous rock star mode, jumping across the stage and working every corner of the crowd. The girls near me were losing their minds, my mom included! The highlight was the famous crowd walk, the audience lifting him up and carrying him in the tradition that AFI shows have always honored. It was theatrical and earnest all at once.
Then there was Knocked Loose who, and I cannot stress this enough, should 1000% be headlining festivals. Playing midday, they somehow generated one of the most electric crowds of the entire day. They encouraged crowd surfing from the start and called for a wall of death during “Everything is Quiet Now,” but what struck me most wasn’t the chaos, it was the care. Fans were picking up lost phones and hats; kids on parents’ shoulders watching the mosh pits with wide eyes; everyone smiling and laughing. “Hive Mind” had the crowd screaming every word back at them. My mom and I successfully started a mosh pit, much to the happiness of everyone around us. We pushed, shoved, spun it around, leading to a memorable shared experience with strangers…who no longer felt like strangers once the set concluded. Knocked Loose understands something essential, communal chaos done right is an act of community. I hope everyone is lucky enough to witness one of their shows at least once!
She Wants Revenge was a dance party for both old and new fans alike. “These Things” and “Tear You Apart” were perfect, and the moment the singer Warfield shed his jacket and adjusted his beanie mid-set, the crowd screamed like it was 2006. The biggest news being they announced they’re working on a new album, their first in over a decade. As someone who is a huge longtime fan and has been quietly hoping for exactly this, it was the cherry on top of their performance. They even previewed a new track which did not disappoint. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for a tour!
Evanescence filled the festival with one of the largest crowds of the evening. Amy Lee’s voice remains devastating in the best sense. She is melodic and effortless, a true legend. They moved through the hits and wove in new material from their latest album without losing the room. If “dreamy rock” can be a descriptor for something with this much weight, that’s what it was.
Korn was everything. Opening with “Blind”, always the right call in my opinion, they immediately recalibrated the entire atmosphere. They live-debuted “Reward the Scars,” performed “Dirty” and “Proud” (last played live in 2011), and the crowd knew every word of “Y’all Want a Single”. One of my favorite moments is when they brought out the bagpipes for “Shoots and Ladders”, hyping the crowd up even more. The sound was clean, the energy was raw and watching Jonathan Davis command that stage felt like witnessing something legendary. Korn was a bucket list band for my mom and I, and they delivered a set that went beyond our expectations.
System of a Down: A Complicated Closer
The final act of the night went to System of a Down and the conditions set up something magical: “Radio/Video” began just as rain started to fall, and the lasers scattered across the wet air made the sky look like it was sparkling. At one point during the set, Serj Tankian paused to address the crowd “Stop letting the government and the media divide you”, which earned a thundering roar from the crowd. They ran through a greatest hits set with favorites like “ATWA,” “Chop Suey!,” “Lonely Day,” “B.Y.O.B.,” “Prison Song,” and “Aerials”. We sang and screamed our hearts along to all of it.
And yet there was a sound problem that sadly undercut the whole thing. For a headlining closer, the microphones were muted in a way that left us wanting more, instead of pulling us in. I’ve seen SOAD at Golden Gate Park in 2024, where their sound was crisp and clean and you could feel the songs in your chest. This wasn’t that and while we did enjoy the set for what it was, it felt like a slightly disappointing close. Sound seems to have been a problem in past runs of the festival and being such a solvable problem, they should prioritize fixing for future years. For a band of this magnitude closing out a festival, not having perfect sound felt like a disservice.
The Bigger Picture
Walking out of Sick New World, what stayed with me is a feeling. Watching band after band with a crowd of people across generations, each set delivered some version of the same message, “the world is heavy right now, things are strange and difficult, but we are all here together”. That sentiment landed because it was true, and because the crowd embodied it.
Sick New World has found something genuine, a festival with real soul. I hope it continues for years to come, and I will definitely be attending again for more moshs and headbanging.
