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.
