At long last, for avid nu metal and alternative music fans alike, after the cancellation of the festival in 2025, Sick New World once again returned to the Las Vegas Festival grounds for the festival’s third instalment, which took place April 25th. Lucky enough, fans of the festival also got an extra treat this year – with an addition of a new location for the festival, happening October 24th of this year in Fort Worth, Texas, with a slightly different yet all familiar lineup to the Sick New World brand. However, we will just be focusing on Vegas, and at some time will shift to Texas. For now, let’s have a chat about this year’s installment, and see how it has grown since its first installment on May 13th of 2023.
My first year attending Sick New World I had come in as a fan ravenous to see the artists that had been influencing my early 20s, such as acts like Death Grips, Machine Girl, and 100 Gecs. This year the main shift in lineup (which we see in both dates for the 2026 installments) is that it mainly brought back the artists who made the first year so special (including 2024, even though I did not attend) with acts at the Vegas location including Korn, Evanescence, and Bring Me The Horizon, while Texas offering the other half of that initial lineup, with Deftones being its biggest pull. Both dates share their main headliner, and the reason we are all so in love with the brand, System of a Down. The Vegas lineup had many familiar faces such as Alien Ant farm, Melvins, and Orgy. I am happy it was done this way, since many were returning fans of the festival, giving them a chance to see the new acts on the bill, and an opportunity for new attendees to see why the show is so well loved in the community.
Sick New World is a one-day festival. Since its start, there have been a few major shifts implemented so the show could run as smoothly as possible, with satisfaction for all fans. Since its debut in 2023, the festival has moved the middle of May to the tail end of April. This may not seem like a major date difference, however, being also from the desert, living in Phoenix, Arizona myself, those few weeks can be a massive shift in terms of the weather. The first year hit almost 91 degrees and dropped to about 56, while this year was gorgeously overcast, with a high of 76 and low of 55. The overcast did bring in some wind, but absolutely nothing compared to the damage it did during another major Vegas festival, When We Were Young, back in 2022 causing the first date of the first installment of the festival to be cancelled. Since then, the fest has done a great job in terms of fan safety, and most importantly, artist safety. During its first year, Korn was hit with the wind during their set (they had the same exact time slot and stage this year) and had a large, sheeted metal cage come down in front of them. This way they were protected yet still giving fans a view. Personally, I thought this actually made their set even more entertaining since I had never seen anything like it. Luckily, it didn’t have to happen this year (even though selfishly, I would have been stoked to see it happen again).
Another major difference was how cabanas and VIP were set up. I had general admission my first year, and media with VIP this year. I remember that GA was filtered out on the side the first year, and VIP in the front, but this year VIP was on the sides with GA filtering more towards the middle. I am not sure if there was a cabana the first year, even though When We Were Young did, but it was on the right side and not the left. I feel that the flow of traffic was perfect, it was easy to move to one stage to another pretty quickly, at least only about 10 minutes of walking max (not including getting in closer, but also easily doable in under 10, especially if you know how to cheat the system by crowd surfing to get in further). The food and drink options stayed relatively the same, including the return of my favorite, the magnificent lobster roll truck, but that could be a whole three-page review in itself. It puts even east coast rolls to shame. Some of the other food and beverage returns included Beatbox Beverages, who you may know from dominating the festival beverage scene, Korn Coffee, and even Deftones signature IPA, Phantom Bride. I would strongly recommend this beer for anyone who is not too sure about IPAs, it is not too powerful to where it feels difficult or too heavy to complete. Drink prices were also reasonable for the festival, even including the specialty cocktails from the Rockstar Energy tent. All of our bartenders were lovely and fantastic; the staff was an absolute standout this year!
The other change I would like to highlight was its photo opportunities and exhibits. They had limited the amount of them in the middle of the festival, making it easier to float from set to set. This made a massive difference, especially during its first year having a massive metal fire shooting cage situation, that ate up probably almost 500 attendee spaces. I was happy with the change to the two highlight exhibits, being Rockstar Energy’s half pipe (which had even gotten Tony Hawk to come out and attend the show) and System of a Down’s 25th anniversary interactive museum, celebrating the initial release of Toxicity, which will turn 25 on September 4, 2026. The museum was filled with art and instruments, even a fun photo opportunity with a table filled with sunflower seeds referencing the lyrics of “Toxicity” (yes, they were edible) and a massive “System Of A Down” Hollywood styled sign, similar to the cover of the record. At the end, you were able to write a message to the band, or other attendees. I had written my wishes to other fans for beautiful futures in music and my thanks to Serj, Daron, Shavo, and John. While small, and short, only lasting about five minutes, it made enough impact in those short seconds to be a very moving moment in my life, especially as a fan.
Now, let’s get into what everyone’s curious to know, who was the best act at the gig? Before I reveal my pick, I would like to highlight other acts that I see having a bright future being a headliner on their own tours or even maybe a festival of their own, but with my hopes they will return to headline Sick New World once again. Showing Teeth, who is powered by the 26-year-old Nashville screaming sweetheart, Addison, was everything I could want to open the day up for the festival. Not only was it the collective’s first festival show, but only their fourth show to date. While they have minimal music released, they were able to use this opening slot to show everyone what they’re about – and teased demos and new releases.
My other favorite act who I was so ecstatic to see, especially becoming a newer post punk fan myself, was the magnetizing Texas based darkwave duo Twin Tribes. The group only contains two members, Luis Navarro on vocal duties, while Joel Nino Jr. is mainly responsible for his bass efforts. Despite it only being two bodies on stage, the sound and storytelling of the band made it feel as if a whole orchestra was present on stage. I was extremely happy to see my personal favorite track from them, “Monolith”, and I am so happy to report the performance made me dive deeper into the world of the song and now has me even more hooked and on the edge of my seat to see where the band goes next.
The set of the weekend might not be who you were thinking. Most would assume one of the three headliners, but no one can ever compare to the energy and performance brought on by the Oldham county legends, Knocked Loose. This was my sixth time seeing them, with my first time being back in 2017 at the full sail stage at Warped tour. It’s been almost a decade since that set, but my excitement for the set and enthusiasm remained the same, if not, more.
Bryan Garris, the frontman of the Kentucky hardcore group, is one of the most magnetic vocalists of the 21st century. Not only does Garris always come forward to do a flawless performance, identical to their recordings, but has a firm grip on the crowd. The encouragement to get up, get rowdy, crowd surf, and most importantly, to let loose and to have fun, charmed everyone in the crowd. Everyone was under the trance of Garris’ crowd control – not a single body was still.
Isaac Hale, the youngest member of the group, is a star of his own, responsible for his guitar duties and deeper vocals that beautifully complement his fellow bandmate Garris, like the two of them were always meant to share the stage in every lifetime. Isaac, himself, also did a wonderful job of building almost a sense of fear that snowballed into an energy spike that made the crowd continue to keep growing in amplification throughout the whole set.
The group’s drummer, Kevin “Pacsun” Kaine held both of his members grounded with his engaging performance and crowd interaction, which for any drummer is difficult to do and usually is not their main duty, but Kaine is a completely different story. His eye engagement with the crowd while playing these rambunctious yet technical breakdowns made me somewhat emotional – this is a guy who clearly loves what he does, and he wears it strongly on his chest (and the magnificent 24 inches of hair).
Kevin Otten, bass, and Nicko Calderon on rhythm, were wonderful with their duties as well. Watching these two move so gracefully yet with so much power was exciting to be a part of and helped balance out the rest of the chaos happening, even though this is the kind of chaos that isn’t something we avoid, we get drawn into it. While the band does a great job of ensuing this feeling of fear, or even a sense of impending doom, it’s the type of fear that makes you want to fly, fight, jump, and be consumed by all the action the Kentucky-based quintet has always successfully been able to give us.
My favorite part of it all – aside from the pyros and stage smoke, was the graceful and extremely emotional tribute to Bo Luedens, a very important member of the scene, who had tragically passed away April 3 this year. It was a beautiful sight to see him honored on such a massive stage. While I didn’t get to know Bo or his contributions outside of his band Harm’s Way, you could tell that while it has been a dark and challenging past few weeks for the hardcore scene, the crowd gave exactly what Bo would have wanted, a pit of a lifetime.
I was so pleased by the third installment of the Las Vegas Sick New World. I am so grateful I got to see this show in my early twenties at 23 and returned back this year at 26. It feels like I have another home and community outside my hometown of Phoenix that I get to grow up with and share these memories for years to come. Sick New World, thank you for giving me the gift of community and freedom, and I cannot wait for its first installment this October in Texas.
