WORD & IMAGES: MATT MARTINEZ | Sick New World returned to Las Vegas, NV, for its third official installment, after an unfortunate cancellation of last year’s festival. Sick New World is a heavy metal festival that favors the nu metal and industrial side of the genre, featuring approximately 50 bands performing across four stages in a single day, with nonstop music and excitement. Metal fans descended upon Las Vegas for another year to raise heavy metal hell in Sin City.
Doors opened at 10 am for fans to enter the festival grounds, and we were held in one of the main food court areas for a short while while they finished setting up. While we waited, stilt performers and The Street Drums Corp performed under the iconic welcome arch to keep fans entertained before the music started. At 11 am, the ropes dropped, and fans quickly ran towards the stages they planned to camp at for the entire day, to be as close to the headliners as possible.
The four stages, all featuring the bands, were the Green and Purple Stages, which were our headline stages, as well as two side stages, the Diablo and Spiral Stage. Kicking off the entire festival was Los Angeles locals Speed of Light on the Purple Stage. I was fortunate to see them a couple of years ago on a small club stage in LA, and I was excited to see the recognition they were getting, being trusted to open the entire festival.
The Diablo and Spiral stages featured continuous bands and were positioned so that the music from one stage never overpowered the other. The Diablo stage features the heavier side of Sick New World, with hardcore, beatdown, and metalcore bands sending fans into an intensely raging circle pit throughout the day. Some of the featured acts included Flatwounds, Showing Teeth, The Dark.FM, Bloodywood, Norma Jean, Speed, Sunami, Health, Terror X Pain of Truth, Wage War, Poison The Well, and closing out the stage was Underoath.
The Spiral stage took a different route; while still hosting some heavier bands, the main attraction here was the industrial side of the festival. You could find fans not just moshing but also dancing and turning Sick New World into a goth club thanks to bands like Orgy, Lords of Acid, Kittie, Twin Tribes, Sleep Theory, Coal Chamber, She Wants Revenge, and Ministry.
But the true pièce de résistance, and who could be considered a fellow headliner of the festival, was Danny Elfman, closing out the side stages with an almost festival-stealing performance. Featuring music from his solo albums, orchestral overtures from some of his biggest movie scores, and hits from his former band Oingo Boingo, Elfman gave fans who stuck around the Spiral Stage a special kind of performance no other band was going to give on this day.
The side stages offered fans a steady stream of bands that would make the festival great if you only stayed there. But it was our Green and Purple headlining stages that truly made this day special. These stages were positioned side by side. When one act finished on one of the stages, only then would the next band go on across the way. This way, none of the main stage acts walked over each other’s performances.
Though these were technically two stages, it’s hard not to treat them as one giant showcase. Featuring performance from upcoming and tenured bands like Violent Vira, Filter, a special reunion show that was supposed to happen the previous year by Acid Bath, AFI, Knocked Loose—raising the most hell of the day, Marilyn Manson, and Evanescence.
But it was the final three bands of the night on the main stages that collectively stole the entire show. Bring Me the Horizon crafted a setlist featuring so many fan favorites that even people in the food areas could be seen singing while chowing down. Whether you’re a diehard fan or maybe you know the hits, when Korn took the stage, people stepped up the energy to go just a bit crazier for them.
Then it was time for our final band of the night, with System of a Down taking the stage. By this point, no other bands were playing on any other stage; SOAD was the only music audible across Vegas. Over 60,000 people crammed themselves around the main stage to sing, headbang, mosh, and crowd surf to these legends. System of a Down has been a staple headliner at this festival all three years, and it’s clear to see why, as the band has garnered universal love.
Along with the nonstop music, Sick New World had a few other features to check out during the day. One key highlight was a small museum celebrating the 20th anniversary of System of a Down’s Toxicity album. Where fans could walk through and see behind-the-scenes photos and artwork of the band. There was also the System of a Down Chinese Food Truck, serving food in a novelty System of a Down takeaway box. Korn even had its own Freak on a Leash merch booth featuring collars, harnesses, toys, clothing, and accessories for your pet dog.
Rockstar Energy was a big sponsor of the festival, with their Rockstar girls walking around handing out free energy drinks, their own bar featuring rockstar-infused alcoholic cocktails, and a skate demo with professional skateboarders tearing it up on the Rockstar halfpipe throughout the day.
For its third official year, Sick New World remains a solid metal festival in the United States. With a plethora of artists performing throughout the day, a festival layout that provides ample room for fans to walk around, multiple hydration stations, and shaded seating areas to take cover from the Vegas sun, fans could find entertainment at any time. As we walk away from the high Sick New World gave us, we are already eagerly awaiting what next year may bring.
SICK NEW WORLD FESTIVAL AT THE LAS VEGAS FESTIVAL GROUNDS, APRIL 25, 2026
