The third Sick New World is in the books, and Las Vegas got everything it was promised and then some. April 25 at the Festival Grounds, more than 50 bands across four stages, and a crowd that stretched from teenagers dragged along by their parents to 50-somethings who never left the pit.
Korn owned the day. A TikTok dance craze around Freak on a Leash turned them into the fest's biggest draw, kids in Korn gear everywhere, and they rewarded it by playing Reward The Scars live for the very first time. Evanescence matched them by debuting Who Will You Follow.
The weird and wonderful moments stacked up fast. Danny Elfman brought Josh Freese and Reba Myers and ran from Oingo Boingo all the way to the 1989 Batman theme. Knocked Loose got the VIP section to open a wall of death. The End It frontman told the GA crowd to rush the VIP barricade because security could not stop all of them. Ministry played an anti-Trump set. Cypress Hill covered Rage Against The Machine's Bombtrack and House of Pain's Jump Around.
System Of A Down closed it out as rain started falling around 10:30, which honestly just made the whole thing feel more dramatic. After the 2025 cancellation, this felt like a homecoming. Sick New World is back for real.
Photo: Photo by Máté Lakatos via Pexels
Source: Rock Cellar Magazine
