Sick New World was back! Not to be cliché, but it truly was bigger than ever this year at the Las Vegas Festival Grounds. April 25th, 2026 turned the grounds into a full-day collision course of sound, sweat, and spectacle. There were four stages. 50+ bands to see. No downtime. From the second gates opened, it was nonstop movement chasing sets, discovering side quests, and contributing to the chaos.
It wasn’t just the stages carrying the weight, either.
The Rockstar Energy Vert Ramp stayed packed, with skaters launching into the air as epic breakdowns echoed in the distance. The Korn Coffee pop-up became its own landmark, a constant line of fans fueling up before diving back into the noise. Everywhere you looked, something was happening and everything felt like the main event. Beautifully creepy stilt-walkers were found at many photo-op moments, while The Steel Drum Corps were seen doing a pop-up performance in the middle of the festival grounds!
Early in the day, Violent Vira carved out space with a dark, industrial-leaning set that pulled people in fast. It’s one of those performances that stops you mid-walk and resets your plan. By late afternoon, the grounds were locked in: Acid Bath made their epic return to the scene after a long 28-year hiatus — all thanks to Sick New World. Opening their set with “Tranquized”, fans were immediately sent into thrash mode, regardless of the early-afternoon timeframe.
Cypress Hill played mid-afternoon, giving fans a much needed bad boy gangster break. Their smash hits “Insane in the Membrane” and “How I Could Just Kill A Man” rang out loud while the crowd bounced up and down. The boys held their own on their own hits, but the crowd truly lost it for their fantastic rendition of Rage Against The Machine’s “Bombtrack”.
Evanescence delivered a set that felt effortlessly massive and with huge headliner energy. Amy Lee’s vocals cut clean through the desert air while the crowd carried every chorus back to her. “Bring Me to Life” didn’t need help — it became a wall of voices. The debut of “Who Will You Follow” added a forward push to the band that’s been in our hearts for nearly 25 years.
Marilyn Manson then turned up the goth rock with glowing crosses, stark lighting, and a stage presence that felt fully reloaded, featuring his hits like “The Dope Show”, “Disposable Teens”, and “The Beautiful People”.
Somewhere in the middle of it all, pits opened, crowds surged, and sets blurred together in the best way. You’d leave one stage ringing and walk straight into another going just as hard. There was no reset button — just constant impact.
Knocked Loose put the bodies in the air (and I guess the floor??). With a call for crowd-surfers and pits, the Vegas crowd did not disappoint.
Bring Me The Horizon opened the pits for the evening to stay, with their lo-fi album playing as a calm before their hurricane. “Open the pits!” Frontman Oli Sykes screamed during the opening riff of “Darkside”, before the place erupted into pure chaos. There was never a point where the crowd was still, with fans on shoulders to appease Oli’s calls to see fans faces for an emotional live rendition of “Follow You”.
Danny Elfman’s headlining performance can only be described as a cinematic masterpiece, complete with complex orchestra pieces synchronized with the most expansive light and stage production that I’ve ever seen.
We truly were put into the world of some of his most epic masterpieces
There were Oingo Boingo classics, like “Who Do You Want To Be” and “No One Lives Forever”, to fan-favorite classic original theme songs written for The Simpsons, Batman, and beyond.
Underoath closed out the Diablo Stage, surrounded by some of the biggest UO fans in the country choosing them over Korn (including me). Famous hits like “It’s Dangerous Business Walking Out Your Front Door” rang out loudly alongside deep cuts like “Young and Aspiring” and “Hallelujah”; the fans knew every single word to all of them. The audience even delivered for Underoath‘s newest single “All The Love is Gone” off their newest 2025 release, The Place After This One.
Then came Korn. When “Blind” hit, it snapped everything into focus. When “Freak on a Leash” dropped, the entire field moved as one: phones up, voices louder than the PA. They threaded in new energy, too, debuting “Reward the Scars” and bringing back “Proud”.
By the time System of a Down took the stage, the grounds were maxed out shoulder-to-shoulder, stretching deep into the night. They didn’t waste a second. “Prison Song”, “Chop Suey!”, “B.Y.O.B.”, “Aerials”… it was hit after hit, no slowdown. Then, mid-set, the sky cracked open just enough. A light rain cut through the lasers during “Radio/Video”, turning the entire closing stretch into something unreal.
The rain was giving serious main character energy.
And when it was all over, the takeaway was bigger than any single set. Sick New World 2026 felt like a culture in real time: nu-metal’s resurgence collided with new-gen metalcore; legacy acts hit with the force of something current, while newer bands held their ground without feeling out of place. Attendees themselves became part of the show at every turn, singing, surging, filming, living inside each moment as it happened. Between the nonstop music, the side-stages, and the sheer scale of it all, the festival created a full-sensory experience that rarely let up. Exhausting in the best way, overwhelming at times, but, ultimately, it was the kind of day that reminds you why festivals like this still matter and keeps you coming back.
Photography by Franny Zehler
Share this article
or
Get music updates in your inbox