“Water is free!” We live in such a dystopian nightmare that free water in a venue were you could easily die of heatstroke isn’t just a given.

I was there. The fact that they allowed you to re enter the festival if you decided to leave was a GODSEND. Being able to walk back to my hotel and rest up between bands probably saved me from going crazy tbh. It was fun, don’t get me wrong, but that heat was definitely getting to me.

People were grossly unprepared for this festival.

The fact that they did this in the middle of May where it's nuclear hot all in 1 day is insane. I can imagine this being so much more fun as a 2-3 day festival in the middle of the woods.

Should've been a 2-3 day festival with that many bands on it. Totally would have flown out for that lineup if the sets were longer and there were less situations where you'd have to debate which bands to see.

One of the biggest things that happened that day was the crowd surge when Deftones played. Lots of people in the front were getting crushed to the point of passing out. Chino had to pause their set to let the crowd know to take a step back or else their set will get cancelled. I nearly saw 3 fights break out during their set! Idk if it was the heat getting to people or what but I've never experienced a concert that chaotic!

A midnight curfew IN VEGAS???? This truly is a sick new world

I had VIP and basically stayed at the main stages all day. I got to see Alien Ant Farm, P.O.D, Papa Roach, Flyleaf, Death Grips, Chevelle, Turnstile, Incubus, Deftones, Korn and System all front and center pretty much. Amazing performances, my only complaint was the walk from each vip side through the back of the GA crowd, and Chevelle's very short setlist and it seemed like Flyleaf had very bad audio issues as well.

Wow, what a crazy experience. Good for Ice-T trying to work thru the cute spinning stage, so glad you showed that and the good & bad parts of this.

Duuuude seeing Body Count dissing the festival crew and throwing their mic stands was probably my favorite moment of that night lmao. Also, power was lost during the sets for Sevendust and Melvins, cutting tbeir performances super short. The House of Blues show the next night was super amazing, it was Mr. Bungle, Melvins, and Spotlights. What a weekend.

Thank you for addressing the venue setting. I cannot believe it is allowed to have a full day festival in that type of heat, so much black turf, and so much direct sun! I honestly felt like I couldn't enjoy anything until the sun went down since it was just so uncomfortably hot. Almost wish I would have just majorly delayed showing up until then. I will not be going to the next SNW if they keep the same venue and have it at the same time of year.

Sheesh, Ice and Body Count are absolute legends. They deserve better. Fans deserve better.

I cannot believe they tried to cram all those bands in ONE day! I mean, that’s just irresponsible. Sevendust literally lost power and just had to cut their setlist, right then and there. Unbelievable. If they had stretched this out over a whole weekend, it would’ve been amazing. All that said, the lineup was amazing, and this was basically a tribute to Nu-Metal exclusively. Also… that shit with the lines is horrible. I feel like all metal festivals and their organizers leave security as clueless as possible. From my experiences at Aftershock, no one knows shit, and everybody says something different when asked the same question. That needs to be improved at every major festival, it’s ridiculous.

The vocalist from Spritbox is from a mathcore band called iwresltedabearonce and omg they were freaking sick glad that Spiritbox is getting the recognition they deserve

I think the Spiral Stage's worst moment was the power going out during Melvins, which cut there set short about 15-20 minutes. The power didn't come back until after the set time for Filter to start, which made every band for the rest of the festival on that stage to start late. Also with none of the singers' ear monitors working led to a lot of delays including Ministry's set to be cut short. The biggest fuck up, in my opinion, was that the bass was turned ALL the way up on Purple Stage during Flyleaf to the point you just heard a wall of bass and virtually all the guitar and a lot of Lacey's singing were buried, making it the worst performance I saw all day (I think the sound was tuned for the following artist Death Grips which utilize a very heavy bass sound).

As a Southern California native where the weather is almost on par with Vegas there was moments of slight heat exhaustion. The free water bottles was an amazing touch. Definitely noted the poor placement of the stages. The stages could have been strategically placed to provide extra shade to the crowd and the bands wouldn’t have been playing in direct sunlight for most of the day but no one thinks about that. Probably wanted ppl to buy more drinks.

Man I feel bad for The Birthday Massacre. I've been to a lot of concerts, and they were one of the best I've heard live. They were incredible in 2022. I don't blame them for dipping though after hearing about how terrible the side stages were doing.

I want to put in my personal experience from Sick New World when I went. Most of the bands I saw were from the sick stage. Stuff like Panchiko, Machine Girl, Loathe, 100 gecs, etc. The last one I saw at that stage was 100 gecs and up to that point at least, the sound quality was actually pretty good. Those bands brought a lot of energy to the table. I’ve also been really happy that security brought water for the ones in the front who have a hard time getting through the crowd to the back. It genuinely saved me right before the Machine Girl set. There was a couple points throughout the day that the heat got too unbearable and I had to sit on the side of the stages where the shade was. The water refills were a nice touch, definitely something they needed for the crowd. I hated how they ran out of lockers so quickly for people who just want to make sure there wallet doesn’t fall out of their pocket. When I bought merch, there was no locker space for it, so I had to hold it in the fanny pack I had to buy on top of it. I didn’t even know about the bands on the spiral stage getting screwed over. I didn’t see many of them (I think I only saw Melvins and Filter), but it sounded like an absolute mess. I hope if they do another one of these festivals, they take more time to reflect on their mistakes from this one and perfect it.

Aside from KMFDM and SOAD I didn’t experience many sound issues. I left halfway through SOAD because my friend was toast. We started the day with Panchiko, then Coal Chamber, Kittie, Filter, KMFDM, Skinny Puppy, Deftones, and Korn. When they lowered the speakers due to wind it made SOAD less than acoustic if you were in the back.

Bro I was so fucking hyped to see Sevendust live for the first time, they played for legit 5-10 minutes and left after apologizing to the crowd. Insanely disappointing, but legit everything else about the festival was insanely fun.

"JNCO de Mayo" earned you a sub. Well done.

You can DEFINITELY tell that they gave all the professionalism to the headliners or at least the side shows that did turn out good. Haven't seen any promotion for body count or cradle on their official socials at this point they're so embarrassed they had to hide it. As an extreme metal fan myself I was so excited to see the only black metal band of the night perform and it was just so shocking to see their set be cut so unceremoniously they didn't even give Dani Filth a chance to thank the audience or say goodbye.

I worked at one of the food stands between the sick and the spiral stage and despite the fact that I do not really listen to any of the music that was played at the festival, I got to say that despite the lack of preparation and as mad as some of the artists were, I had a blast listening to many of these artists and I respect them all for putting in their all with the so little they had. All the people that I spoke to seemed to have enjoyed themselves a lot and I found that metal fans are some of the most coolest and nicest fans I have probably seen.

i’m glad i missed that mess. i’ve attended 1st time festivals & they were all disorganized and confusing. coachella was the same way in 2006 with camping issues but it all got better. thanks for taking the hit for the team and living through sick new world.

Was at the festival despite the difficulties, it was still one of the best things I've experienced.

Im surprised you didnt mention how the power went out for about 45ish mins on all the side stages. Was insane

Body Count is so good live at a fest that blows their set at SNW blew. Saw them in 2021 at Blue Ridge Rock Festival they were amazing. I ended up with Ice's setlist.

Saw sevendust play and they played literally 3 songs and the sound got cutoff Btw it isn't always the sound guys fault, 2 of my friends who do sound in Las Vegas professionally for a living for 10+ years and are extremely good at it, were both working the event. There's other factors like electrical problems or lack of proper equipment.

I got heatstroke so bad but their med-team was on point, cooling busses, etc. and the free water was nice while it lasted for sure. But ya, the med-tent team was on point, for how busy it was and they had plenty of ambulances on standby. I think, as far as the heat, they did the best they could and I knew I had to pack it in early and come better prepared next time.

I just feel glad I got to go to Download 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007… Nu-Metal, Metal and Prog we’re me and my mates love and what a time to experience it… Wish I had a time machine, because those days were really something special… ❤ We need to see a three day version of Sick New World come to England… 👏🏻

Even as a band crew member I saw many messy situations. The water portion you mentioned was great. Would have been better to split it into 2 days. You made valid points

Friends and I (all girls under 5' 5") kept saying "Death by Deftones" 😅 It sucks because we are all used to this music scene but that crowd surge was no joke, we all almost passed out early on to their set. Sucks that we missed their set from a close view but we didn't let it ruin our day. Will say, HATED the crowd during Deathgrips, we also dip out early but people DID NOT let us leave, I had to dig into guys ribs with my nails and rings to let us out. 😭

Honestly there were sound issues on the main stage too, even during Korn who were the co headliner. The sound on the speakers providing audio to the middle to the back of the crowd went out halfway thru their set. The problem wasn’t resolved until the beginning of System’s set. I didn’t spend much time on the side stages, so I didn’t know how bad the issues were there. It was waaaaaay too hot out there. I had to leave and go back to my hotel for a few hours. I have no idea how anyone spent all day out there. Overall I don’t regret going, but don’t think I’d ever be able to handle another 12hr festival in the Vegas sun.

We literally spent the entire day at opposite stages. 😆 i thought it went well overall and had no complaints from me. (Except for more shade but it is a festival in Vegas) SoulFly, Stabingwestward, kmfdm, chevelle, turnstile, skinny puppy, kitty, deftones, Korn and SOAD were all great. I has the opposite experience as you.

I had a lot of fun at Sick New World but it was definitely mismanaged for sure…I really hope they get it together by next year.

"...while the second stage was left to some dipshit the festival hired off the strip, and paid in Fentanyl." 😂 Man you slay as a writer with humor.

The main stages had their fair share of technical issues too. Death grips only got to play for 30 minutes befote they got cutoff abruptly. Also during deftones's set there was a nasty crowd surge that almost got that whole set scrapped due to people getting crushed. I was there when it happened and its honestly a miracle i didnt fucking pass out. Great time though, all the headliners performed amazing sets and a lot of the smaller bands overcame too despite the clear technical problems shooting them in the foot.

During deftones, the whole vibe of the festival got really aggressive, people were fighting, so me and my friends decided that instead of making our way deeper, we would watch from the outside so we didnt get caught in a stampede. Security at the exit also told us we couldn’t leave until the event was over, and wouldn’t tell us where the ACTUAL exit was.

Worth the trip. Crowd was insanely overcapacity, but I could see this becoming a two day event. Definitely coming back if this happens next year. Also wish Cradle of Filth’s setlist wasn’t cut short but after watching this, I can’t believe so. Many other bands had problems as well with the way the sound was running, and the bad management. I was really looking forward to Cradle of Filth. Based on the angle you had pointing, me, and my girlfriend were right near you lying on the fake grass as we were exhausted, and we suddenly got up after we started noticing everybody walk in the opposite way realizing the show abruptly ended

Thank you for your work in the field and this video summing it all up! I was sort of bummed to miss this event.... now I feel a little better I did! I've seen most of those bands at their own shows or other.... more organized.... festivals like Ozzfest back in the day. So I'm good.

Thanks for the recap. The moment I saw concrete I said nope. I couldn't imagine standing there all day in that.

Spiritbox was pretty damn good! I was in the front right, waiting for Machine Girl (which to be honest, I was at the stage to begin with haha) I had never heard of them before and was incredibly impressed. I agree, they had one of the best shows. My experience with the shortcomings of the festival is that… yup, it should have been three days. Some bands really got shafted/didn’t even get to play. Glad I found this video before my flight back!

Now I know why I avoid music festivals. Smaller personal concerts with well established venues is the way to go.

Mr. Bungle the legendary band that no one talks about, this entire nu metal rebirth hopefully help them reach new audience as Mike and his bands (MR.b/FNM) were the blueprint to this genre.

i dont even like metal, but your videos are always interesting and well made and make me want to go see more live music

i was there and they definitely should’ve made it a 2-3 day festival. It was so packed and it was crazy in the pits! at the end of the festival there were A LOT of bottles, and broken sunglasses on the floor. You couldn’t walk without stepping on something or someone lol. If they had another festival I would for sure go. The people (concert goers and staff) were so nice but the heat was unsurprisingly terrible.

Dude I love your videos. I'm sure we would all love a breakdown of each festival you've been to. Like one video for each festival type thing. Pleaseeeee 🙏

This lineup like fully encompasses my childhood so thanks so much for letting me take a peak at what I missed! Great vlog man.

I've never been so happy to have missed a festival / show in my life. The bands are sick but as someone who lives nowhere near Vegas, it would've sucked ass to travel out there for this experience

i think i got burned out on festivals going to Ozzfest in the late 90s--just really grew to despise the heat and the sun. The only reason why I went to Psycho Vegas last year was because a friend of mine who went earlier said most bands played in covered venues so I was down because I could handle the dry heat. While SNW appealed to people due to the number of bands---that's what actually made me say "NO" lol because I knew those bands wouldn't have hardly any time to perform. I'm glad you had a good time, great video--and the food you bought looked amazing!

I was there. You pretty much nailed it! I was mainly focused on the big stages because I didn't want to fight the crowd over and over er to see different bands. But thank you for this video because I can see I didn't miss much. Great bands on the smaller stages, but the venue did screw them over.

I was there and it was probably the best concert/festival I'll go to in my life, considering the lineup. It WAS insanely hot and exhausting for being there for 12 hours uninterrupted, but the free water was nice.

When originally seeing the lineup, I honestly thought this was over two days, for the amount bands listed. I wanted to go just to see Thrill Kill Kult, Skinny Puppy, KMFDM, Ministry and Mr Bungle. Would’ve been cool to see them all in one place. But, with your expose’, I’m glad I didn’t. Luckily, I’m seeing Bungle this Friday in Seattle. So, not all is lost😄. Great review! Thanks for posting

It was one of the most brutal concert experiences of my life.

the side by side stage setup was my favorite part lol it was nice not having to go run back and forth to different stages for the headliners. also, other than the heat and lack of enough merch, i had the best time so you're right about people at main stages vs not having completely diff experiences. hopefully next year they plan better but i dont think it was horrible for a first yr fest

My friend actually had a heat stroke, she missed all of the second half! I payed $1300 for the tickets and while it was fucking awesome to see those bands, it’s hard to ignore how absolutely flawed the festival was!!! They definitely should put 2 more stages and separate the bands more in order to avoid EXTREMELY LARGE crowds, and also give more time to bands to not only set-up but also have more time than just 30 minutes. Since idk for the EXTREMELY steep price point, I feel like i deserve to see bands play longer sets than 30min! Since Death Grips, Bungle, Panchiko, and 100 Gecs all of them felt like just small demos to their other shows, like as if they were teasing their other shows idk how else to explain it. Honestly they should separate the festival to two days, separate the two big stages so that the smaller bands could have a nice stage too, add one or two more stages, and just SIMPLY NOT FOCUS ON MAKING MONEY AND ACTUALLY GIVING PEOPLE WHAT THEY PAID FOR! Because the reason they obviously didn’t separate the festival into different days is so that they didn’t have to pay staff 2 days of work.

Great vid, I went to When We Were Young fest that was here last October and was curious how this one would turn out. Looks like the exact same set up, there were some some sound issues at the start of the day but by the end most of it had been sorted out. All the bands started on time for the most part too. So kind of surprising they couldn't just replicate what they did 7 months ago.

Thank you for this review. Makes me feel a little better for missing it

i was there too! the only thing i would change would be to add more shade or some mats or something for the concrete cause it was sooo hot my shoe MELTED. luckily i was staying at circus circus so i was able to walk over and switch my shoes. the crowd didnt seem too crazy to me but definitely saw a lot of people struggling with the heat. night time was the funnest for me . definitely want to go next year!

My husband plays in one of these bands, back stage was fine and easy for us. I feel so bad for people who had a bad experience.

I was also there. As someone who has been going to metal festivals for almost 15 years: It was more successful and safer than any Warped, Mayhem, Aftershock, or Knotfest I have ever have attended. I could not care less if a single human reads this, but I gotta defend one of the sickest fests I've been to.

I love how opposite our experiences were. Sound and pacing for each band was spot on up front at the main stage, but dear fuckin god, the sun fucked us up so bad and there was such a scarcity of water, if I had managed to piss before getting to the stage, I probably would've passed out from dehydration. Great video

Caught The Birthday Massacre on one of their warm up shows heading to the festival. It was their first show of the year and they were very professional, super nice, and sounded great (shout out to Red Flag in STL for always having pro sound). Given that experience, this festival must've treated them very poorly to get them to just walk off. Do better, Sick New World.

I was literally the first person in line for SNW. I was there for SOAD and it was everything I needed it to be. It was amaze-balls. loved it! i checked my watch and I walked just shy of 11 miles. my blisters can confirm. Welcome to Rockville was this past weekend, I went to that too and was 1st in line for TOOL as well. I had the most amazing time at both events. But basically, this should have been a 2-3 day festival. The shade and cooling stations were a nice touch, the VIP area was easy to get into and out of. The only thing that annoyed me was I got a locker and they said that they required a $10 deposit for a mobile charger to charge your phone in the locker and that was after I already paid for my locker. The guy was like you didn't say you'd need a charger and I told the knucklehead that he didn't ask and I thought they'd be wired in. (my fault for not reading the FAQ) - over all my experience was an 8/10. I probably won't go again unless they have a band there that I absolutely have to see (like SOAD this year!) - Maybe, just maybe they'll bring in Marilyn Manson next year? I mean, I can hope, right?

Sorry that happened to you. My experience was different. I stayed at the mainstages all day from 11am on because I got a front row spot at the barrier. I got guitar picks from soulfly, papa roach, korn and one I havent identified yet (no band name on it) and my photo made it into the las vegas journal. I had one of the best times of my life!!!! It WAS hot AF all day and I was pretty much sweaty and uncomfortable the ENTIRE time but it was worth it. 10/10 would die in Vegas sun for nu metal again. Edit: also idk how people had such issue with the sun. Im from WA state and work nights so i NEVER see the sun and I was fine, albet really hot and sweaty. I didnt even drink tons of water because i didnt wanna have to pee and lose my spot in the pit. I just smoked weed and sipped water all day FTW!!!

Ngl I went to almost the same sets as you, but with Death Grips and 100 gecs somewhere in there, and just caught half of Deftones, Korn, and SOAD. Had a lot of fun though despite the sound issues at the smaller stages and definitely played it smart when it came to hydration. My favorite set of the night was Ministry

This was a great review. Balanced, not irritating, and even funny in spots. I almost went to this festival and I'm glad I didn't, but this review makes me want to give it a shot in a couple of years. It seems like it has some real potential.

Thinking about going for 2024…thank you for this layout!!!! 🙌🏽

My wife and I travelled from Canada to see the show. We were in for about 3k Canadian pesos for accomodation and tickets just to see it. I agree totally with what you have said. Not to mention as well the people getting crushed during the Deftones set. My wife and I were in the crowd pretty close to the stage. The crowd split and some guy was carrying a girl in his arms completely unconscious from I presume getting squished. Shortly after that I decided to get my wife out of there. Also when we were leaving the crowd didn't know where to go to exit for some reason. After being in the sun all day long patience is pretty thin. Wasn't long before the crowd busted through the security barrier to make another exit. One of the security employees decided to get in an altercation with someone in the crowd. I was glad to get out of there and get back to our room. Overall I was glad to see a lot of these bands as It was probably the only chance we will have to see a lot of them. There's no way I can be in the sun again all day tho, almost killed me.

I was also there! Such an amazing time! Didn't drink though. Wouldn't have been a good idea. Love that SOAD messed up one of their songs. Daron was not pleased, but he's a perfectionist. Sad that Sevendust cut it short and upset that I missed cradle of filth. Spiritbox and Kittie were AMAZING. The spiral stage actually spun around giving those bands time to set up/ break down. Flyleaf had a lot of sound issues too.

Thanks for the recap! Despite all the BS I had the best time ever. You were right about every single pros and cons! I think they could've removed some of those bands and gave more notable bands time. I dealt with the heat by using the in and out privilege's, I went to the nearby resort world and ate and recharged for the next half of the day. I didn't think the heat was so much of an issue because they had plenty of places to cool off and like I said with the in and out privilege I didn't feel it was an issue. The main con for me was the smaller stages by far. I felt it was too jam packed with artist and the time was so short to try to catch both main stage and side stages. But all in all I would definitely go back again. I don't know if I would do more than a two day festival there but I was content with a 1 day shit show :) Thanks again for capturing the memories.

I was there. Had a blast and can’t wait to go back next year if the lineup is good

Damn I had no idea most of the side stage bands had that many issues. Lacuna Coil sounded good as well as Kittie. However I did catch sevendust and they lost power altogether after 3 or 4 songs. After that I went to the main stages for the rest of the day and those bands sounded great. If they ever do a festival like this again, they should do it maybe in mid April when it's not so damn hot.

They cut death grips and machine girl's sets short. They even tried to cut machine girl off when they refused to stop and finished their set lmfao

I live here in Vegas and I planned on going until I saw that it was all one day to see like 40 bands...all in the Vegas heat. It gets so hot here in the summer I didn't think I would be able to handle standing out there. Despite all of the issues, it looks pretty neat! Thank you for sharing your experience.

The opening narration grabbed my attention enough to stay!

Minus Slipknot being there, this is like the soundtrack to my entire life in high school.

Hey, just wanted to say this is a really great and insightful video! My girlfriend and I stayed near the main stage most of the day and didn't notice many issues there, so it is interesting hearing about the experience of someone that was at the side stages most of the day.

Thank you for this! I was wanting to travel from Canada for this but had a feeling it would be exactly what it ended up being. Greatly appreciated the review! Saved me a huge FOMO

Interesting video! I saw the lineup and was jealous it's in the states and you guys get everything anyway... how could a festival with such an amazing lineup be screwed up so bad. We get 1 or 2 festivals here in Australia per year that cater for metal with 20% of that lineup. Never seen any sound issues like that, what a let down!

I loved it!! It was fun and music never stopped.

Man hearing about how the festival turned out to be is quite sad to hear. I remember learning about the festival last month and I was so excited that such a festival like this was happening because aside from being a teenager at the time when all these bands were big and in the forefront of alternative music, I also thought it would be great to be among other people who actually still like a lot of these older bands that you don't really hear get talked about much these days. Speaking for myself, I hardly ever get to connect with people IRL about music since most people these days seem to be more into rap, hip-hop, and edm type music over rock and metal, at least in my personal experience anyway. So to be around a ton of people who actually still like and listen to this music would've been so exciting for someone like myself. And I was especially surprised to see bands like Sisters of Mercy, London After Midnight, The Birthday Massacre, She Wants Revenge, Skinny Puppy, Ministry, KMFDM, My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult, and Orgy be featured because I was not expecting them to actually feature some love to actual Goth and Industrial music and in theory, this would've been a great first time seeing this kinda music live. I mean I still would've been interested to go just for System of Down, Incubus, Deftones, Evanescence, Lacuna Coil, Filter, and Chevelle as I grew up with these bands and would still take in the moment just to experience that nostalgia bomb. In the end, I had to pass on the festival because it just wasn't in my budget and after hearing all of this, it probably was for the best. Because despite how initially excited I was, I then remembered that Vegas is starting to go into summer and the weather is getting hotter. I'm a local of Vegas and summer always sucks, you never really get used to the heat and so picturing myself in this festival under the blazing hot sun on black pavement while the band's were all facing technical issues? Yeah no, I think I dodged a bullet even though part of me wishes I still went just to get out of the house 😅 If they do plan something like this again, they definitely need to do what you suggested like building a roof or some sort of tent to protect against the sun. That or maybe try to host the festival around October when the weather starts to cool down because yeah, it's just not worth it if you feel like you're about to have a heat stroke going to what should be a great time lol. Anyway sorry for long comment, I'm glad that you still managed to have a good time despite the problems the festival had.

Great recap video!

im glad you did this video im in los angeles and wanted to go but didnt lol that being said you have a good "persona" for reviews like this keep it up! got a sub ** had to double check, im old you sound like the Motel 6 guy and i love it "we'll keep the lights on for ya"

It was one of the best days of my life :D my boyfriend and I are in our 30's and we withstood the entire day of hot sun ( didn't have the problem with the entry line, dunno what that was about) and stayed for System of a Down's ENTIRE 30+ song set because of how special that band is to us. Agh, what a great festival

My wife and I spent my 38th birthday at the festival and I wouldn't have had it any other way. Overall I thought it was a pretty good experience although I did mention at one point that I dont know how many more of these all day festivals I can keep grinding out. We both wanted to see Alien Ant Farm and with them going on first we were there all day. 12 hours outside in Vegas makes for a rough day. The plan was to try and do half sets for bands if there were conflicting set times which was inevitable with that many bands on the lineup. We were able to see 18 or 19 bands which was pretty good.(AAF, Cold, P.O.D., Soulfly, Papa Roach, Lacuna Coil, Chevelle, Sevendust, Filter, Evanescence, Incubus, Hoobastank, Deftones, Korn, Placebo, Ville Vallo, System of a Down, Sisters of Mercy & Cradle of Filth). Basically the equivalent to a really good day at warped tour but with much higher profile bands. It did become difficult to navigate through all the people when trying to go from the side stages to the main stages. Depending on where you were standing, particularly the main stages, could make the difference between really getting to enjoy a bands set or spending the whole time being treated like a doorman for the never ending groups of people that want to push their way closer to the stage or leave the area. Basically if you weren't standing shoulder to shoulder with the person next to you, that space would be treated like it's a designated walkway. There were times when some people either lacked awareness of other's personal space or just straight up DGAF. Like I'm pretty sure that most everyone there doesn't want to be right up on somebody else nor do they want someone else breathing down their neck, yet you'd get these people that would squeeze themselves into the 1.5 ft of space between you and the next person and post up like it's the place to be. That stuff definitely got annoying but I understand it's a given with concerts and crowds. There were actual maintained bathroom facilities instead of the typical portables which was a huge plus, especially for my pregnant wife. Maybe providing additional restrooms for the women could help ease some of the lines that they were dealing with. Mens restroom lines definitely moved quicker, for the obvious reasons. Food options were pretty good and cold water was pretty fairly priced if you didnt want to wait in the long lines for the water refill stations. There were several times when we decided we'd rather just pay 5 bucks for a cold liquid death can than wait in the long refill line. One thing that my wife and I didn't care for though was that at one of the concession stands they wouldn't let you personally put in your card info on the tablets for payment and then asked if you'd like to add a tip and how much. So basically they were putting you on the spot to either add a tip or feel like a douche bag. I thought that wasn't cool. The woman working the pizza booth was also just bringing people whatever slices were available instead of what they actually asked for. I ordered a slice of cheese which wasn't ready at the moment and she brought me a meat lovers slice instead. Next guy ordered pepperoni and sausage and that wasn't ready so she brings him a veggie slice. Like WTF..just tell us to step aside after payment is made and call it out when it's ready instead of deliberately giving someone something different from what they ordered. Sevendust got hosed with the electrical outage. The power went out and it seemed like there was just a shoulder shrug and it was moving on to the next bands setup. It didn't seem like there was any attempt at even letting Sevendust finish up their set. Basically they were told that the powers out and their day was over. They should have been on one of the mainstages instead of soulfly, death grips, flyleaf or turnstile but that's just my opinion. Other than that, we didn't really experience any bad technical problems with the two side stages aside from Lacuna Coil having some sound issues. The sun straight up kicked my ass. There was a point in the late afternoon where my wife and I desperately needed somewhere shaded to sit down and we each took a little power nap, although Lacey Sturms voice was like nails on a chalkboard and a very unpleasant awakening hahaha. I actually started questioning myself if I could even make it another 6 or 7 hours for the rest of the bands. We were exhausted at that point but we stuck it out. I think this festival could benefit from adding more shaded areas and/or possibly moving the festival up several weeks to a month earlier which would be a little bit cooler outside. Overall I thought it was a fun, but exhausting experience. Perhaps having less bands would make for a smoother run festival but there were only a good handful of bands that I wanted to see and didn't get to. I don't think they necessarily need to make this a multi day festival like Aftershock or any of the other DWP festivals. I'd personally rather just have one long ass Saturday than having to take 3 or 4 days off of work and then add in the nightly lodging, meals, etc. With the cost of admission, I dont see many people being able to go to both days if it were to go the route of how When We Were Young is doing things. $1400 for a pair of tickets to a 2 day festival would be hard to swing, at least for me personally. I think this festival was overall a success and can see it happening again next year. Considering that MGM owns that property, bought it with the idea of having an annual Rock in Rio LV festival that ended up having financial losses of over $20 million dollars in its first (and only) year, desperately needs festivals like SNW and WWWY being held there to justify purchasing it. I don't know about you guys, but I've already started my mock lineup for next year haha. 🤘

Dude I was there! Major agree with everything you stated. I felt bad for Flyleaf; the bass was cranked over everything it was rough. Would love to get a pic with you next time homie!

Great video! For me, the beginning was the worst part, but it got better throughout the day. The purple stage had a lot of audio issues early on with Flyleaf and death grips, and then when melvins lost power towards the end of their set, I was worried a lot of the bands I wanted to see either wouldn't play or would be delayed, but it seemed like they got power back on and kept the bands going on time. I saw several bands at the sick and Spiral stages after that without issues, then finished the night with Korn and SOAD who both killed it! Definitely hoping psycho fest comes back, but sick new world was a great alternative!

The lineup created a big expectation and honestly from the footage I saw it did not look as cool as I imagined it would be. It looked very low effort but hey no one got hurt for the most part most importantly. It will be interesting to see how Welcome to Rockville turns out this weekend

ive seen spiritbox, and it really impressed me aswell

The number of bands was the reason I opted not to go--I have no issue paying to see bands I like, but my concern was how many of these bands are going to have short sets/have to play at the same time to cram this lineup into one day. Thanks for posting this! =o)

I was so stoked to go (flew from NC to celebrate my birthday) and I still enjoyed the bands I got to see and hear, it just sucked to have to miss such a big amount of the others. I definitely wasn’t prepared for the heat but took advantage of the free water and cooling stations. Super crowded, hard to walk around main stage areas. Surprisingly large amount of people were rude. Food and drinks were good. Felt bad for the bands that had sound issues and got cut so short. Next year probably wouldn’t go back unless there were big changes.

I wish to see all of them on the Sick New World tour but if were to see somebody on tour, it would be SOAD. It would be a blast if I went back in time

Main stages had the same issues as side stages. But I was just grateful to be there and made the best of it

Crazy how opposite our experiences were cause I had a great time and had no idea about all the issues until I chatted with some guy during Ho99o9's set. I was pretty thankful I managed to snag VIP cause even with my hydropack and electrolyte powders, I still had to lay down in a shaded area during Lacuna Coil. I wish they had made it two days to give each artist their time to shine (and audio engineers time to actually fix issues)

Thanks for this! I'm so glad I didn't go even though I really wanted to see SOAD, Melvins, and Ministry. Really sad that Melvins and Ministry canceled their Phx shows which I'm assuming due to this. I did, however, get a chance to see Christmas Massacre and Lacuna Coil on their way to Vegas, though I was not converted to a fan, lol!

Hey Wyatt, do you think you could make a guide on moshing? I've never gone in the pit, but this fall i'm looking to try it out. I'd love to get some advice on the art from a master of the craft.

I was gonna buy tickets to go but figured I only wanted to go for a handful of bands (Mostly Death Grips) and settled to just wait for the tour. Feels like I dodged a huge bullet with that decision.

I was there. I came megaprepped for the heat; clothing that covered my skin but was light and loose, plenty of sunscreen, huge water bottle but I couldn't make it past Skinny Puppy because I was so exhausted from the heat. The decision to host this as a full day event mid summer is insane. The sound was definitely the hugest issue tho. The left main stage had the most vile sound out of all the stages (which is why I was surprised when you noted the main stages sounding good, it was really only one that did). I was so excited to see Flyleaf back together again with Lacey only for them to come on and Lacey be entirely inaudible for the whole set. The crowd was basically singing for her. We couldn't even hear her when she was speaking between songs. Same issue came around when Death Grips came up on the same stage. I understand that there was little to no downtime on the sidestages to fix things because they were playing back to back but the main stages DID have time as they only played one band on one stage at a time. But nonetheless that one stage continued to have unbearable sound for as long as I'd been there. My boyfriend mentioned how this music festival was basically just a sampler because all these bands are on tour except this was the only show flyleaf played and have played in a fat moment. It was just fucking tear-worthy.

Great video!! Thanks for the upload.