Sick New World returned to the Las Vegas Fairgrounds yesterday featuring absolutely too, too much talent for just one day of consumption. A jaw-dropping fifty plus bands played across five stages, several of which had a rotating stage with no set breaks. The grounds were somehow even bigger than last year at the same location. So that meant massive hikes across throngs of eager concertgoers. There was scarcely room anywhere to move, so just getting from one place to the other was not without challenges. Still, it was wild to see so much great talent all in one place.

Getting things started in the middle of the baking afternoon sun was Fear Factory. New lead singer Milo Silvestro (having replaced Burton C. Bell following a contentious and protracted legal battle that led to his exit) declared, “Welcome to the new era of Fear Factory.” The band played some of their seminal songs “Shock,” “Edgecrusher” and “Powershifter” as the crowd fought to get in from the massive entry lines.

Powerman 5000 followed on the same stage (like last year, all side stages were rotating stages so there was scarcely a minute set breaks on any given stage). Considering the strong afternoon sun the band’s lead singer Spider One did an impressive job of working hard to get the crowd excited.

Over at the Red Stage (one of the two adjacent main stages) Babymetal arrived with perhaps the most colorful metal set of the day. Fronted by three young singers (Su-metal, Moametal, Momometal) and coming prepared with elaborate dance routines, Babymetal is the flashy combo of j-pop and heavy metal. A girl group to be sure, this is a creation of producers and songwriters, but there’s something delightfully chaotic about what the group brings to the table, and it’s hard to deny how much fun it is to listen to them play.

Early ‘90s hard rock vets Helmet were thankfully included on this all-star bill. Playing a choice number of their classic cuts in an otherwise short set (“Broadcast Emotion,” “Wilma’s Rainbow” and “Unsung”) Page Hamilton and his band were the definition of why simple instrumentation could make for excellent music.

Lamb of God had the slot at the worst of the mid-day sun, but it did nothing to slow down lead singer Randy Blythe. Blythe played with ferocity and like he had something massive to prove. Almost as if he was playing at the fiercest metal festival in the word (which Sick New World was definitely not) and that they had to be harder than every other band present. Blythe warmly called for cheers for his favorite band Killing Joke who had to cancel playing the festival following the death of longtime member Geordie Walker.

Primus, half way in the middle of the Sessanta tour with A Perfect Circle and Puscifer that we covered last weekend, found themselves playing the legendary Red Rocks Amphitheatre the prior day with none of their gear. Apparently the trucks carrying the entire tour’s gear had not yet arrived in Las Vegas following inclement weather. So lead singer/bassist Les Claypool joked how as “professional musicians” they went to a local guitar store and bought new instruments that very day. They will auction them off later and donate the proceeds to charity. They showed no sign of difficulty joyfully cutting through their classic songs “Here Come the Bastards,” “Too Many Puppies” and “American Life.”

Lords of Acid made a name for themselves playing a positively smutty and hyper charged ‘90s techno (along with their famed contributions to the Mortal Kombat film soundtrack), but it has been a very long time since a North American audience has had any chance to see them live. On this day, they were fronted by a new lead singer Gigi Ricci with band leader Praga Khan holding down all the electronics. Upon approach they were happily singing, “I wanna be screwed by you!” Later, they dropped in their beloved cuts from their vintage era, “Out Comes the Evil” and “I Sit on ACID.”

Ronan Harris of Irish electro/industrial act VNV Nation served as quality counterprogramming on this otherwise hard rock-heavy festival, playing bounding dance music with the backdrop of Las Vegas’ skyscrapers in the background. Industrial music rarely gets exposure outside of the circles familiar with it, but VNV Nation has always been a band that deserved more than that.

A day filled with rotating stages means only 5 minutes to see the legendary Canadian industrial band Front Line Assembly as group mainstays Bill Leeb and Rhys Fulber brought their aggressive energy to the far away Siren Stage.

A Perfect Circle began a set that started in good spirits, but seemed to lose a little steam near its completion. Just like Primus, A Perfect Circle’s gear never made it to Las Vegas, so the band was playing with almost entirely borrowed equipment. Lead singer Maynard James Keenan quipped asking how it all sounded to the audience replying, “Because to us, it sounds like a shitshow up here.” Their bent for sonic excellence clearly on display, it was hard to notice anything wrong with their performance save for the absence of keyboards on the songs that usually have them. They did the best of the songs from their recent Sessanta tour celebrating Keenan’s 60th birthday including “The Package,” “Weak and Powerless,” a postively gorgeous “The Noose,” “So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish,” “The Outsider” and their classic first single, “Judith.” They were also joined by Rizz from VOWWS on a rendition of Billy Howerdel’s solo song “Stars.”

Alice in Chains might have been the weakest set amidst the spectacular talent on display in this jam-packed day. The group having mightily reformed with co-lead singer William Duvall just appeared to lack the urgency the band’s songbook would yearn for. Massively famous songs “Them Bones,” “Man in the Box,” “Rooster” and “Would?” are always a pleasure to hear, but the performance seemed to lack the fire and urgency the songs have always rendered through the decades.

Danny Elfman brought with him a full rock band, full orchestra and full choir for his Red Stage performance. Rolling on the success of his first-in-a-very-long time solo album Big Mess, Elfman used the set to balance evenly between his solo album, his famous movie and TV scores and Oingo Boingo songs. On the TV side of his career, fans got to hear his theme from the massive hit show Wednesday, his theme from The Simpsons, “This is Halloween” from The Nightmare Before Christmas, the near perfect ’80s Batman main title theme and even Beetlejuice’s theme. From his Oingo Boingo catalog he played “Grey Matter,” “Dead Man’s Party,” “Who Do You Want to Be” and “No One Lives Forever.”

Better Lovers played over at the smaller (and new for this year) Diablo Stage. A hardcore band featuring former Dillinger Escape Plan singer Grec Puciato, Jordan Buckley, Will Putney, Stephen Micciche and Clayton Holyoak; this was unbridled carnage. Every member of the band running and flailing like the whole world was in total meltdown. Micciche literally jumped over the photo pit into the crowd while still playing his bass. Not for the faint of heart but wildly exciting, if you’re looking for something sharp as a razor blade and rolling on full-title chaos, Better Lovers is for you.

UK’s Bring Me the Horizon came with a vengeance to the Gold Stage (the other main stage) for their performance with lead singer Oli Sykes frantically screaming as he bounded back and forth on stage. Their set opened with “DArkSide,” “Empire (Let Them Sing)” and a caustic “Teardrops.” Later in the set, the band was joined for an amazing performance by BABYMETAL for their collaboration “Kingslayer.”

Also from the UK but a universe different in terms of sonic style (and worth noting at the literal opposite side of the gigantic festival grounds) shoegaze legends Slowdive played to an unfortunately modest sized crowd. Another excellent piece of counter programming, Slowdive intricately wove their songs “Star Roving” and “Sugar for the Pill” from their genius 2017 self-titled album. Like the band Ride, this is excellent songwriting wrapped in super careful atmospherics as Neil Halstead and Rachel Goswell harmonize beautifully or take the lead on vocals.

System of a Down, again for the second year in a row, headlined this massive festival. For those curious, their set was massively different from last year’s show. Featuring 27 songs instead of 31, yet roughly taking the same amount of time. There were no encores as the band took no time for theatrics. As usual, the four-piece of all original members Serj Tankian, Daron Malakian, Shavo Odadjian and John Dolmayan have an incredible chemistry when performing together, but it’s their songcraft that has made them so famous that they could easily headline this festival. At least 20 of the 27 songs played in this show are verifiable classics in the modern era. “Suite-Pee” is a freight train assault.” “Prison Song” is party politics done right. “B.Y.O.B” takes time changes and left-turns to their absolute limit. “Lost in Hollywood,” is a somber reflection on artistic dreams and positively low gear for the band. “Lonely Day” cries out for love and affection in the face of abominable circumstances. “Chop Suey” is the breakneck speed hit nobody ever thought possible. “Aerials” is world weary artistic power. Malakian made the band’s one really outward statement on the evening when introducing their hit “Hypnotize” proclaiming, “To all the protesters out there at universities, where was your outrage when the babies at Artsakh were crying?” We won’t go into elaborate details here on the crisis in Artsakh, but if you care about travesty and people’s suffering, do yourself a favor and follow Malakian’s lead and read up on it.

The set ended the same way last year’s did with the one-two punch of “Toxicity” and their breakout hit, “Sugar.” The latter a psycho trip through depression and the legendary refrain, “How do I feel? What do I say? / In the end it all goes away?” There were moments where both Malakian and Tankian appeared to struggle to sing certain complex passages, but overall, no fans present were disappointed with what they experienced. It was a marvelous show. The only question remains, given the band’s outward statements on difficulties working together, how much longer will they continue to perform and not record a new album? For now, they are the kings of the generation that was, nestled high on this platform demonstrating the best of year’s passed and what’s happening now in hard rock.

System of a Down Setlist

1. X
2. Suite-Pee
3. Prison Song
4. The Holy Mountain
5. Soldier Side – Intro
6. B.Y.O.B.
7. Innervision
8. Dreaming
9. Needles
10. Deer Dance
11. Radio/Video
12. Bubbles
13. CUBErt
14. Hypnotize
15. ATWA
16. Bounce
17. Suggestions
18. Psycho
19. Chop Suey!
20. Lonely Day
21. Kill Rock ‘n Roll
22. Lost in Hollywood
23. Aerials
24. Genocidal Humanoidz
25. War?
26. Toxicity
27. Sugar

All photos by Raymond Flotat