Photo Credit: Sick New World Festival
Las Vegas’ Sick New World was cancelled abruptly due to unforeseen circumstances, and now the theories as to why have begun to emerge.
The third annual edition of Las Vegas’ Sick New World festival was set to take place in April next year, but the event was officially cancelled this past week. The announcement came just six weeks after the tremendous lineup for the event was revealed, and fans are speculating that might be part of the problem.
Notably, the first two editions of the festival featured headliners System Of A Down, with a focus on nostalgia for the original “nu metal” scene. But the 2025 edition looked to branch out with a wide-reaching lineup of more traditional metal and rock artists.
Booking so many artists is reportedly a root cause of the cancellation, with the festival running the risk of not turning a profit. On top of that, whispers that Metallica and Linkin Park were each offered around $5 million to headline make the possibility of overbooking and underfunding even more likely.
Jeffrey Shuman, who had overseen the festival from the beginning, parted ways with Live Nation earlier this year. As a result, the Live Nation-partnered C3 Presents were instated to handle Sick New World’s booking. That led to the company looking to trim some of the roster’s fat, with some artists reportedly not being informed of their removal ahead of the lineup reveal.
Further compounding the issue was the resulting sluggish ticket sales. Since announcing the lineup on October 15, the event reportedly managed to clear only a third of the Las Vegas Festival Grounds’ 60,000 capacity. That’s in stark contrast to the rapid sellout of the past two editions of the festival.
The changes in lineup could be partly to blame for the poor sales, but the high ticket price certainly made many potential festivalgoers balk. General admission started around $400, with VIP options going for as much as $1,873.
First launching in 2023, Sick New World scored artists like System Of A Down, Korn, Deftones, Incubus, and Evanescence. This year saw the festival branch out somewhat, with headliners System Of A Down, Slipknot, A Perfect Circle, and Alice In Chains.
But 2025’s edition saw the festival expanding into more of a traditional rock festival, with Queens of the Stone Age, AFI, Linkin Park, and Metallica leading the charge. While next year’s event has been scrapped, the future of the festival isn’t completely ruled out. System Of A Down’s John Dolmayan noted on social media that the festival “will be back.”