Sick New World: A Chaotic Afternoon
And, of course, by chaotic I mean magnificent, majestic, miraculous, spectacular, staggering, stupefying, sublime, wondrous and any other words that might mean AWESOME and to describe my personal experience at Sick New World here in Vegas!
Sick New World Year Two, Festival Setup And The Band Helmet
It was the second year with this festival and, let me you, the people who put this together are definitely getting better with their design. I mean, two alternating mainstages and three rotating side stages rolling nonstop with kick a– band after after kick a– band eventually cramming over 70 bands into the day?!
It almost (let me say again) ALMOST brought a tear to my eye. Although, to be fair, the price of beer and pizza did eventually have me quite emotional later in the day… but that’s a story for another day.
With my time in radio, I can tell you I’ve been to a ton of shows and I’ve always loved that initial feeling of walking into a venue and knowing that in mere moments your face is about to get melted off. Some spots don’t quite get that right but, Sick New World knocked it out of the ball park for me.
I literally felt I was being transported into another world, and I’m sure it had something to do with the fact that I was immediately met with one of my favorite bands, Helmet, on stage and already in the middle of their set. There really couldn’t have been a better way to get the day moving for me.
The one thing I’ve always loved about about seeing these guys live at Sick New World is their boundary pushing attitude, songs that are full of deep meaning, and how they always mange to stay so fresh sounding. I could’ve easily gone home after their set and been a happy, post orgasmic, man. But then I would’ve missed Primus… and THAT ain’t gonna happen!
Primus, Static X And Pure Happiness
Les came on stage totting a Fender Bass with tags still on it. Something I really didn’t think twice about, considering that it’s Les and that’s just something he’d do. Come to find out their equipment didn’t actually make it to the show and the band went to a local music store to buy all-new equipment which they planned to auction for charity after the show.
I thought that gesture was a pretty solid, as was their show. They, of course delivered a well balance set and made sure to include the ‘hits’ with songs like, “My Name is Mud” and “Winonna’s Big Brown Beaver” which never get old for me and ALWAYS sound good live. Especially when you’ve been gifted with the second hand smoke from the sinsemilla that was floatin’ around. Primus’ musicianship and dramatics was top notch, as expected, and I’ll be crossing my fingers that they’ll be back for year three of Sick New World.
After Primus left the stage, I decided it was time to walk around a bit and try and catch as many bands as possible. That’s the problem with big festival shows, the distance between stages! Pretty sure I ended up sweating off a few pounds that day but, hey, I’d rather be walking around Sick new World than staring blankly at a wall from a StairMaster. I think I did pretty good though soaking up what I could.
Static X was one for the books and I have say Edsel Dope fits in beautifully with the band and sounds great singing their songs. If you’re not one to check out the smaller stages at festivals like this… MAKE SURE YOU DO IT NEXT TIME. The Siren and Diablo stages were serious fire with bands that I’ll definitely be checking in detail as the weeks move on.
But, with all this great music playing during a truly beautiful day, what I couldn’t stop thinking was, “Where the HELL is LIMP BIZKIT?!” I mean c’mon, you can’t deny the energy that Wes Borland’s opening riff on “Break Stuff” would set off in this setting. It’s a testament to their place in the history of the genre this festival is honoring to begin with!
So, with the second year of Sick New World officially in the record books really the only thing it’s left me thinking is…. can’t wait for next year!
