We just got back from our trip to fabulous Las Vegas! Here’s a view from our room at Hilton – Resorts World.
If you’re going to Sick New World 2025 – assuming they have it – I definitely recommend Resorts World. It’s a beautiful hotel within walking distance to the festival.
Many people stay at Circus Circus, which is also within walking distance. But it’s a pretty terrible hotel! (It’s also less expensive, so it depends what’s most important to you. They also have a fun arcade and a free circus show.)
When we arrived in Las Vegas on Friday, April 26, it was chilly and rainy. Thankfully, the rain didn’t last long and Saturday turned out to be a beautiful day.
Last year, it was in the mid-90s and it was HOT! This year it was in the mid-80s. Perfect!
Last year we got General Admission tickets, and it was fine until the headliner bands came on. We got pushed way to the back and had trouble seeing and hearing.
Here’s my review of Sick New World 2023.
I remember saying, “I don’t know if the festival life is for me.”
Except…
System of a Down was so damn good that they swayed us to come back again!
But this time we decided grab VIP tickets.
Let me tell you all about the positives and negatives of the festival and then I’ll let you know if we’d get VIP again.
Here’s a little recap of the negatives from last year:
- it was hot
- the cooling off places were crowded
- the lines were super long
- everything was mega expensive
- the sound sucked sometimes
- band timing wasn’t ideal
- it could have gotten scary real quickly
And a recap of the positives from last year:
- easy to get in and out of the festival
- plenty of free water at watering stations
- the bathrooms were good
- plenty of cooling-off areas and misters
- excellent vendors
- awesome bands
- (and I also added the fact that I freaking love Las Vegas as a positive, but that doesn’t really count)
Weather.
The weather was really nice this year, so that goes on the positive side. Weather is weather, so you just never know.
You can expect Las Vegas to be pretty warm at the end of April/early May, but we were surprised when we landed and it was chilly and rainy.
In fact, there was a festival that was supposed to take place there this weekend (it’s one week after SNW at the time I’m writing this) that was canceled due to winds.
Cooling off places.
The cooling off places were still crowded…unless you had VIP. We had plenty of room to sit down and relax in VIP. The entire VIP areas had turf, so it was comfy to sit and relax while waiting for bands, or if we just needed a break.
Lines (especially getting into the festival)
The line getting into the festival was long, but two important things:
- people line up without going all the way to the front where the gates are. Because people tend to just follow the crowd, they don’t know they can move up to the front and they all get in one long, straight line.
- The VIP ticket holders had separate lines, so we were able to move ahead anyway.
With that said, here’s my biggest negative about the festival.
The gates open at 11 am, and the first band starts at 11:10 am. Unless you’re at the very front of the line, you’re going to miss the opening band.
It was Nonpoint this year, and I was bummed that we missed their set.
I wish Sick New World would open at 10 am to give people a chance to get in on time. They had to let in 65,000 people! And if you got in early enough, it would give you a chance to get a feel of where everything’s located.
I never had trouble with lines to go to the bathroom. VIP had its own bathrooms, which was nice. But I used the regular restroom too, and it was fine.
I waited maybe one minute to get water once.
I waited in line for a few minutes to get my son a lemonade. I was listening to Alice In Chains at the time, so I didn’t mind!
If you wanted to get merch though, forget about it. I heard people waited 2-4 hours! Those lines were insane. I got a bootleg shirt when we left.
Prices.
Everything in Las Vegas is expensive.
It’s best to save up your money and not worry about it.
The sound.
I did hear there were a few issues here and there with bands. Alex Terrible’s mic went out for a few seconds when we were watching Slaughter to Prevail, but that’s the only glitch I saw.
I think there were many more issues with that last year.
The only other time the sound wasn’t perfect was during Slipknot. Corey’s mic needed to be turned up a bit because he was getting drowned out by the drums.
Otherwise, everything else we saw sounded great.
Band timing.
Some people don’t like that Sick New World is a one-day festival because too many bands overlap, then you have to pick and choose who to see.
I like the one-day festival, but I also agree it’s frustrating when you want to see two (or more) bands that are playing at the same time.
I really wanted to see Alice in Chains because I never heard William DuVall sing with them, but I was so bummed at missing Static-X’s set because they’re one of my favorite bands to watch.
We saw just a little of their set:
The good thing is we saw Static X and Sevendust on their tour twice in the past year. But it’s never enough!
The crowds.
Last year, we tried to get close to some bands but then got smooshed in a wall of people. We didn’t think it was safe so we made our way to the back. It got a little scary sometimes just because there were so many people.
This year it was still crowded, but this is where VIP really came in handy. Sometimes it would still be a bit crowded in VIP, but nothing like last year in General Admission.
We easily found good spots where we could see and hear and be comfortable.
The only issue I had with VIP was that the two main stage entrances were far from each other. So if we wanted to see Slipknot on one stage, then SOAD on the other, it would have taken too long to walk and find another spot.
We just ended up staying on the Slipknot side. At least we were pretty close for them!
We watched Bring Me the Horizon and SOAD mostly from the screens.
The sound was great for both BMTH and SOAD!
Vendors.
It looks like the vendors were the same (or similar) as last year. We didn’t use them much except for lemonade. They had a nice variety of food and drink options.
We decided to get out of the sun for a bit when there was a lull in the bands we wanted to see. We headed across the street to the Fontainebleau, which is a new (and beautiful!) casino. We got tacos for about $7,000. That’s slightly exaggerated, but not by much. At least they were tasty!
Pickpocketers.
I didn’t have personal experience with pickpocketers (thankfully!), but I belong to the SNW Facebook group, and there were quite a few people who complained that their phones got stolen.
It’s a large, crowded place.
You’ve gotta keep on your toes. There will always be scammers and cheaters out there.
Was VIP Worth It?
Someone asked this very question in the SNW Facebook group, and 121 people answered. There were a few people who said it wasn’t worth it, but the majority said it definitely was.
We have four people in our family, so VIP is super pricey for us.
But we’d still 100% do it again. It was so much better in VIP than in General Admission.
We had plenty of space and we got to see one major band up close! (We weren’t in the very front, but it was close enough.)
We were able to get close at the side stages too.
We had room to chill on the turf when we needed to.
We had our own restrooms that were very nice.
The three main downsides (besides the cost):
- The two main stage VIP areas were too far from each other. And the Gold side was much smaller than the Red side, so we didn’t even try… I wish these two were connected so we could go from one stage to the other without leaving VIP.
- It was still pretty crowded at times. I’ve seen many people complain that they oversold VIP.
- We had our own merch tent, but only on the Gold side, which was already crowded. There needed to be one on the Red side too.
Overall, VIP was worth it, and we’ve already started saving in our new bank for next year.
Did you go to Sick New World 2024? What did you think of it? Did you get VIP tickets or Gen. Admission? Let me know in the comments.