System Of A Down, Korn, Deftones, Slayer, Evanescence and more to play insanely stacked Sick New World 2026 events in Las Vegas and Texas

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Sick New World festival will return in 2026, launching a second event alongside its hallmark Las Vegas edition - and both lineups are absolutely stacked.

Headlining the Las Vegas event, which will take place Saturday April 25 as the Las Vegas Festival Grounds, will be nu metal royalty Korn and System of A Down, with Bring Me The Horizon, AFI, Evanescence, Danny Elfman, Cypress Hill, Knocked Loose and Mastodon amongst the bands also set to play.

Meanwhile, the first ever Texas edition of the festival will take place Saturday October 24 at the Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth. Headlining that version will be System Of A Down and Deftones, with Slayer (celebrating 40 years of Reign In Blood), Evanescence, The Prodigy, Knocked Loose, AFI, Mastodon and Power Trip also amongst the bands announced so far.

Presale for Sick New World Las Vegas begins this Thursday, October 23 at 10am CT, while presale for Sick New World Texas takes place Friday, October 24 at 10am CT. For more information, head to the official Sick New World website.

See the full lineups for both events below.

The lineup for Sick New World 2026 — (Image credit: Sick New World)

The announcement of two 2026 events marks a triumphant bounce-back for Sick New World, who were forced to cancel 2025's festival owing to what the organisers described as "unforeseen circumstances".

The festival made its debut in 2023 with a headline set from System Of A Down, who returned to headline the 2024 edition alongside Slipknot. System Of A Down singer Serj Tankard remarked to Metal Hammer that playing the first edition of the festival helped him realise how big System's legacy had become.

“As I saw from the stage at Sick New World last year, the multi-generational appeal of the music we have made is mind-blowing,” he said. “Our music is more timeless than we ever imagined, and that is the hugest compliment for any artist."

Artists

Merlin was promoted to Executive Editor of Louder in early 2022, following over ten years working at Metal Hammer. While there, he served as Online Editor and Deputy Editor, before being promoted to Editor in 2016. Before joining Metal Hammer, Merlin worked as Associate Editor at Terrorizer Magazine and has written for Classic Rock, Rock Sound, eFestivals and others. Across his career he has interviewed legends including Ozzy Osbourne, Lemmy, Metallica, Iron Maiden (including getting a trip on Ed Force One courtesy of Bruce Dickinson), Guns N' Roses, KISS, Slipknot, System Of A Down and Meat Loaf. He has also presented and produced the Metal Hammer Podcast, presented the Metal Hammer Radio Show and is probably responsible for 90% of all nu metal-related content making it onto the site.

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