They really seemed to have screwed this up by spending way more than they needed to. Like you look at that line up and let’s take Queens of the Stone Age and flaming lips, bands I’m sure who had big guarantees but don’t really fit the lineup and won’t really move tickets. You could have put two bands I’m sure for half the price that would have fit in way more.
Jeffery Shuman leaving was a big factor as he was very organized with budget, but live nation who handed the reigns over to C3 presents spent way too much on talent, and caused the ticket price increase thus pricing out and dooming the festival.
Typically there is four different prices depending how many tickets have been sold, tier 1 prices being the cheapest and tier 4 prices happening after all the other tier levels been sold. So indicating the festival is close to selling out or at the very least selling well. @Penlab
Who established these tiers? Or are these generalized tiers established by the concert community? I guess I'm not in the loop on this. And does this mean the festival was selling out or does it mean they fabricated the illusion that it was to sell higher priced tickets?
It definitely points to the festival fabricating that it was selling well and also not having very many tickets available for the first three tiers. Typical LN BS promotional practices.
They really gotta restructure this festival for 2026. You go on the subreddit and there’s people going “but this is a nu-metal fest” or “where’s the hardcore bands” because SNW does not have a tight theme the way WWWY does. Just make it something like a multi day, heavy music Coachella and it might work. Still feel bad for like every band on the lineup below like Meshuggah because now those smaller artists were probably banking on this fest going ahead.
They should honestly stick to this being a nu-metal fest. Other genres have festivals of their own and there are bigger melting pot rock festivals already going. Nu-metal having a home to call their own was the whole point of this thing.
I don’t think there was anything wrong with how they structured it last year, main stages being the biggest acts, then having a more heavier metal stage, and industrial stage, a hardcore stage made it all seem like last year had even more buzz than the year before. But honestly the price increase, not having a ton of “gets”, you add in QOTSA, 311, flaming lips in those top tier spots and they don’t really fit in with anyone else. Just didn’t work. For these festivals to work, you need good pricing and a lineup that people can’t see anywhere else.
I think this goes hand in hand with what Jellyfish said. By making the festival themed you then are obligated to pursue that theme and make it a destination home for a certain kind of band, and by proxy a certain kind of fan. If you set out to pursue a particular audience, if you do it right then you have guaranteed sales.
They definitely need to stick to a theme and have a more cohesive lineup if they do it again. The festival is also way overpriced and I could see it not happening again. Aftershock in Sacramento is a much better deal. It’s the same price as SNW and is a 4 day festival where you can see a lot more bands over the 4 days.
Sonic Temple has a lot of the same acts (including the two main headliners) plus Korn and a Crossfade and TRUSTcompany reunion and it's four days and started at a lower price point.
@Penlab Looks like to me more of a fabricating the illusion that it is selling well to justify upping the price.
You think it’s close to sold out because it’s on the final price tier, but that’s where the majority of tickets are alloted and available. All of these numbers are assigned prior to onsale so they can hit the gross $$$ they need to as quickly as possible. Which they did not lol
John from System of a down said that Sick New World will come back and that they will play it if there is enough demand.
I think other people have answered, but it varies... Some fests do clear dates and tier 1 is cheapest and normally requires buying lineup unseen, and then they increase as it gets closer to the fest. It's normally a pretty deep discount to get in on tier 1. Now the lame version like WWWY and Sick new world is that you queue for tickets digitally, and then it tells you what tier you're in when you go to purchase. They advertise the tickets at one price as 'no hidden fees' yet somehow, the arbitrary tier increase is not a hidden fee... WWWY has sold out within 4-5 hours every single year (4th year running) so what tier you're in is just based on luck. As far as I know the digital queue is completely random, you join the waiting room and then it filters you in to buy tickets (not based on when you joined the waiting room)... So ya, it's an illusion and a new way to increase ticket prices. I am okay with the tiered pricing by date but for an event that historically sells out day off, there's no excuse for raising the price as people move through a digital queue.
It’s officially returning next year. April 25th in Vegas and October 24th in Texas. Billboards around Vegas have the dates website has been updated and includes Texas Pretty sure we get the official announcement on Monday
Why did they cancel it last year and what's to stop that from happening again especially if there's a second date?
Yeah ticket sales in the us for their own tour weren’t great but most of the shows ended up sold out or close to sold out. also booking Metallica isn’t cheap the person who books Lolla now books sick new world. We shall see what he cooks up for theses new ones