Sick New World Sideshow: Static-X & Sevendust at the Pearl Concert Theatre

Sick New World is quickly becoming one of our favorite festival weekends here in Vegas. Not only because of the festival itself, but the side shows, which are a great alternative for those who either couldn’t score a festival ticket, or who simply can’t handle an all day event but still want to enjoy what the weekend has to offer.

One of the most anticipated for us was the sold out side show at the Pearl Concert Theatre inside of the Palms with DOPE, Sevendust, and Static-X!

Kicking off the evening was DOPE, who I’ve had the pleasure of catching a few times in smaller clubs around town. Edsel and the rest of the band always bring high energy to the stage, and they had the crowd screaming along through their quick 40ish minute set.

Next up was Sevendust. I hadn’t caught these guys since 2009, so I was really excited to see how they held up over the years. They did not fucking disappoint. From the kick off of “I Might Let the Devil Win” to the closer of “Face to Face”, they were high energy. The crowd never stopped moving, singing along with every song, making vocalist Lajon Witherspoon get emotional a few times throughout their set.

Witherspoon shared stories throughout the set about their previous tours throughout their career with other SNW players such as Slipknot and co-headliner of the evening, Static-X, remembering the fallen SX singer Wayne Static, and telling the Vegas crowd he said he wouldn’t get emotional, but here he is, crying. The raw emotion showed throughout their blistering set not only from the stage, but the crowd as well. Whoever said metal is just noise and not catharsis has never seen these guys play.

Setlist.

I Might Let the Devil Win
Truth Killer
Alpha
Till Death
Pieces
Hero
Denial
Black
Enemy
Splinter
Everything
Bitch
Face to Face

Sevendust Gallery.

Closing out the night was Static-X, who, if you’ve not seen them before… Man… You are missing out. They have completely revamped their show since we saw them back in 2019. “Snow” fell upon the crowd as a giant Jack-O-Lantern man (which was actually a disco ball, gotta have that evil disco) walked up to the microphone as Vincent Price’s “rap” from Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” played through the speakers, before turning his head into an evilly carved faced.

The band broke into “Hollow” and had the crowd moving in an instant. Xer0, Tony Campos, Ken Jay, and Koichi Fukuda are four guys you can tell truly love what they do. They interacted with the crowd throughout the set, smiling and delivering one of the best sets I’ve seen of theirs (and I’ve been seeing them since 2001 *wink*).

You could feel the room move with the audience’s voices during songs like “Love Dump” and “Bled for Days” off of 1999’s Wisconsin Death Trip, which I think will forever be an album that is buried deep in the hearts of their fans.

The band closed out their set with the first single “Push It”, and you could not move inside of the Pearl. We left the venue covered in sweat and euphoria from the night’s events. Sadly, I did not attend the festival the next day, but like I mentioned at the beginning, this was an amazing alternative.

Static-X and Sevendust are continuing their tour across the country currently, so if they are coming to your area, please go! Both bands are an absolute do not miss!

Setlist.

Hollow
Terminator Oscillator
Love Dump
Sweat of the Bud
Wisconsin Death Trip
Fix
Bled for Days
Black and White
This Is Not
Z0mbie
Get to the Gone
I Am
Destroy All
Cold
I’m With Stupid
Push It

Static-X Gallery.

PHOTO CREDIT: All photos by Stephy Muzio for ZRockR Magazine – All Rights Reserved.