When organizers announced Sick New World, a Las Vegas-spawned metal music festival, would expand to just one other location in the nation, North Texas raised its hand like a kid who knew every word to “Toxicity.” On Saturday, Texas Motor Speedway proved it had earned the spot with massive crowds packed in for headliners System of a Down and Deftones.

About 80,000 people packed the speedway grounds. That number brought certain guarantees: you would share elbows, you would share sweat and you would carry home a souvenir layer of speedway dust lodged somewhere deep in your nostrils.

The heat was on

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It was hot. It was not asphalt-fusing-to-your-sneakers-hot, but it was hot enough. Security crews at the stage fronts hurled water into the crowd like holy water at an exorcism. Hydration stations anchored the middle of the grounds. Even so, the sun claimed plenty of victims. Fans were crowd-surfed forward from heat exhaustion and handed off to medical teams.

At Sick New World, there’s less rules than a usual festival, so long as the few existing rules are followed.

Preston Barta for Dallas Observer

Food lines stretched long enough that waiting in them meant missing the bands you’d paid to see, so plenty of people skipped Taco Lady entirely and grabbed whatever was fastest.

Then there was the bleacher contingent: Fans in their 40s and 50s, unwilling to battle for real estate or squint at a speck of a band from mid-field, settled into the speedway stands, watching the giant live feed. Was it basically watching TV with extra steps? Sure. But getting around 80,000 people is no small feat, and nobody can blame them.

Eighty thousand people produce a whole lot of waste.

Preston Barta for Dallas Observer

Nostalgia, served early

The early lineup dug deep into a very specific nostalgia bag, one that occasionally read like the “Little Nicky” soundtrack, with Filter, P.O.D. and, later, Deftones all on the bill. Alien Ant Farm warmed things up with “Movies” before cueing interview audio of Michael Jackson giving his blessing to their take on “Smooth Criminal.” The crowd sang along like it was 2001 and we were all buying jelly bracelets at Hot Topic again. Annie was okay and we were more than okay.

When the band asked who else the crowd was excited to see, frontman Dryden Mitchell volunteered his own answer: AFI, because he wanted “to see if that guy’s real.”

Sick New World attracted a very large audience.

Preston Barta for Dallas Observer

AFI steals the day

We shared the sentiment. If your Instagram algorithm serves you concert clips, you’ve likely seen AFI’s Davey Havok and his current look: Mark Twain in the front, COVID-era Shia LaBeouf rat-tail braids in the back. It’s a long way from his early-2000s emo swoop, and we fully support it.

Better still, the set backed up the hair. With no Slayer pyro or Deftones-level visuals in the 4 p.m. slot, Havok seduced the crowd with sheer presence: stage jumps, backbends and a voice that hasn’t lost a step. From the opening “Girl’s Not Grey” to the closing “Miss Murder,” the 10-song set kept every eye glued. It may well have been the peak of the festival.

AFI frontman Davey Havok rocks an interesting look far from his signature at the band’s height.

Preston Barta for Dallas Observer

Local muscle and hard knocks

P.O.D. stomped around the stage with thunderous energy, rattling through “Boom” and “Youth of the Nation.” Sandwiched in between was Dallas’ own Power Trip, who put the Iron Claw on the crowd with blistering screams and a wall of distortion. The band paid tribute to late frontman Riley Gale, who died at his Dallas home in 2020. The love was palpable, and the heads kept banging.

Power Trip delivered on promises.

Preston Barta for Dallas Observer

Knocked Loose delivered screams approaching Chester Bennington territory and proved that lead singer Bryan Garris could command a crowd like a drill sergeant. Before the closing song, “Counting Worms,” he ordered everyone to put their phones away and invited the rule-followers to chuck any device they spotted. Thankfully, the troops obeyed, and no heads were harmed.

Provocation, two ways

Ministry turned in a colorful, delightfully weird set. The highlight came during 2024’s “Goddamn White Trash,” as warped imagery of Klansmen and Confederate flags filled the screens while Al Jourgensen sang about those who “tasted blood and now they’re ready for more,” landing every chorus like a punchline.

Around the same time, Marilyn Manson took the stage amid years of abuse allegations. Curiosity hung heavy, and shouts of “rapist” could be heard toward the back of the crowd, especially when Manson introduced 2000’s “The Nobodies” as written, “the first time they tried to destroy me, but not the last time they would fucking fail!” Still, plenty of fans sang along to “The Dope Show” and “The Beautiful People,” while others couldn’t look away from a conspicuously enhanced trouser situation. Manson also offered confessions about his relationship with drugs, which he said wanted to kiss him on the mouth and more. His response: “Not today, sir.”

Controversial musician Marilyn Manson appeared at the festival in his trademark get-up with some enhancements.

Preston Barta for Dallas Observer

Dancing in the fire

The day’s other peak set came from Boy Harsher, who had played a more intimate show at Tannahill’s Music Hall & Lounge the night before. The sound across every stage was so crisp that their goth-wave pulse translated beautifully to the open speedway. “I know this is a metal show, but you can dance,” vocalist Jae Matthews told the crowd. And people did while bolts of fire erupted from the opposite end of the grounds.

Boy Harsher delivered a more dance-forward set than some of the earlier performers.

Preston Barta for Dallas Observer

That fire belonged to Slayer, whose logo may have been the most common shirt seen in the park. The massive crowd got exactly what it came for, especially during 1986’s “Raining Blood,” when a wall of flame rose across the stage and the screens appeared to literally rain blood. A stunner.

Closing time

Deftones brought the passion and melodic beauty. Chino Moreno’s step count must have been astronomical. He sprinted from one side of the stage to the other and hopped onto platforms as the night’s most elegant visuals played behind him: oceans, flowers and dancer silhouettes, like the moodiest screensaver ever designed. His voice may have lost a little edge, but it still carried “Be Quiet and Drive (Far Away)” and “Change (In the House of Flies),” the latter surprisingly placed fourth from the end of an 18-song set. Those high screams still have the goods.

Then System of a Down closed the night with rapid-fire delivery and energy that suggested they’d never left. “B.Y.O.B.” and “Chop Suey!” sent the crowd swirling and swinging. It was massive.

Navigating the grounds was tricky, as it is at any festival this size. But the turnout, the sound and the sets made one thing clear: Sick New World belongs in Texas. Fans showed up, moshed hard and carried home memories, along with that dust. Our note for the organizers: Keep it here. And maybe bring more tacos.