Serj Tankian Confirms System of a Down’s Annual Payche… Er, Sick New World Slot… for 2026
Ever since it was suddenly canceled last year, fans of the Las Vegas-based festival Sick New World have been wondering if it will return next year. Last year’s iteration failed to differentiate itself from other U.S. festivals when it came to its headliners, opting for Metallica and Linkin Park instead of your Korns and Limp Bizkits, so will organizers decide to return to the show’s incredibly popular nu-metal-focused roots? According to a recent fan interaction with System of a Down frontman Serj Tankian, that may be the case.
During a recent signing of his new art book Visual Resonance at his Los Angeles cafe Kavat, a fan asked about Sick New World. With System of a Down having headlined each Sick New World that actually occurred, along with the fact that there have been hints of the show’s existence at recent System of a Down shows, it sorta makes sense that Tankian would be someone to ask.
If you watch the clip below and turn your volume up really loud, you can hear Reddit user Confident_Pie_6450 ask about Sick New World. Tankian looks up and nods, simply saying “next year.” The fan reacts as you’d expect and then begins walking away from that interaction. It’s just 35 seconds long, but that’s basically all you need to get the gist of what went down.
Now, it’s important to note that this isn’t a slam dunk, set in concrete confirmation. Lots of things go into the planning and hosting of a massive music festival like Sick New World. Anything can happen and this time next year, we might be talking about how yet another Sick New World fell apart at the 11th hour. Who knows?
What we do know is that System of a Down has been a hot commodity for a while now and though they’ve been dipping their toes in touring as of late, they’re still extremely selective of when they actually hit the stage.
For now though, this is enough of a confirmation to at least hold out a good amount of hope for this to be true. If you’re not willing to wait to find out, you can always grab tickets to System of a Down’s already planned European tour dates for 2026. You can find the full list of dates below.
System of a Down European tour dates
6/29 Stockholm, Sweden Strawberry Arena
7/2 Paris, France Stade De France
7/4 Paris, France Stade De France
7/6 Milan, Italy Ippodromo Snai La Maura
7/8 Berlin, Germany Olympiastadion
7/10 Dusseldorf, Germany Open Air Park Düsseldorf
7/13 London, UK Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
7/15 London, UK Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
7/18 Warsaw, Poland PGE Narodowy
7/19 Warsaw, Poland PGE Narodowy
