Psycho Las Vegas Cancels 2023 Festival
Tickets were bought, rides were taken, and now it seems that what had become over the last several years a staple of the US festivalscape — Psycho Las Vegas, held each August in the city of the same name and mental state — has been called off. At least for this year. The news came down the PR wire Friday night at 11:06PM Eastern, so clearly it’s not something they want to make a big deal about, and they’re calling it a postponement, presumably until 2024, and offering refunds to those who’d already made the investment in the fest for this year.
You probably recall fest postponements were all the rage a couple years back, but as the world has returned post-covid to live performances and gatherings like this — though to be fair, there isn’t really another gathering like this that I know of — it’s become far less ubiquitous. Losing Psycho, even if it’s just for one summer, will be tough for those who attended regularly, and the festival’s impact can’t be ignored or denied. If this is it for them, Psycho will go out having fostered a generation of heavy and metal acts and put on a show like nothing before it, turning the self-important white dude baby boomer musings of Hunter S. Thompson as interpreted through Terry Gilliam into an aesthetic with a burn-through-today-because-tomorrow-we-die mindset and operating at a scale nothing in the US underground could come close to touching. It will be missed.
I mean that. This leaves a void and if Psycho doesn’t come back I’m not sure how or if it will be filled. Who’ll be Coachella-for-actual-weirdos now?
Their announcement was short and to the point:
Official PSYCHO LAS VEGAS Announcement
With a heavy heart, we must announce the postponement of Psycho X. Despite our love for Las Vegas and all of our devoted fans, the desired lineup could not be achieved given external factors outside of our control. We wanted to provide you with an unforgettable weekend of genre-bending music, but rushing to fill in the gaps would have taken away from this vision. This pause allows us to start fresh and come back stronger. Ticket holders will receive an email with instructions on how to receive a full refund. We understand how disappointing this is, and we thank you for your continued support.
https://vivapsycho.com/
https://www.facebook.com/psychoLasVegas
https://www.instagram.com/psycholasvegas/
https://www.youtube.com/c/PsychoUnlimitedTV
On one hand I want to chuckle and joke but at the same time you absolutely don’t want your only festival options to be your Coachellas and your Bonarroos and your Danny Wimmer festivals.
I hope Psycho survives. Legendary weekends both times I went. The numbers have to be getting bad and inflation is not making any of it easy.