Megadeth, Opeth and Electric Wizard headlining. Performances from the likes of Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Mark Lanegan to Carcass and The Faint. High on Fire and The Crazy World of Arthur Brown. Truckfighters and Fu Manchu and Clutch and Graveyard. Power Trip and Rotting Christ. YOB. Uncle Acid. The Obsessed.

I’m not sure what else really needs to be said about the Psycho Las Vegas 2019 lineup. For a festival that’s so much about spectacle, and which has grown its reach every year thus far in its relatively short tenure, this would seem once again to up the scale and reach a new level. But here’s the thing. There’s a lot of ground covered in this lineup between the varying kinds of metal and rock, etc., included — but that’s part of Psycho too. That sheer moment where you have to step back and realize that Tom G. Warrior‘s Triumph of Death and Glassjaw are sharing a bill, and you’re like, “What? How should that work?” But it will, somehow. And those taking over the Mandalay Bay for that weekend in August will be treated to a once-in-a-lifetime assemblage. As regards heavy fests, I’m hard pressed to think of anything that’s ever been done in America on this scale.

You’ll be telling your grandchildren about it. They’ll be like, “Who’s Opeth?” Ugh. Kids these days, right?

From the PR wire:

PSYCHO LAS VEGAS 2019: Megadeth And Opeth Join Electric Wizard To Headline America’s Rock ‘N’ Roll Bacchanal; Final Lineup Including Mogwai, Beach House, 1349, Yakuza, And More Revealed + Tickets On Sale Now

PSYCHO LAS VEGAS 2019 continues to make waves as it confirms its final lineup for this year’s three-day, four-stage takeover of Mandalay Bay Resort And Casino August 16th – 18th, 2019.

Swedish progressive metal titans Opeth and Grammy award-winning thrash metal legends Megadeth will join UK doom icons/PSYCHO LAS VEGAS alumni Electric Wizard as this year’s mainstage headliners. Opeth’s performance will mark their only US appearance of the year. As if that isn’t enough, the curators of the event have also added Scottish post-rock unit Mogwai, former Screaming Tees frontman/alternative rock icon Mark Lanegan, the multi-talented Bruce Lamont who will appear with his avant metal unit Yakuza as well as his Led Zeppelin tribute band Led Zeppelin 2, psychedelic stoner rock unit Dead Meadow, Norwegian black metallers 1349, and American thrash veterans Vio-lence among others.

Additionally, the world’s only heavy metal talk show, Two Minutes To Late Night, will bring its popular YouTube show to the festival stage while multi-talented recording artist, music producer, and self-help guru Andrew W.K. will bring the weekend ceremony to a close for the second year in a row with a DJ set.

See a full list of confirmed artists below.

The highly-coveted “Psycho Special” passes and “High Roller VIP” passes are now sold out, however “Tier 1 Weekender General Admission” passes are still available at $249 but will increase to $299 once the first tier sells out. Single-day tickets priced at $109 will be available in the coming weeks. All ticket prices are exclusive of taxes and fees. Tickets and more information are available at VivaPsycho.com.

PSYCHO LAS VEGAS 2019:
When: August 16th-18th, 2019
Where: Mandalay Bay Resort And Casino – Las Vegas, NV
Tickets: VivaPsycho.com

PSYCHO LAS VEGAS 2019 Final Lineup (alphabetical):
1349
Amenra
Andrew W.K.
Bad Religion
Beach House
Black Mountain
Candy
Carcass
Clutch
Cold Cave
Dead Meadow
Deafheaven
Devil Master
Dvne
Electric Citizen
Electric Wizard
En Minor
Fu Manchu
Full Of Hell
Glassjaw
Goatwhore
Godspeed You! Black Emperor
Grails
Graveyard
Hangman’s Chair
Have A Nice Life
Hell Fire
High On Fire
Ilsa
Kadavar
L.A. Witch
Led Zeppelin 2
Levitation Room
Mark Lanegan
Megadeth
Mogwai
Monophonics
Mork
Mother Mercury.
Motorbabe
Night Horse
Nothing
Old Man Gloom
Opeth
Oranssi Pazuzu
Perturbator
Polyrythmics
Power Trip
Rotting Christ
Royal Thunder
Soft Kill
Spindrift
The Black Angels
The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown
The Faint
The Obsessed
Tobacco
Tomb Mold
Triumph Of Death
Truckfighters
Twin Temple
Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats
Vio-lence
Warhorse
Yakuza
Yob

And be sure to kick off the weekend with PSYCHO SWIM, the previously-announced all-day, prefest pool party at Daylight Beach Club at Mandalay Bay on Thursday, August 15th featuring Corrosion Of Conformity, Lucifer, Danava, ASG, Primitive Man, Idle Hands, Howling Giant, and Thrown Into Exile. Tickets are separate from the three-day festival and on sale now for $35 (excluding tax and fees) for those 21 and older. Grab your tickets today at VivaPsycho.com.

PSYCHO LAS VEGAS 2019 Pre-Party:
When: August 15th, 2019
Where: Daylight Beach Club – Las Vegas, NV
Tickets: VivaPsycho.com

** This is a 21+ event **

Lineup:
Corrosion Of Conformity
Lucifer
Danava
ASG
Primitive Man
Idle Hands
Howling Giant
Thrown Into Exile

https://www.facebook.com/events/2035404693146567/
https://www.facebook.com/psychoLasVegas/
https://www.instagram.com/psycholasvegas/
http://vivapsycho.com

Electric Wizard, Live in Athens, Greece, Feb. 23, 2019

Yeah, that’s right, Megadeth. Part of the first “Vodun” on the Abrahma record was reminding me of this all day, and it’s the most honest ending to this week I could think of. Plus, as much of a hackneyed “I’m gonna replace my drug addiction with my addiction to god” piece of shit as Dave Mustaine has become over the last several years, and as deplorable and reactionary as his too-loudly-presented views are on any number of issues, there’s no denying that early Megadeth was visceral in ways few bands have ever been. I said in a Judas Priest live review a while back that classic metal belonged to doomers anyway, so if I want to dig into some of this stuff every now and again, I feel like it’s fair game. We’ll get to Dark Angel yet.

It was a wild kind of week. I’ve been trying for the last two weeks to start the “The Canon of Heavy” series with a post about Master of Reality, but I just haven’t had the time to do it yet. Hopefully this coming week I’ll get there. And I know it took me being super late on one interview and waking up at 6:30 this morning on another to make it happen, but it’s awesome to have two interviews on the frontpage of this site at the same time. I feel like it’s been since before I started working again full-time that that happened, and it’s more of a personal thing, but I think those are two pretty good interviews, and I hope they were as interesting to read as they were for me to conduct. Next week I hope to add Bible of the Devil to that mix. I got in a good phoner with Candlemass bassist Leif Edling yesterday as well, so that’ll be up shortly.

I’ve also decided to — not this week coming, but the one after — to dedicate an entire week’s worth of reviews to friends’ bands. Acts like Mos Generator, Trippy Wicked, Mighty High all have albums out, and while it’s kind of a gray area otherwise, if I’m up front about it, I think it can be a really fun thing to dedicate some time to bands and artists I’ve become close with over the last couple years. So that’s coming up, but there’s a bunch of stuff I need to get to next week before I do that, so I’ll take care of business first.

Also, I’m in Connecticut tonight owing to a familial obligation (minor incident, all thing considered, nothing to worry about long-term, but enough to get The Patient Mrs. and I to sit for four-plus hours on what’s normally a two-hour drive to get here), but tomorrow, I’m headed to Brooklyn come the proverbial hell or high water to see Pallbearer at the St. Vitus Bar, and that’ll be fun. I have to drive back to Jersey to get it, but the plan is to grab the camera and make that happen live review-style. It’s been since Roadburn and I’m itching at this point to make that happen, even if it calls for some road time. Fuck it, at this point that just makes it better.

Some other stuff next week too. Columns are a little up in the air — okay, more than a little — but I hope to get all that sorted out over the next week as well as a few personal issues. Fair warning, I may put up a Kickstarter in the coming weeks to help fund a personal project (I might be trying to buy a bar in Newark). It’s all pretty up in the air right now, but if I start using NPR-style guilt tactics to get pledges, don’t be surprised. Just advance notice that it may come to that, but there’s still a lot that needs to happen before we get there.

In the meantime, enjoy Megadeth and have a fantastic, safe weekend. See you on the forum, at Pallbearer tomorrow and back here Monday for yet another bunch of riffy shenanigans.