Festivals can be a great way of discovering newer acts, and this weekend's Sick New World festival offered up a wonderful music weekend for Avenged Sevenfold frontman M. Shadows. In fact, the singer just shouted out two stellar music performances from the weekend, noting that both acts could be "future headliners."
While Avenged Sevenfold weren't part of the Sick New World lineup, the band had been in Las Vegas over the weekend to play their first show in nearly five years at AREA15 on Friday night (May 12). Taking advantage of the tour stopover, Shadows decided to partake in the Sick New World festival as a fan rather than a participant.
"Saw one of my favorite groups yesterday and it was glorious. @100gecs. Also, @spiritboxband is cool as fuck. Both are future headliners," while posting footage from the crowd of the 100 Gecs performance.
Who Are M. Shadows Picks for "Future Headliners"?
100 Gecs is the music duo consisting of Dylan Brady and Laura Les. The St. Louis-area outfit formed in 2015 and have started making a name for themselves playing experimental pop and electronic rock music. 100 Gecs issued their first EP in 2016, but it was their 2019 self-titled full-length debut that started to really garner attention, with the song "Money Machine" charting on the Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart.
A 2020 remix album titled 100 Gecs and the Tree of Clues followed, giving them a second radio song in their "Hand Crushed By a Mallet" remix, featuring Fall Out Boy, Craig Owens and Nicole Dollanganger. The duo released a second self-titled full-length back in March and have been hitting with the new song "Hollywood Baby." They have a mix of festival appearances and their own dates booked through the summer. Get ticketing info here.
As for Spiritbox, they are significantly more well known in the rock world after serving up a trio of EPs as well as the 2021 standout album, Eternal Blue, which was Loudwire's Album of the Year. The group formed in 2016, led by former Iwrestledabearonce singer Courtney LaPlante and her husband, guitarist Mike Stringer. The band is currently rounded out by drummer Zev Rosenberg and recently added former As I Lay Dying bassist Josh Gilbert.
"Holy Roller" was the band's first charting single, and they've since followed with "Constance," "Circle With Me," "Secret Garden," "Hurt You," "Rotoscope" and "Void." Over the last three years, they've become one of the more popular support bands on a number of high profile tours. You can catch them this summer playing alongside Shinedown and Papa Roach. Get tickets for that run here.
READ MORE: The 32 Songs Avenged Sevenfold Have Never Played Live
What's Next for Avenged Sevenfold?
As stated, after a lengthy layoff, Avenged Sevenfold officially returned to the concert stage Friday night. Their first show in nearly five years featured not only a fair share of Avenged favorites, but included three new songs including "Game Over," "We Love You" and "Nobody" off the upcoming Life Is But a Dream... album. They also dropped an impromptu jam of System of a Down's "Chop Suey." Life Is But a Dream is due June 2 via Warner, and pre-orders are being taken here.
Of course, they’ve also announced a slew of North American tour dates running from mid-May to mid-October (where they’ll be joined by Falling In Reverse and Kim Dracula). You can see all of their upcoming tour dates here and grab tickets here.
