Credit: Static-X

Going to SNW for the first time? Here's what veterans wish they knew: Getting There: There is NO on-site parking. Zero. Don't even try to drive to the festival grounds. Rideshare drop-off is at 810 Circus Circus Dr (south end of grounds) The Las Vegas Monorail stops at Sahara Station — short walk to the entrance from there After the show, Las Vegas Blvd gets closed. Walk to nearby hotels/casinos to call your ride Hotels: Resorts World is the move — walkable to the venue, nice rooms Circus Circus is the budget option but you get what you pay for Surviving the Day (11 AM to midnight): Late April = 80s F desert heat. Sunscreen, hat, sunglasses are non-negotiable Free water stations throughout the grounds — use them constantly Gates open at 11 AM but first band starts at 11:10 AM. If you want to catch openers, be in line EARLY Merch lines have historically been 2-4 HOURS. Decide if that's worth missing sets Wear broken-in shoes — you're standing for 13 hours on turf and concrete What to Bring: Empty water bottle or hydration pack Sunscreen (reapply!) Earplugs (protect your hearing, seriously) Portable phone charger Light jacket for after sunset — desert temps drop fast What NOT to Bring: Professional cameras Outside food/drinks Oversized bags (small clear bags or backpacks only) What tips would you add? Drop them below for the first-timers!

Credit: Mudvayne

There's a lot of footage floating around of Bad Omens playing the Canal Club in Richmond on an early Sumerian tour. It’s wild to watch now. No massive LED walls, no insane production budget—just the band crammed onto a tiny stage, sweating it out in a packed 300-cap room. Obviously, their current arena shows are visually stunning and they've earned every bit of that success. But watching these old club sets makes you realize how much the dynamic shifts when a band blows up. The raw, unpolished intensity of a tiny room and the direct connection with the barricade is impossible to replicate in a 10,000-seat venue. Do you think the massive production of their current era makes up for the loss of that intimate club energy, or is the Canal Club era the definitive live Bad Omens experience? What’s the smallest room you’ve ever seen them in?

There is an unmatched, chaotic energy in band photography from the late 70s, right before massive stadium tours smoothed out the rough edges. Looking at AC/DC between 1976 and 1979 is the perfect example—they don’t look like global rock gods yet, just a gang of guys who plugged into a wall and turned it all the way up. We need to get better at archiving this specific era of photography on the wiki. The unpolished, cramped-stage, cigarette-smoke-in-the-lens shots are pure history. The stadium years are documented to death, but the club days are where the actual story is. Who has the best pre-1980 band photos? Drop your favorite unpolished shots of legendary bands before they blew up.

Everyone talks about the massive 90s comeback or the Armageddon soundtrack, but early 70s Aerosmith out of Boston was entirely different. They were gritty, unpolished, and arguably the most dangerous rock band in America at the time. Look at any live shot from the 'Toys in the Attic' or 'Rocks' era—it's pure chaos. Are we in agreement that 1975-1976 was their absolute creative peak, or does someone want to make a serious argument for the late 80s 'Pump' era?

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People are asking the documentary, here the YouTube link

Before getting hired by Circus magazine, Mark Weiss was just a high school kid stuffing a camera under a baggy sweatshirt and paying the Madison Square Garden door guy three bucks to sneak in. He was literally selling 8x10s out of his locker before landing a gig shooting Van Halen at the Asbury Park Convention Hall on August 11, 1979. He eventually became their go-to guy. By the 1982 Hide Your Sheep tour in Chicago, David Lee Roth was calling Weiss's hotel room to demand he come take photos of him climbing a tree to rescue a stuck kite. It makes you wonder how much incredible, unauthorized rock history is still sitting in some guy's attic because he snuck a camera into a legendary gig. Who are the modern-day rogue photographers doing this right now at your local venues? Drop their names, I want to dig through their archives.

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Everyone's going to see SOAD and Korn. Here are 5 acts lower on the poster that could be the highlight of your day: 1. Acid Bath — This is their reunion after 28 YEARS. They broke up in 1997 after bassist Audie Pitre was killed by a drunk driver. If you're into sludge metal, this might be the most important set of the entire festival. Don't sleep on this. 2. Knocked Loose — Arguably the hottest heavy band on the planet right now. Their live show is a wrecking ball. Get there early if you want to survive the pit. 3. Glassjaw — Post-hardcore legends who never got the mainstream recognition they deserved. If you know, you know. 4. Carpenter Brut — Synthwave/darkwave that sounds like a John Carpenter movie came to life. Completely different energy from everything else on the lineup — in the best way. 5. Poison the Well — Early 2000s post-hardcore that influenced half the bands on this lineup. A perfect "I was there" moment. Who else are you adding to this list? Drop your underrated picks

There’s a new exhibit in LA right now showing Kevin Cummins' photos of Oasis from 1993. This is right after they signed to Creation Records. Before Definitely Maybe, before the massive stadium fights, and way before the current reunion madness. Looking at these archives, the craziest thing isn't how young they look. It’s that Liam and Noel already carried themselves like they were the biggest band on earth, even when they were just playing tiny clubs in Manchester. The arrogance was there from day one. It makes you wonder about music photography now. We have a million iPhone videos of every indie band's first gig, but do we get iconic, raw documentation like this anymore? Or did the mystery die when everyone got a camera in their pocket? Who do you think is the most photogenic band of the 90s besides Oasis?

Credit: Rick Beato, Wolfgang Van Halen