Psycho Las Vegas Bringing 80-Plus Bands to Mandalay Bay

Catch the 'Psycho SWIM' pre-festival at Daylight Beach Club

By Jason R. Latham

Concert promoters love to throw around the word “takeover” like it’s a military coup, as in, “the one and only Smash Mouth is taking over the YMCA gymnasium for a Fourth of July you’ll never forget!”

It’s hyperbolic, but that’s the job. In the case of the fifth Psycho Las Vegas, however, there is no exaggeration. The festival, which runs August 20-22, will be a full-blown takeover of Mandalay Bay. So you better be down with the likes of Danzig, Cannibal Corpse, GZA, Hippie Death Cult, Creeping Death, DJ Pubes, and dozens more that are taking part in what’s billed as “America’s Rock n’ Roll Bacchanal.”

This year’s Psycho Las Vegas, “maximizes every inch of Mandalay Bay’s facilities,” according to longtime KISS and Mötley Crüe manager and event producer Don McGhee, who has booked himself for a “Ask Doc” career retrospective Q&A event on the festival’s first night.

Again, McGhee’s claim is not hyperbole. Psycho Las Vegas will be staged throughout the resort, with concerts at Michelob Ultra Arena, House of Blues, Rhythm and Riffs Lounge, Eyecandy Lounge, and Mandalay Bay Beach. There’s also a pre-festival “Psycho SWIM” takeover of Daylight Beach Club on Thursday, August 19, featuring Bongzilla, BlackwaterHolylight, Death Valley Girls, and Old Man Gloom, among others.

Many of the must-experience highlights on this year’s Psycho Las Vegas calendar will be veteran acts performing some of their oldest material. Among them:

• Heavy metal supergroup Down – comprised of members of Pantera, Crowbar, Goatwhore, and Corrosion of Conformity – will play their entire 1995 debut album, NOLA, front-to-back.
  
• “The Genius” (a.k.a. GZA) will perform his solo debut, Liquid Swords, in its entiretywith a live band.
  
• The aforementioned Danzig will do a front-to-back performance of the band’s sophomore album, Danzig II: Lucifuge.
  
• New Orleans metal act Exhorder will perform its debut album, Slaughter In the Vatican, in its entirety.

Tickets to Psycho Las Vegas are $129 for single day entry, $299 for three-day general admission, and $500 for a three-day VIP pass. “Psycho Swim” pre-party tickets are $65 per person.

Like most concerts and festivals, Psycho Las Vegas was scratched from the 2020 calendar due to the pandemic. Organizers say any passes purchased for the 2020 event will be honored for the upcoming festival. The complete Psycho Las Vegas lineup includes: