The weatherman has advised we dress for the 90s today – by which he means that temperatures will be nudging a scorching 95˚F (35˚C), and we should all be liberally coated in sunblock and wearing white. Unless, of course, you are one of an estimated 85,000 people attending the highly anticipated Sick New World festival at the Las Vegas Festival Grounds, in which case, black from head to toe is the order of the day.
With the Festival Grounds located at the far end of the Vegas strip, there’s a long walk in the heat, a dark swarm of people converging on the site from every direction, and long lines to get in. Still, the view’s impressive, with the famous Circus Circus Hotel & Casino looming large.
It was here, in the early 70s, that legendary gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson made a name for himself on his drug-addled quest to find the heart of the American dream, commenting, as he did so, on the fading embers of 60s counterculture. Perhaps one of his most important and moving passages, known now as ‘the wave speech’ talked of how that generation believed they would prevail over the ‘forces of old and evil’. Such is the beautiful naivety of youth. No small wonder that future generations were angry.
Some 50 years later, the hippies are long gone, their place taken
