(I know you already got one from my friend evil_mistress13, I'll try to put a little more detail in mine like she suggested.)
'It's hotter than a wet pussy in this motherfucker!" was the first of many quoteable Daron comments from this hot but incredibly awesome show. And anyone who says Serj can no longer scream like he did or that he is getting too old to jump, skip and spin and dance was obviously not in St. Louis on July 15th.
This was my first time seeing System, so I can only compare this performance
to the 2.5 gigabytes of live performance vid I have on my computer. And this
summer there have been mixed reviews on their shows: they've had awesome nights
and some that were a bit off, so I've heard. So I was hoping for the former this
night. And I was absolutely blown away!
They got off to a great, tight start, with the usual setlist, begun with such
energetic songs as Attack, BYOB & Revenga. I don't know how Serj can sing so
quickly the verses of Revenga as it is, and I believe live it was even faster.
Good God!
And yes, they announced it was John's birthday, and Daron sang a hilariously
out-of-tune version of Happy Birthday to him, (which John even accompanied on
drums.) All I could think of it that Daron is SO going to get it back on the
18th. You'll have to tell us, whoever goes.
Psycho was awesome, and of course Daron's extended solo at the end, with his
running around stage, spinning, and finally humping his guitar endlessly.
Needles was just a bit muddy, probably the only song that wasn't quite tight.
Everything else was awesomely tight, especially Question!, which has been tricky
for them live in the past (KROQ's ACC 2005), imo.
The intro to Violent Pornography was really, really great, witb Daron going off
on TV advertising & all the sex- and violence-themed programming, concluded with
a personal dig at the reverend Jerry Falwell. It was quite hilarious when they
substituted the evangelist's name for the word "brainwashing" at the end of the
song, both Daron and Serj. And the theme continued with Cigaro when Daron
suggested that it was Falwell singing "My cock is much bigger than yours!) as
they began the song. And I should also mention that Daron saw fit to explain the
definition of sodomy in case anyone in the audience didn't know. "You know what
sodomy is? That's when you get fucked in the ass!" Funny stuff!
Other highlights for me included a few clever and moving lyric substitutions.
You know the recently controversial verse of Lonely Day when Daron sang. "Just a
lonely day, hanging out with the band........(to Serj) this motherfucker I can't
stand," which fired up rumors of the band member's discontent with each other?
Well, Daron made a moving effort to undo the damage. Instead he sang, "Just a
lonely day, hanging out with the band....I just want everyone to know that I
LOVE these motherfuckers!" Aww!
Another lyric substitution I found moving was in Lost in Hollywood. Instead of
"they take you, and make you," Daron sang, "they take you, and RAPE you," which
is probably closer to the truth. Wow. And in Sugar, Serj did his, "No lights, no
music, just ice cream! I licked everyone!" which he's done before but I was so
ecstatic to hear for myself.
They didn't have a performance Friday night, so maybe they were well rested, I
don't know, but I really felt like all four of them were at the top of their
form last night. They all gave us everything they had. Shavo was his usual
bouncy self, and the background paintings he did were just beautiful. Serj was
unusally active despite the crushing heat, Daron gave his all, and .......John?
The birthday boy was awesome! I can't describe how awesome he was. I didn't
realize just how intense, complicated, amazing and beautiful his parts were even
in such songs as Hypnotize and Lost in Hollywood.
"We're not worthy!" *bows, over and over*
I believe Serj introduced the strange guest guitarist as "Hari Kari", possibly,
a street musician from Venice Beach, who looked like Jimi Hendrix in a blue
turban and a white Luke-Skywalker-like dress/pantssuit. This character spent
most of the evening entertaining us out on the sidewalk in the venue. We had no
idea where he came from or what he was doing there, but the dude can play
guitar. We couldn't believe it when he got onstage with System several times.
Was he at any other shows?
I had been afraid of the "Ozzfest vibe," but everyone was just normal people!
None of the earlier bands really tripped my trigger except for Disturbed, who
put on such an incredible show that I was afraid System would be a let down. I'm
going to have to buy their new cd now....oh yeah.
To round off this wonderful evening, I had the pleasure of meeting fellow
SOADFans denizens sugar_buzz and evil_mistress13, whose review you've already
read. A night I will never forget!
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