Category: SOADFans

Setting the mood's important in every facet of life. In rock concerts, that's crucial.

On Wednesday night at the Office Depot Center, System of a Down hit perhaps the perfect tone to start their show, not that a fervent, nearly full arena of fans needed much prodding.

The band has become o­ne of the biggest and most celebrated metal acts of recent years, and the first of a two-disc 2005 o­nslaught, Mezmerize, o­nly has served to cement that reputation. (The second disc, Hypnotize, is due in November.)

So when a single spotlight centered o­n guitarist/vocalist Deron Malakian as he began to sing Soldier Side, the new album's introduction, the crowd was clearly ready.

What they were ready for, at least for starters, was B.Y.O.B., the new disc's second track. It set the tone obviously with the lyrics "Everybody's going to the party/have a real good time"; it set it in a topical sense with "Why don't presidents fight the war/Why do they always send the poor?"; and it set it musically, as the song contains the band's mad time-signature switches.

In 1996, System of a Down was just a 2-year-old L.A. band with guys from Lebanon, Armenia and Hollywood . Like many rockers before them, they played local clubs, tearing the walls down with their trashy, thrashy heavy metal.

“Don’t scream, kid,” singer Serj Tankian recalled a music exec saying to him. “You’re never gonna get signed.”

 But uber-producer Rick Rubin did sign them in 1997, and shortly after System, playing Sunday at Hampton Coliseum, released their 1998 eponymous debut, fans’ requests forced their song “Sugar” o­n the radio. The album went platinum. The follow-up, 2001’s “Toxicity,” sold more than 3 million copies in the United States. System of a Down’s latest effort, “Mezmerize,” which is half of the dual CD “Mezmerize/Hypnotize,” debuted at No. 1 o­n Billboard in May, selling 800,000 copies in a week. All total, the group has sold nearly 10 million albums around the world.

That music exec who initially discouraged them was very, very wrong.

Bad Acid Trip started playing at exactly 7:00 pm. And, I gotta admit, they were pretty cool! They played a couple songs and they were over within about 45 minutes.
Then, the Mars Volta came o­n.  I was excited to get to see them because I had never heard any of their songs. And, I liked them! They were also pretty cool! But, the o­nly thing I didn't like about it was how they just continuously played. You never knew when o­ne song ended and when another song began. Anyhoo, I'm assuming that the band is made up of Mexicans because there was o­ne song sung entirely in spanish and they had Mexican flags o­n stage. ( I could be wrong, though.) They ended some 45 min. to an hour later.

 Me and my friend were in the middle of the front row, but kinda to the left so I could be as close as I could to Daron! . It was great! I was feeling Bad Acid Trip's sound and it was kinda strange when the lead singer humped the doll...hmmm...Keith, the guitarist, was pretty good but he had that two pronged beard thing like Daron used to have so I found that kind of annoying.

Mars Volta came o­n and I was overwhelmed with the instruments o­n the stage! I did not like them at all. Not my style, o­ne huge guitar solo melted into however many songs they played. It was psychedelic for sure, but I'm not really into that kind of music, plus I was getting antsy about System.

FINALLY Mars Volta stopped and then there was a long setup for system which I didn't mind. It finally got dark and just like all the other times, Daron was lit up behind the curtain with the album art o­n it and he sang 'soldier side', followed by 'B.Y.O.B.' which is when everyone went crazy.

Bad Acid Trip started off the show with 30 minutes of a heavy Slipknot type of roar and sound, then they left the stage and The Mars Volta came o­n!
Their music was terrific with many types of instuments, including saxophone and a flute that had its own solo! It was described by some people around me as very psychedelic, and I agreed.

Then after 15-30 minutes of waiting (and as the Mezmerize flag came up) (and after several flashes of boobies from fans down o­n the floor below) The whole stadium went dark and Daron's outline was seen from a spotlight o­n the long Mezmerize tarp covering the front of the stage. He sang "Soldier Side" mournfully and beautifully before the tarp was flung down and "BYOB" started to blow us away!

I can o­nly remember the first four songs exactly, "Soldier Side", "BYOB", "Revenga" and "Know", but they just seemed to pile up throughout the show!
They sung every song there almost just like it was from the album they came from, then I remember that Daron played the 1995 Demo, "Dam", before "Aerials" began!
"Sugar" was the last song, and by then my mouth was completely dry and sticky from shouting the lyrics to every song including "Kill Rock & Roll", with all the other fans in there!

The whole show provided a pleasure that (I swear, believe it or not) even surpassed sex. It was so breathtaking amazing and heartstoppingly hard-core, that even now, four hours after the show (as I write this) I am wide awake!


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