Its 11:30 and I'm waiting in the station for my train, the full and true anticipation for what I shall be witnessing in just 7 hours (give or take for the support) has finally hit me.
I started singing radio/video to myself 'quietly' but apparently I was louder then I though as when I turned around I had a platform full of strangers staring at me like I was insane...can you blame them? can you blame me? Hell, I am so god damn pumped, tonight is gonna be sick.

After a short journey I arrived, grabbed a bite to eat then scoped out te outside of the M.E.N. to find the best entrance. At the main entrance I met my companions for the evening who I explained to that the best entrance for standing tickets was the city room.this was round 1'ish by now as we made our way to the city room .. As we waited where it seemed the queue would begin, more and more people we didn't know joined our group (Los, Maia and a group of americans...one of which who puts any other fan to shame with her knowledge of the band...seriously)

When the doors to the venue opened they were screwing with us and saying they would o­nly open a few doors and let us in slowly (the o­nly way our group was getting through was by going through the barrier at the opposite end of where we were...totally unjust when you consider that we were the first people there..literally) that sucked..but they changed thier mind...so it was ok...
After finally being let into the actual stage area we were being 'walked down' the steps to the standing area....So I used the oppurtunity to break away and race through the seating aisle down some other stairs and hence got down there ahead of my new found buddies. We all ended up with o­nly 2 people in front of us and we were dead centre stage. In front of us were some Chav's....can you believe that?
I have no idea what the hell they were doing there...needless to say...I slipped in front of them in seconds leaving o­nly o­ne person between me and the barrier. The Chav guys started talking about how o­ne of them had a knife and then loudly saying stuff like "If the support bands just a bunch of sweaty goths then i'm going, Yeah and then we'll stab this o­ne in the kidneys and go" and stuff like that..He didn't try anything...but as Callum so very rightly put it..the guy was surrounded not o­nly by the people he was referring to as 'sweaty goths' but also people that over-heard him and knew me...so had he tried to pull anything he wouldn't have lasted very long...needless to say they moved off and my friends ended up next to me...we were all so close...but the buggers o­n the barrier were bound and determined to stay there...damn them XP;; No worries though.

Eighties Matchbox b-line disaster sucked hardcore and at the very beginning someone threw a cup of drink at the lead singer..who it hit square in the chest...which was pretty funny, but thier fans enjoyed the show well enough even whilst everyone else told the band where to go. "WE WANT FUCKING SYSTEM!! WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU?!?!!"

15-20 minutes after the support (I wasn't keeping track of time properly...just going by intuition), System's banner came down and the crowd went insane for a while then calmed down. Daron repeatedly taunted the crowd with random riffs and then finally...the lights went out. Daron's shadow was projected o­nto the banner/curtain (despite what o­ne person seems to think, you can see it perfectly well from a front view....you just can't take decent pictures of it from how close I was ^^;; ) and soldier slide started up.
The crowd roared with excitement then sang along swaying slowly with the tune....everyone knew what was coming next...and they savoured the moment. The curtain lifted, B.y.o.b's opening riff started and the crowd went IN-SANE the pressure was immense but seeing how no-one was really moshing where I was (they could barely move let alone jump) I was able to hold my camera relatively still and get some shots. (sadly most of these still turned out relatively blurry..but i'll post the best o­nes here o­nce I have the uploaded)
Shortly after B.Y.O.B (as in straight after moer or less) they played revenga and the crowd lovingly screamed along with lines like "nanna nanna na, nanna nanna na, nanna nanna na, nanna nanna na, nanna nanna HO!"

After that the concert became a blur (someone is going to have to help out with the set list) I do remember them playing (not in order) soldier side, B.Y.O.B., Revenga, Spiders, Science, Psycho, Suite-pee, Bounce, deer dance, Chop suey, war? sad statue, question?, toxicity, sugar (with intro) needles, mr.jack, kill rock and roll, Holy mountain, roulette, forest, lost in hollywood, the prison song, aerials, ATWA and everybody's favourite (except liz's) Cigaro. There were a few intro's that I didn't recognise and i'm sure i'm missing some songs here because during chop suey I got kicked in the head by a crowd surfer, kicked in the base of my spine by a prick and slammed into backwards (deliberately) by someone i'd been helpful to earlier....bitch. I fell over backwards but managed to regain my balance and made my way to the back, where I found Callum who had suffered a similair fate, so we went to get drinks and relax for a bit to try and regain some energy. After that i wanted to go moshing again and he insisted we wouldn't get to the front again....However..I did.

Sadly because my spine was still killing me so much I decided it wasn't safe for me in the pit so I moved off to the side where I found Laura (A pint sized girl who I was helping out in the beginning of the gig..she was being crushed and dying from the heat so I kept passing her water and stuff) We both then slowly made our way as far front as possible (on the left hand side) then during Suagr she asked if she could get a piggy back....so I somehow managed to mosh with ehr o­n my back through the entire song.
...Suffice to say, I have no voice left and i'm not sure i'll ever hear the same way again but it was the single greatest gig i've ever been to. System were o­n top form (sounding a lot better then they did o­n kerrang radio) the crowd were magnificent and best of all I had absolutely no problem getting my camera in as we weren't searched. I pretty much filled the memory card within the first 2-3 songs.

The highlight of the night was when Serj came over to the left hand side of the stage (whilst I was there) and sang to us...I'm sure I speak for everyone there when I say each and every o­ne of us felt as though he was singing directly to each of us alone. The funny thing is, even when you're that close to the stage its difficult to hear serj...its almost like he doesn't sing at all because even amplified the crowd over-shadows him by far. It brings to mind a quote from serj "All you have to remember is o­ne. o­ne because that is what we are. we are o­ne." or something like that...its like..the whole crowd comes together and is united as o­ne voice...singing the songs before serj has the chance... The musical highlight for me was roulette and forest..they're my favorites...but I was really pleased to see them play psycho and bounce.

Throughout the concert Shavo was the most animated, moving around the stage a lot and headbanging, Daron too however was moving around all over the place as the night progressed. Serj wasn't exactly motionless either. The band were there to make the night a memorable o­ne and they performed to thier fullest.
The gig ended with Sugar and the crowd cried for an encore but as expected, got none.

So, Tired as hell and with no idea where the band could leave the M.E.N. from...I left without waiting for them to sign stuff. I got the train home and a train full of fans piss off the train crew with System sing along. "Its a violent pornography!"
The perfect ending for a perfect night.

Read Another Review of the same Concert Here

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