SOAGolfeR21
23.07.06, 23:20
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First and foremost, despite my jaded opinions about the structure of the setlist not being to my liking, I will say that System of a Down is the most dynamic, exciting, and amazing band I have ever heard or seen live. In East Troy, WI last night, SOAD absolutely rocked! As I found my seats, which were shockingly close to the stage (row AA, dead center), my hands began to sweat and my pulse quickened with the anticipation of seeing my all-time favorite band, up close and personal. I would be able to watch Shavo’s swinging beard and smiling face, John’s lightning fast drumming, Daron’s intricate fingering of his black SG, and Serj’s emotional, yet silly expression as System of a Down, brought down the fucking house! On the screen behind the set, as the tech crew set up the famed rugs, drumset with comic art, mic stands with triangular green picks, and silver keyboards, music videos were playing of other Ozzfest acts, such as Strapping Young Lad. I couldn’t stand to watch as I was continually checking my cell phone, waiting for the elusive 9:20PM starting slot. As the moment of truth arrived, the lights were instantly killed, and a velvet-suit-clad, fedora-wearing, Daron Malakian stood at his stage right mic stand with his black Gibson SG, and beautifully sang Soldier Side Intro. The crowd went absolutely crazy with his “ooooo”ing. As the bomb noises faded from earshot, a brown leather jacket with long curly hair and a beard reminiscent of an Egyptian pharaoh took the stage along with a drummer with a white muscle shirt and Mohawk and a bald, bearded, yellow-socked bassist appeared, as a flurry of power chords erupted from the speakers and amplifiers. The ATTACK was on in East Troy! Serj’s vocals were powerful as well as melodic as were Daron’s harmonies. After Serj proclaimed “We shall attack!”, Daron instantly launched into a rapid-fire assault of BYOB, screaming his famed line “WHY DO THEY ALWAYS SEND THE POOR!!?!?” During System’s first single off of Mezmerize, Serj added “in Wisconsin!” after the first half of the chorus. Complete with screaming, dance beats of the chorus, and crowd shouting “La la la la la la la la la la, ooooh, oooh!” John pounded out a rhythm consistent with a heartbeat, REVENGA….Malakian’s assaulting guitar strumming created a pulse throughout the pavilion, sending fists in the air, and shivers down my spine. Much to my disappointment, without break, System exploded into NEEDLES, my favorite song. I was looking forward to an interactive intro by Daron and Serj, as there was in Chicago last Sunday, and as well as in the Mezmerize tour, and other live events I have downloaded. However, yesterday night, the high-pitched jingle of the intro of the song was all that was played before Serj’s command of “Go!” The rest of the song was unbelievable, as Daron and Shavo continued to headbang the entire song with Serj pointing his hand to the sky as if to call up to a higher power to alleviate the tapeworm. The first break of the night occurred as Serj shouted “Ka-pow!” after the song. The crushing riff of DEER DANCE soon followed. During the amazing breakdown, Serj fittingly added “A deer dance, invitation to peace, war staring us in the face….in Lebanon!” Later in the song, a fan tried to get onstage, only to be tackled by a slew of security guards, while Serj said “Awww! He’s okay!” and Shavo pointed to him, the song ended with an unusually high pitched series of notes, only found in SUGGESTIONS. At this point, Serj took off his leather jacket to reveal a white shirt, instead of the pink one previously worn at other shows. Suggestions was played to absolute perfection, complete with Daron squealing “Shore, sir!” and Serj adding keyboard-driven electronics to Daron’s guitar break. Following the conclusion of the scream “Over!”, Serj squealed a few notes followed by a bass line. Daron screamed for the audience to clap our hands, yes, it was time for PSYCHO! The guys did this number wonderfully as well, complete with Daron’s drawn out stage antics, consisting of dropping to his knees in accordance with the lyrics, and humping his guitar during his spinning, running, and dancing solo, only before collapsing in a heap to strum the at-one-time overplayed intro of CHOP SUEY! The famous single off of Toxicity was played very well, complete with headbanging, harmonies, and Serj’s hand to the sky, following Serj’s melodic closing, the lights were killed once again, as Daron appeared alone, in a spotlight, strumming a succession of 6 notes, creating a sea of Bic lighters sprinkling the crowd, LONELY DAY. No excitement of changed lyrics, no cursing the other band members, no kissing, nothing, just bare bones, stripped down, Lonely Day, creating a somber mood throughout the Alpine Valley Music Theatre. As the song finished, Daron steps up to the microphone, and utters, “We aren’t here to tell you what to do, we aren’t here to preach, we just wanna play our music” to a cheering, fist pumping audience. Immediately following Daron’s dialogue, he launched into the quick-paced, intro of KILL ROCK N ROLL. The song was done well, nothing major to report other than at the conclusion, Daron put his finger up and down his lips like a cartoon character during “Roll!” followed by an electronic sound, from Serj on the keyboard, and an electro-larynx sound saying “Old school….Hollywood…..BASEBALL!” and the crowd went nuts as Daron took an air-swing before his crazy guitar….OLD SCHOOL HOLLYWOOD time! The crowd really went for it, as the harmonies were fantastic, as Shavo had a bit of a singing role in the song chanting “Old school Hollywood, washed up Hollywood!” The song was overall kickass! After a short break, Daron appeared onstage yet again alone, and began playing the VIOLENT PORNOGRAPHY intro, “It’s a violent pornography, choking chicks, and sodomy….The kind of shit you get on your TV”….followed by a speech on how America’s addicted to oil, and that we have all the oil we need, and the corporations are only jacking the price up. All very scripted (almost identical to the Chicago speech, however, the bit about MSNBC and Girls Gone Wild was omitted), however, Daron finished the speech with “Jesus doesn’t work for a corporation, and neither do we!”, which I thought to be quite appropriate. The song itself, was done well with the intro done on some kind of pedal (I play guitar, and can play a few SOAD tunes, but I do not know equipment very well). The song was done with Daron’s hand motions of “sodomy”, “sucks”, “cries”, and “dies”, and during the instrumental section, Daron screamed “DANCE!”, and being the idiot that I am, I decided to do a few disco moves, (hey, it’s a non-stop disco, right??), and coincidentally, so did Daron, so I didn’t feel like such a moron. Following that, Daron launched into his now-famous “My cock….is much bigger than yours…” introduction to CIGARO, complete with the extended line “And I looooooooooooooove!!!!!” as the crowd went nuts, on Serj’s command (implied by raised hands). Then the assaulting riffs that followed absolutely blew my mind, it was incredibly to feel the pure power pulsing through my frame, as I screamed with the guys “MY COCK IS MUCH BIGGER THAN YOURS!!!!”, it was fun as hell! As soon as the song was done, Harry Perry, in his crazy outfit, prances onstage, as Daron announced, “We want to thank our good friend Harry Perry for being here all the way from Venice Beach! This guy rocks!” and Serj faced John and said “If you want to dance, turn on the radio!” Time for RADIO/VIDEO! As Serj said the magic ‘r’ word, Daron began playing the intro, complete with Serj bellowing “A-lie, lie, lie, lie, lie”! Harry Perry pantomimed Shavo the entire rest of the show, which I thought to be absolutely hilarious! As whenever Shavo would do his trademark point to the crowd, so would the eclectic guitarist, as Serj danced about stage, bringing a wide smile to my face as I shouted with Serj and Daron “Hey man! Look at me rockin’ out! I’m on the radio!!!” During the solo, Daron screamed “EVERYBODY DANCE!” prompting two girls near me to start ripping it up, which was pretty cool to watch…. Following Radio/Video, Daron and Shavo launched into a sweeping instrumental for a minute or so, very orchestrated, sounding reminiscent of the little jingle played before War? During the Almost Acoustic Christmas concert, but WAY more intricate and and fast. I decided to yell “HEZZE!” for fun, although knowing it was probably just a little jam, but you never know. As this cool little jam ended, it gave way to Daron’s pedal-driven intro of HYPNOTIZE, creating an atmosphere of sheer amazement of his greatness. Serj’s arm was in full force during this number as well as his feet, as he danced happily around stage, during Daron’s newly revised solo. As the title track of SOAD’s newest album finished, Shavo lit a joint on the side of the stage and passed it to a fan, which I thought to be pretty interesting. As I shifted my view left to Daron, I noticed that he too was lighting up. As Daron puffed smoke, he began to play a crescendo of chords, bathed in a spotlight, again bringing about lighters galore. LOST IN HOLLYWOOD was upon East Troy. What struck me as unusual during this song was that Serj was barely audible doing the “ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah…’s”, but Shavo was loud and clear! I’d never heard Shavo harmonize before, and damn it, he was shockingly good! The 5 minute long tribute to Daron’s hometown, ended in darkness, with Daron singing a high-pitched introduction to a seated Serj armed with an acoustic guitar. QUESTION! The song was played flawlessly, with no technical errors, and Daron’s fast-picking solo was absolutely mesmerizing, for lack of a better word. Although I don’t particularly like Question!, I will say that it was the performance of the night, as it just sounded so pure. As the screamed “Da da da’s” faded, Daron’s electronics were once again wheeled onstage, and I knew it was time to fight the heathens. Serj began WAR? with a yell that “WE NEED TO END ALL FUCKING WARS ON THIS FUCKING PLANET!” and without an electronic introduction, Daron began strumming the well-known riff, complete with scratching. The song was pure energy with Serj’s screams, added lyrics of “without your AK-47’s, M-16’s”, and the electronic bridge with the lyrics “We must call upon our bright darkness, we must swim through the river of silence, we must break through the walls of violence”…etc. It was very powerful. As the song closed, Daron burst in with a series of notes sounding ominously like Roulette, however, he quickly changed over to Sultans of Swing, much to my disappointment (just was teased by Roulette, Sultans is really cool). They added “We are the system, we are the system of a down” and plunged into an all-too familiar riff (they being Serj and his blue Strat, Daron and his black SG, Shavo and his black bass, and Harry Perry and his white and red bulls-eye guitar) of AERIALS. At the conclusion of Aerials, Daron asked the crowd to do the “ah ah ah’s” with the band, which was pretty damn fun. As the crowd faded, the famous high notes rung out, my second favorite song, TOXICITY. The song was played again to perfection, with improvised high notes by Serj, and backing guitar matching the tune of the vocals by Daron. The solo was powerful and rocked the shit out of the pavilion, and ended with a bang of the lyrics “When I became the sun, I shone life into the man’s hearts!!!!!” At this point in the show, my happiness was at an all-time high. I was ready for the insane harmonics of Suite-Pee. I was so pumped to scream “FUCKER!!!!!!!!” and lose my voice for good, but instead I got the drum intro of SUGAR!!! Outraged, I jumped up and down with Serj to the “Kombucha mushroom people, sitting around all day”! WHERE THE FUCK WAS SUITE-PEE?!?!!? I’ve never heard of a System concert lacking the opening track of the self-titled album. I was too dejected to enjoy Serj’s change of lyrics in Sugar, to “I sit, in my desolate room. No lights. No music. JUST ICE CREAM! I licked everyone…..”. After the energetic finish to Sugar, System left the stage and left me feeling very confused at the miss of my beloved Suite-Pee. The show overall was fantastic, but….I left with a sour taste in my mouth (not the second-hand smoke) from the setlist lacking a few MAJOR songs, such as Prison Song, Science, Forest, and Bounce, as well as being disappointed from NO songs from Steal This Album!, and from being disappointed as no new songs from Hypnotize. Not to bitch, but I really was looking forward to hearing Vicinity of Obscenity, as well as Stealing Society. It’s a damn shame that my favorite band is going on hiatus, but if I could, I would thank them for putting on two fantastic shows in Chicago, and East Troy for me to see, and I wish them great luck on pursuing their solo careers for the time being (hopefully)!
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