“I love you, man,” Serj Tankian beams, hugging Daron Malakian tightly to a sea of cheers from over 60,000 delirious, onlooking System Of A Down fans. The last time this writer saw the Armenian-American metal heavyweights share a stage – at Download festival 2017 – they looked like they all wanted to be anywhere else, shoulders slumped, static poses and practically ignoring each other. It was a depressing visual for one of millennial metal’s most creative and idiosyncratic bands.
Today, the vibes couldn’t be more different: singer Serj can barely stop smiling; guitarist Daron’s stage banter is playfully eccentric rather than grumpily off-kilter; bassist Shavo Odadjian looks like he’s having the time of his life. Even powerhouse drummer John Dolmayan’s trademark intensity is broken by the occasional grin. One 40-something fan sat near us remarks in disbelief as he takes in the spectacle: “Are System Of A Down back?!”
System are indeed back – back in the UK for the first time in almost a decade, a long ol’ absence by any standards in music. There are kids here who wouldn’t have been born when they last played, enjoying their first rock show, hoisted up on the shoulders of parents in matching Toxicity t-shirts. There are teens milling around sporting Serj’s iconic 90s tribal face paint (why didn’t we ever think of that?!) and, of course, a large portion of elder millennials ready to relive their nu metal heydays. Oh, and lots of people in banana costumes. That definitely wasn’t a thing nine years ago.
Long before System hit the stage, cult sludge heroes Acid Bath get us started in style. Their grimy psychedelic heft fits a stadium stage surprisingly well, even if the echoey thud of Shane Wesley’s bass bouncing off the empty seats at the back creates a head-spinning racket that’s even more of a trip than the far-out visuals splattered across the screens around them.
Queens Of The Stone Age are masters of their craft at this point, Josh Homme’s casual saunter out on stage suggesting he’s well versed to owning crowds this size. They get a big response from a rapidly growing audience, though a muddy mix sees some of their swaggering riffs lost in the ether. Still, they earn the first pits and crowdsurfers of the day, so it’s very much job done.
The response that greets Daron Malakian’s arrival on stage around 40 minutes later is deafening, but surpassed almost immediately by the singalongs that accompany Soldier Side; fans are already on shoulders and venue-wide circle pits are already beginning to open up before a proper riff has even dropped.
Then, the rest of System appear, launch into the dizzy opening crush of B.Y.O.B. and Tottenham’s home ground explodes into joyous, chaotic abandon. What follows is a relentless dishing out of anthemic alt metal ragers – thirty of them, in fact, unleashed at such a pace there’s barely time to remark “How good was that?!” after each song before they’ve already kicked into the next one.
“These three guys are the best fucking musicians in the world!” Serj remarks warmly at one point, noting that his bandmates “saved my ass” after a slight miscue. Tottenham definitely didn’t notice; the entire floor is a bubbling sea of movement from the first notes of B.Y.O.B. to the final bouncing riff of Sugar, the stands full of people off their seats dancing, jumping and singing their bums off.
Every song is greeted like a classic but there are undoubtedly highlights. Chop Suey! getting dropped two thirds of the way in sparks bedlam; Radio/Video‘s folky breakdown prompts all manners of shapes thrown; Daron’s now-trademark “I wanna see you spinnin’ around! Round, round, round and round!” command elicits at least 10 massive circle pits across the floor during an electric Toxicity.
That would all be enough to make this a hell of a gig, but the fact that the band themselves seem genuinely, wholeheartedly pleased to be here is what really puts it over the top. Whatever healing these four lads have done over the past few years has made all the difference: even if we’re resigned to never getting that new album, metal is just a better place for having a happy, healthy System Of A Down in it. Tonight was an absolute treat and one of the best rock stadium shows in recent memory.
System Of A Down Tottenham Stadium night one setlist
Soldier Side – Intro
B.Y.O.B.
Suite-Pee
Chic ‘N’ Stu
Prison Song
Aerials
I-E-A-I-A-I-O
Innervision
Darts
Genocidal Humanoidz
Needles
Deer Dance
Radio/Video
Dreaming
Hypnotize
ATWA
Bounce
Suggestions
Psycho
Chop Suey!
Lonely Day
Lost in Hollywood
Streamline
Spiders
Forest
DAM
War?
Roulette
Toxicity
Sugar