System of a Down

System of a Down 2/1/22

This was originally supposed to be a one-off show on May 22, 2020 in L.A. with Helmet, Faith No More, Korn and System of a Down all on the bill. Due to popularity another date was added but then the show was postponed multiple times due to COVID so I sold my tickets. Then more cities were added including San Diego so I bought a ticket…then Faith No More dropped off the tour…then Helmet dropped off the tour.

Long story short this show was a long time coming and despite half of the bands I wanted to see no longer being in the lineup I was still excited to see Korn and really excited to see System of a Down, especially since the timing was now perfect to bid farewell to “dry” January and because this was my first actual concert in six months. As such Bob, Kyle, Christi, Larry and I all met at the campus bar/restaurant Eureka to have a few before walking over to the show.

I thought departing at 7:45 would leave enough time to catch some of the opener Russian Circles since the show started at 7:30 but was rudely awoken as we approached the arena and heard the familiar sounds of Korn emanating through the night air. It turns out the show actually started at 7 pm and Korn went on at 7:30 sharp. Now not only was there no Faith No More or Helmet but we had inadvertently missed half of Korn’s set as well because by the time we made our way to the floor they were finishing up “Coming Undone.” I was beside myself but enjoyed what was left of their set, particularly their masterful mashup of multiple songs. Fieldy was absent (Suicidal Tendencies bassist Ra Diaz filled in) but the overall spirit of Korn was not.

Korn SETLIST: Here to Stay, Falling Away From Me, Start the Healing, Got the Life, Rotting in Vain, Shoots and Ladders, Clown, Coming Undone, Y’All Want a Single, Freak On A Leash, It’s On/Trash/Did My Time, Twist, A.D.I.D.A.S., Blind

Everything that happened before System of a Down came on all went away the second they appeared with the energetically perfect opening song of “X.” From then on it was a beautiful blur of spiritual proportions. Rock ‘N’ Roll is my religion and this concert was my much-needed church service.

System of a Down SETLIST: X, Prison Song, Holy Mountains, Mind, Cigaro, Suite-Pee, Needles, Deer Dance, Soldier Side-Intro, Soldier Side, B.Y.O.B., Genocidal Humanoidz, Suggestions, Psycho, Chop Suey!, Lonely Day, Lost In Hollywood, Radio/Video, Dreaming, Hypnotize, ATWA, Bounce, Chic ‘N’ Stu, Protect the Land, Aerials, Toxicity, Sugar

Why yes that is a gentleman in a wheelchair crowdsurfing!

Coronavirus Concert Casualties

Gatherings of 250 people became officially banned in San Diego as of March 13th, 2020. Nationwide lockdown followed shortly after. The list of concerts below are the ones I intended to attend that have been impacted (so far):

3/13/20 Local H @ Belly Up – RESCHEDULED to 10/10/20 – Local H was set to open for Soul Asylum in support of their album Lifers that was about to drop on 4/10/20

UPDATE 4/24: Local H decided to let fans on their Facebook page vote on an entire album from their catalog for them to play live from their “bunker” in Chicago. The album that received the most votes was Whatever Happened to P.J. Soles? and they livestreamed their performance on both Facebook and YouTube. I would have paid good money to see this live so this was quite a treat as the first livestream concert I ever watched. The picture quality was better on Facebook but the sound was better on YouTube. HHH

3/28/20 Rage Against the Machine @ Pan American Center, Las Cruces, NM – POSTPONED – Before Rage announced a full tour there were originally only five shows scheduled: El Paso, TX, Las Cruces, NM, Phoenix, AZ and as the headliner for both weekends of Coachella. I had no interest in going to Coachella due to the expense and “scene” that I am very much not a part of so Phoenix was the logical choice due knowing people that live there and distance but New Mexico was on a Saturday. That was enough reason for a group of us to decide that a trip was in order.

UPDATE 5/1: The rescheduled tour dates have arrived and it looks like I will not be seeing Rage Against the Machine until May 2021!

4/4/20 Loudermilk @ The Uptown Theatre, Richland, WA – POSTPONED – This was to be the first time I had been “home” in over nine years and with The Ladybird Unition set to open it was going to be like I was 17 years old all over again.

4/13/20 Pearl Jam @ Viejas Arena (SDSU) – POSTPONED – Pearl Jam was one of the first bands that decided to halt their tour. This was to be only my second time seeing Pearl Jam and ironically at the same place that I saw them the first time. This tour was slated in support of the new album Gigaton released on 3/27/20.

4/24/20 The Darkness @ Observatory – POSTPONED – The Darkness was set to tour for their newest effort Easter Is Cancelled, which turned out to be a prophetic title.

UPDATE 5/15: CANCELLED – Well Poop2

5/8/20 The Rolling Stones @SDCCU Stadium – POSTPONED – This was to be the second time I had the pleasure of seeing the Stones. As a bonus this was going to be the opening night of the tour within walking distance of my place on a Friday…

5/22/20 System of a Down, Korn, Faith No More and Helmet @ Banc of California Stadium – POSTPONED – This was a one-off concert in L.A. that had such high demand that a second show was added.

SOAD

UPDATE 5/22: RESCHEDULED – This event will now happen on the same date in 2021 as if this year never happened at all. SKFH

6/10 Styx @ San Diego County Fair – CANCELLED – This was set to be my second time seeing Styx but the show and better yet the entire county fair for 2020 was cancelled.

7/12 The Black Keys @ North Island Credit Union Amphitheatre – CANCELLED – This was to be my third time seeing these Ohio natives. Good thing I was able to see the beginning of the “Let’s Rock” tour back in November.
7/19 Incubus and 311 @ North Island Credit Union Amphitheatre – CANCELLED – Two bands that I like on the same bill is always a treat. I guess this would instead fall under the category of trick.
7/23 Motley Crue @ Petco Park – ??? – On May 1st Motley Crue released a statement saying “Our goal is to have an official update to everyone by June 1 outlining exactly how we will proceed.” All signs are pointing towards an inevitable postponement/cancellation.

UPDATE 6/1: POSTPONED – Shocking! Motley

7/24 Weezer/Green Day @ Petco Park – POSTPONED – What was to be a rare concert on a Friday night is no more…until 2021
7/30 Ministry @ House of Blues San Diego – RESCHEDULED – There is a website called bandsintown.com that I am on the email list for and this was how I learned that the Ministry show got rescheduled to April 29, 2021. Hopefully Uncle Al is still around.
8/1 Primus and Wolfmother @ Open Air Theatre – POSTPONED – This was going to be a unique show with Primus undertaking the task of replicating Rush’s 1977 classic album A Farewell To Kings. I was also looking forward to seeing the entire Wolfmother performance after the last one got cut short.
8/8 Guns N’ Roses @ Sofi Stadium – POSTPONED – This was going to be my second time seeing GNR and first time visiting the new gazillion dollar monolith stadium in L.A. where the Rams and Chargers will play.
9/1 Disturbed @ North Island Credit Union Amphitheatre – POSTPONED – This tour was to celebrate the 20 year anniversary of the debut album The Sickness, which now seems like an even more apt title.
10/9-10/11 Aftershock Festival @ Discovery Park, Sacramento – CANCELLED – See you in 2021!

11/1 Aaron Lewis and Sully Erna @ Del Mar Fairgrounds – CANCELLED – Just when I thought I was going to get some sort of live music even this got cancelled…

Scars on Broadway 3/8/19

Back on July 20^th of 2018 Scars on Broadway released Dictator, the first album of material since the eponymous album was released almost exactly a decade earlier. I read somewhere that the band was now officially known as Daron Malakian and Scars on Broadway instead of just Scars on Broadway because he always envisioned different lineups from album to album. Apparently the “new” album was written and recorded right around the time I last saw them in 2012 but not released until recently basically because Daron did not know what was going on with System of a Down.

All it took was one listen to Dictator to make a fan out of me. While I was in Hawaii in December I received an email announcing that Scars on Broadway were playing the Wiltern so I immediately sent out the bat signal to find out who would be in for a little trip to Hell-A. Larry and Bob answered the call of duty and tickets were purchased.

This was already the third trip of the year to la la land for me but I was in great company to see a great band and had only been to the Wiltern one other time to see Marilyn Manson way back in 2004. This trip could have been avoided altogether because sometime after we purchased our tickets there was a show announced in North Park for March 3^rd. This slightly irked the others but that show was on a Sunday and our show was on a Friday, which gave us a license to get loose, especially since the hotel we booked was literally across the street.

Long story short we ended up spending an asinine amount of money on beer at the venue after spending $85 at Ralphs for our pre-party and even more money on beer and sake across the street at Kashira Sushi. We arrived at the Wiltern about five minutes before Scars went on and the place was packed. The show was general admission but it was also sold out. Rather than have to fight our way through the crowd just to be sardined for two hours Larry took it upon himself to inquire about VIP tables. Next thing I know we were following him to a table in an area on the floor that allowed us to stretch out and have a waiter.

Scars on Broadway were killer. Daron Malakian is not only an amazing guitar player and songwriter but also knows how to pump up a crowd. It did not hurt that they played damn near every song in their entire two album catalog. In fact the only song I don’t remember being played was “Assimilate” but then again I did have a lot of beer but seemingly not as much as Bob who puked under our table during the last song. Good times.

SETLIST: Animal, Sickening Wars, Fucking, Chemicals, Dictator, Kill Each Other/Live Forever, Guns Are Loaded, Enemy (with cover of China Girl by Iggy Pop during the breakdown), Scars on Broadway, World Long Gone, Serious, Funny, Universe, 3005, Angry Guru, Lives, Never Forget, We Won’t Obey, Insane, Hungry Ghost, Babylon, Gie Mou, Whoring Streets, Talkin’ Shit, Till the End, Fuck and Kill, Exploding/Reloading, Stoner Hate, Cute Machines, They Say

Daron Malakian and Scars On-Broadway-Dictator

Aftershock 10/14/18

To nobody’s surprise I woke up still a little drunk from the day before this morning. After getting our shit together we walked down the road to our staple Buffalo Wild Wings to watch some football and get some beer and food. After we were nice and sauced on $5 pitchers we made a pit stop at a local dispensary for edibles on the way to the show.

We made it just in time to catch Seether, who was badass as per usual. Their newest album Poison the Parish came out in May of 2017 but for some reason I had not picked it up yet so was unfamiliar with the two songs they played from the album but I did like the songs. Note to self: pick up the album.

To our delight we did not have to leave this stage for the next band we wanted to see which was Slash featuring Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators. Slash was melting faces like it was 1987. I never really went down the rabbit hole of Slash solo material so most of the set was unfamiliar but hearing “Nightrain” made the whole set worthwhile.

I had just saw Incubus exactly a month earlier at Kaaboo. I think they played exactly the same set but that was just fine by me.

Alice In Chains had just released Rainier Fog less than two months before this and played a short but intense set.

AIC

This is when another night starts to get fuzzy again as Marvin and I got separated from the other two. We managed to make it to see System of a Down, which I am always pumped to see. They had not released new material in nearly 13 years at the time of this concert but we all keep lining up because they are incredible live.

At this point Mr. or Mrs. Reader you are probably asking yourself (again) why I continue to spend a lot of money to just get trashed and not remember everything. For the answer we need look no further than the wise words of Wooderson: L-I-V-I-N.

System of a Down 5/21/11

After a very non-traditional route I finally graduated with my Bachelor’s Degree from San Diego State University. Once the guys in System of a Down caught wind of this they decided to play San Diego on the same day the graduation ceremony took place. All right so maybe that’s not exactly how it went down but nonetheless I could not think of a better way to celebrate than to go see one of my favorite bands play a show. And play they did! This is one of the bands that have the ability to sound even better live than on the recorded albums. Ingrid, Larry and Christi accompanied me to the cookie cutter amphitheater out in the middle of nowhere to witness a very charged performance. Did they really play 30 songs? The newest album was still 2005’s Hypnotize and I had not seen them for almost five years. Daron Malakian could not stop moving throughout the entire concert. He kept dancing and spinning around which enhanced the overall vibe. They went deep into the catalog as I cannot recall seeing “Suggestions” or “P.L.U.C.K.” played live before or at least not very often. “Holy Mountains” was holy fucking intense.

SETLIST: Prison Song, B.Y.O.B., Know, Needles, Deer Dance, Attack, Radio/Video, Hypnotize, Question!, Suggestions, Psycho, Chop Suey!, Lonely Day, Soldier Side – Intro, Soldier Side, Bounce, Kill Rock ‘N Roll, Lost in Hollywood, Forest, Science, Holy Mountains, Aerials, Tentative, Cigaro, Suite-Pee, War?, Toxicity, P.L.U.C.K., Sartarabad, Sugar

Big shout out to YouTube user “DoubleAdaFool” for catching nearly the entire concert on high quality video for me to relive or for you to pretend like you were there.

Ozzfest 7/9/06

Full disclosure: This show definitely falls into the “fuzzy” category of memories. Not because I was blacked out or anything, just because this was my fifth time seeing Disturbed and my fifth time seeing SOAD and this show does not stick out in my mind for any particular reason. I did not really care about or maybe even watch the other bands on the bill (no Ozzy did not play this date). Here’s what I do know: I was there, I had not been to Ozzfest since 2003 and both the bands that I came to see rocked. I had not seen Disturbed for about three years and they were touring for the album Ten Thousand Fists that was released the prior September. For some reason I did not buy/get acquainted with this album until sometime after this show. I had just seen System of a Down a little less than a year before but they had since released Hypnotize, the second half of the amazing Mesmerize/Hypnotize double album. I found a decently shitty video clip of Disturbed from this show on YouTube but all the clips of SOAD are from other dates of Ozzfest 2006…

System of a Down 8/6/05

This was my first time to the iconic San Diego Sports Arena and I had not seen System of a Down for almost three years. They were touring for their new album Mezmerize that had come out in May, the first of what could have been a double album with Hypnotize but the band decided to release the two albums separately and six months apart to give fans time to digest the first before releasing the next. Lucinda and I were talking again so just her and I went. I remember it was HOT AS HELL inside and the Mars Volta opened up. I want to say the stage was in the middle of the arena as opposed to being at one end.

System of a Down came out behind a semi-opaque curtain hanging from the ceiling so we could only see their silhouettes. Just like the album they opened with “Soldier Side – Intro” and right as they went into “B.Y.O.B.” the curtain dropped. We were right in front of the stage on the floor and everyone lost their fucking mind. After that I remember the band continued with the new album in sequence with “Revenga.” Other than that I remember Daron Malakian talking a little about Charles Manson before they played “ATWA” and I remember “Lost in Hollywood” seeming so much heavier live than on the album. This is one of the few bands I have ever seen that plays the songs better live than on the album. They definitely gave us our money’s worth on this night.

SETLIST: Soldier Side – Intro, B.Y.O.B., Revenga, Know, Needles, Deer Dance, Suggestions, Psycho, Chop Suey!, Kill Rock ‘n Roll, My My, Hey Hey (Out of the Blue)
(Neil Young & Crazy Horse cover), Sad Statue, Violent Pornography, Mr. Jack, Cigaro, This Cocaine Makes Me Feel Like I’m on This Song, Bounce, ATWA, Forest, Lost in Hollywood, Question!, War?, Prison Song, Roulette, Aerials, Toxicity, Science, Suite-Pee, Sugar

Ozzfest 8/27/02

Main Stage: Ozzy Osbourne, System of a Down, Rob Zombie, P.O.D., Adema, Black Label Society, Tommy Lee

Second Stage: Down, Hatebreed, Meshuggah, Soil, The Used, Chevelle, Mushroomhead, Seether

Where to start here? All that really needs to be said is two words: Ozzfest and Gorge. I believe the first band playing that day I really wanted to see was Down. The day was overcast but Down came out and darkened the day even more with their version of Rock N’ Roll. They were touring for Down II: A Bustle in Your Hedgerow that had come out in March. I wish I could remember seeing Chevelle and Seether but I think they happened to be on when I wanted to be at the main stage. The other strong memory from this show was System of a Down playing a cover of Black Sabbath’s “Snowblind.” Toxicity had come out almost a year before this show so by this point they were huge. I do not remember a lot of talking from them on this night. They just came out and let the music do all the talking that was necessary.

Rockfest 7/14/01

This year saw Rockfest move from the Portland Meadows to Columbia Meadows in St. Helens, OR. While I was happy to not have to blow dirt out of my nose for three consecutive days, it was about a 45-minute drive from Portland. It was worth it, and besides that gave us plenty of time to smoke out in the car. It was Lucinda, Roscoe and I. I really went for the three bands listed on the ticket but there were a few other notables. Puddle of Mudd was there and about a month and a half from releasing Come Clean, the album that rocketed them to stardom. The thing about seeing bands before they become famous is that they are putting 100% into their set, still trying to prove themselves. After them was Saliva. Not a fan but they were also just getting popular because of the single “Your Disease” off the album Every 6 Seconds that had been released about three and half months earlier. Next up was System of a Down. This was the second and one of the best times I ever saw them. They were about a month and a half from releasing Toxicity. Daron Malakian was crazy the whole time. I know they played “Prison Song.” The fact is that they blew everyone off the stage that day. There was a huge pit that opened up in front of the stage and it didn’t let up until they went off stage. This turned out to be a huge advantage for Lucinda because we were at the back rim of the pit, which allowed her to see the stage perfectly. On to my seventh Deftones sighting! They had quite the challenge of following System but pulled it off. They were still touring for White Pony and I remember Chino had a Mexican flag draped over his half stack. This set was more stripped down than the previous time I had seen them. They lost the frills and just put the pedal to the metal. Godsmack closed the show. This was the third time I saw them but the first time since they had released their second album Awake. They played most of the album with the highlight for me being the song “Mistakes.” It was pretty epic the way they played it with all the little breakdowns in between the heaviness.

Ozzfest 7/18/99

Main Stage: Black Sabbath, Rob Zombie, Deftones, Slayer, Primus, Godsmack, System of a Down

Second Stage: Fear Factory, Static-X, Slipknot, Puya, Drain STH, hed (pe), Apartment 26, Flashpoint

This was the first Ozzfest that had come in my proximity. Ozzfest had been going since 1996 and kind of filled the summer void that Lollapalooza had left. I was pretty excited about this show because every band on the main stage was a band I wanted to see even though I had already seen some of the bands before. A girl in one of my classes named Tawni turned me onto System of a Down. I was lucky enough to sit next to her in my math class and we had similar musical musings. My cousin Earl really liked them too and gave me their first album on CD for my 21^st birthday. They were the first band on the main stage and touring for their eponymous album. Claude strikes again though. Bless his soul but the guy’s just not all there sometimes and this time he didn’t quite comprehend the importance of leaving at a specified time. Long story short we arrived just in time to see the last 3 songs of System of a Down’s set. By we I mean Earl and I only because we ran all the way down to the floor from the moment we arrived inside the Pearly Gates. I believe Roscoe was also with us? The next band up was Godsmack who was also touring for their eponymous album. They were on it. They played pretty much their whole first album. Primus was next and let me just say that Les Claypool is a badass. They were still a few months away from releasing Antipop so they technically touring for their EP of cover songs Rhinoplasty. This is probably about the time in the show we started shifting from the first stage to the second stage all the way up on the hill. We saw Static-X up there, who was on tour for their new album Wisconsin Death Trip! We also saw Slipknot who had just unleashed their debut eponymous album on the world a few short weeks earlier. I wasn’t really into them at the time but did find it quite entertaining to see nine guys dressed up in fucked up masks rocking their ass off and just flat out going crazy onstage. Back to the mainstage was Slayer whose newest effort at the time was Diabolus in Musica. I love their fat ass guitar riffs but at the time just could not get with Tom Araya’s voice. Next up was Deftones. This was the third time I was lucky enough to see them and they were nothing short of amazing. Deftones are a hard act to follow but Rob Zombie somehow managed. It had only been three months since the last time I saw him but I think this performance was much better. Maybe it was just because I knew Korn wasn’t following him this time. The closing band was none other than Black Sabbath! I’m not talking about that shit with Dio, I’m talking about the real Black Sabbath with Ozzy. I was as excited about this as any other band of the day. Never in a million years did I think I would ever get the opportunity to see a band that was huge in the 1970’s. I really got into Black Sabbath when I was about 16. It started with the album Paranoid and then I bought the whole catalog one album at a time. They did not disappoint me. Ozzy was still as crazy as he was made out to be, Tony Iommi was razor sharp on his riffs, and the rhythm section was holding down the groove. Little did I know that this would not be the last time I would see them.