System Of A Down -- Montreal, Canada -- August 29th, 2005

[PowerMaiden]

Last monday I went to this highly expected concert, the nu - metal masters of System Of A Down were hitting my home town.

First of all, for the record, I have to make the statement that I really dislike so called nu-metal bands, like Korn, Limb Biscunt and all those wannabe. But to me, SOAD are very unique and different, I loved them very much for a while now (this was my 3 time seiing them).

So I arrived at the venue at around 6:30 pm, didn't wanna catch the 2 openers (Bad Acid Trip & The Mars Volta) so I had a few cold ones listening to TMV in the background, they sounded ok, but I can't tell you much about them.

When they finished their set, me & my wife went to our seats, we were first row on the side of the arena (literaly at the floor level) and we could sense the crowd anxiety before SOAD's set. We were 13 000 headbangers there. I must say that the age average must have been around 25 years old, pretty young crowd, and lots of Maiden shirt by the way. Easily the 2 nd most represented bands after SOAD in terms of t-shirt worn. Up The Irons !!


So, lights go of, they started with the Soldier Side intro and B.Y.O.B. it was already chaos , all over the floor, body surf, moshpits and beer flowing great. The band was great , loud and really tight. The stage was pretty simple but it's the light show that was really cool. One of the most impressive light show I have ever seen. Big tubes of light moving in the back of the drum. Often the strobe lights were with the riffs of Darian's guitar. Like always the lights was following the music but it was so huge and colorfull. Really great.

Serj was in great shape again and the rhythm section of John & Shavo were precise and heavy. A real thread to see these guys play. They did like 90 % of Toxicity and lots of new songs too. The highlight of the night for me was Mr. Jack, they did a king of long and smooth improvised intro to it, and the heavy part was playing with my nervous system beautifully. Of course, classics cuts like Aerial, Toxicity, War? (were they did the second part a la techno style, not that great but hey, they try different things at least), Atwa and the new comer Sad Statue were all fantastic. But really all the set was magic. I headbanged like I was 15 again (my neck still hurts ) did stop all night. We had a fantastic evening. The fucking blew me away like a Metallica in 1985 or something.

Also at one point, Darian started playing Dire Strait's ''Sultans Of Swings'' (him alone with his guitar) like he often does and he replaces the ''We are the..we are the sultans of swings'' part by ''We Are The System...we are the System Of A Down'', shivers down my spine...

Like the 2 other times I saw them, SOAD are playing without that much talking to the crowd, and when the do it's mostly Darian that rant a bit. I think the only thing Serj said all night was '' Wassup Montreal'' after one of the first couple of songs. And they don't go off the stage for an encore, they simply wait maybe a minute after Science, to finish with, Suite Pee & Sugar. Very unique band, very unique concert. Definatelly SOAD is the future of metal for me with a couple of other bands...

full setlist was:

Intro - SOLDIER SIDE
1. BYOB
2. REVENGA
3. KNOW
4. NEEDLES
5. DEER DANCE
6. SUGGESTIONS
7. PSYCHO
8. CHOP SUEY
9. SAD STATUE
10. VIOLENT PORNOGRAPHY
11. MR. JACK
12. CIGARO
13. THIS COCAINE MAKES ME FEEL LIKE I'M ON THIS SONG
14. BOUNCE
15. ATWA
16. FOREST
17. LOST IN HOLLYWOOD
18. QUESTION!
19. WAR ?
20. PRISON SONG
21. AERIAL
22. TOXICITY
23. SCIENCE

24. SUITE PEE
25. SUGAR


If you can catch these guys, don't hesitate !!!



ps: tomorrow night, Gigantour for me




CheerS. !!!
PO.werMA.iD.en

[sylpriest]

violent pornography is so amazing

[DethMaiden]

Originally Posted by sylpriest

violent pornography is so amazing

The song?

[SomewhereInTime72]

Originally Posted by DethMaiden

The song?

[Bloodcurse]

Originally Posted by DethMaiden

The song?

[EvilCheeseWedge]

Sounds like a good show. I really like Toxicity.

[PowerMaiden]

Originally Posted by EvilCheeseWedge

Sounds like a good show. I really like Toxicity.

yeah man, hell of a show


Cheers !!
PowerMaiden

[Dead_skin_mask]

Wow great set! Really hope I can hear them play Know live one of these days

[PowerMaiden]

Originally Posted by Dead_skin_mask

Wow great set! Really hope I can hear them play Know live one of these days

Look at song number 3 on the set



CheerS. !!!
PO.werMA.iD.en

[Dead_skin_mask]

Originally Posted by PowerMaiden

Look at song number 3 on the set



CheerS. !!!
PO.werMA.iD.en

Thats what I was referring too

But they never like to play it when I see them