System of a Down: Performing for a cause
Daily Trojan Online, University of Southern California
April 26 2005
Performing for a cause
SOAD's benefit concert Sunday remembered the lives lost in the Armenian genocide during WWI.
By John Ochoa
Media Credit: Photo courtesy of Heidi Ellen Robinson Fitzgerald Lives lost. System of a Down performed Sunday night for the third annual Souls benefit concert.
Don't you just love it when musicians play for a cause? For System of a Down, the cause was a personal one as they played the third annual "Souls" benefit concert at the Gibson Amphitheatre Sunday night.
The concert date was chosen because April 24 marks the 90th anniversary of the Armenian genocide during World War I, the first genocide of the 20th century, leaving 1.5 million Armenians dead and hundreds deported from their homeland. The "Souls 2005" benefit concert was organized and headlined by SOAD, who are of Armenian descent and who all lost family members to the Armenian genocide, and aimed to help benefit organizations that work to eliminate genocides and promote human rights, including Amnesty International, the Armenian National Committee of America and Axis of Justice, formed by Tom Morello, guitarist for Audioslave and the now-defunct group Rage Against the Machine, and Serj Tankian, lead vocals of SOAD.
The night started with a short video explaining the background of the Armenian genocide, causing people to angrily curse the Turkish government, perpetrators of the genocide. They kicked off their set with "BYOB," the first single from their upcoming album Mezmerize, the first of a two-disc album to be released on May 17. They later moved on to "Kill Rock 'n' Roll," a single from Hypnotize, the second part of the double-album to be released in late 2005.
Throughout their set, SOAD played lots of older material from all three of their previous albums, including major hits "Psycho" and "Chop Suey," as Tankian switched from his gospel-like voice to his scream-sing tones, and took on the role of backup guitarist and keyboardist.
"This band didn't start to change the world. This band didn't start to change your mind. This band started to ask questions," said lead guitarist Daron Malakian as SOAD moved into "Aerials," following it up with several other songs including "Cigarro" from the Mezmerize album.
The crowd loved every second of the show - headbanging, moshing and jumping ecstatically to every beat as audience members waved Armenian flags throughout the room. The boys came close to playing a flawless set. Long into their set, however, Malakian's guitar went out during "Prison Song." After several moments, he grew tired of waiting and jumped into the crowd and began riding waves of arms and hands.
As the night came to a close, SOAD focused on some of their oldest material from the multi-platinum selling Toxicity album and their self-titled debut. With a robotic-sounding voice backing Tankian, the band went on to play their breakthrough hit "Sugar," later ending the show with "P.L.U.C.K."
The Mezmerize/Hypnotize album has high expectations, being named the most anticipated album of 2005 by Entertainment Weekly, and is assumed to continue the band's political views and ideals. Already, the "BYOB" single exerts political messages; the song is an acronym for "Bring Your Own Bombs" and deals with the topic of war. A European tour has been confirmed by SOAD and a U.S. tour is in the works for August or September.