Tonight I went to see System of a Down at the DCU Center in Massachusetts. This was my first real concert and I didn't know what to expect. I ended up purchasing ticket numbers 1 and 2 at the floor section during pre-order...Tickets don't get any better! (Unless they are VIP) I planned on leaving at 4:30pm for the show (7:00pm), but my friend got to my house 40 mins late and we ended up arriving more around 6:00pm. The line was huge and I was worried that we we're going to be in the very back of the floor. So we waited for a half an hour until they let us in.

To our surprise the floor was almost empty. We we're maybe two or three people behind the very center-front. I was VERY exctied. Not knowing what to expect from a concert I started talking to the people around me. Just about all of them were nice as could be. They said there was nothing to worry about. That made me feel a lot better.

Bad Acid Trip came on soon enough and everyone just stood perfectly still and clapped after each song. The Mars Volta came on after them and the same thing happened. (Well those of us who we're still awake after their 40 mins of ambient music clapped.) I was confused...where are the crazy mosh pits I thought? Anyway now it was System of a Down's turn to come and dazzel us! I couldn't wait! They pulled down this HUGE curtian that had the Mezmerize logo on it and covered the entire stage. So we stood and waited without knowing what was going on for 30 mins.

In the meantime, we ended up pushing ourselves up to the railing and an older man and his short friend pushed their way through to the front as well and started smoking some joints. They we're blowing the smoke right near us, I was about to vomit. This pot smoking man decides he is bored out of his mind and doesn't want to wait for SoaD anymore so he starts a pushing people around, trying to start a mosh pit..when all of a sudden *SMACK* A security guard punches him RIGHT IN THE FACE and grabs his shirt and yells "Hey mother f***er! Try that again you stupid f***! I'll kick your f***ing a** out of here!"...PWND. 20 mins has passed and SoaD still hasn't done anything. People start chanting "SYSTEM! SYSTEM! SYSTEM!" and more and more people start lighting up joints. The entire building was filled with the scent of Marijuana. People went from standing next to each other to about standing INSIDE OF EACHOTHER. I was so close to one guy I felt like I was somehow legally having sex with him. Then som--WOAH! THE LIGHTS ARE GOING DOWN!

All of a sudden through the massive Mezmerize curtian, a silhouet was seen. It was Daron. The girl behind me screamed bloody murder into my ear and grabbed me so tight I thought I was going to die. "DARON! DARON! I LOVE YOU! WOOOOOOOOO!" Daron started to play Soldier Side PERFECT. Then it ended and the massive curtian fell to the floor and there they all were! SYSTEM OF A DOWN! Serj, Daron, John, and Shavo all standing no more than a meter or two away. Without a second to lose, they bust out into BYOB and the lights turn on and almost blind us all. Woah, whats this?! The crowd went CRAZY! This didn't happen with the other bands. Oh my...Woah. I'm over here, I'm back here, I'm falling on top of some girl I never met, I'm being tossed like a red headed step-child here! This is awesome! My first concert, my first floor tickets, my first mosh. People were CRAZY. Everyone was singing along to BYOB and at the same time jumping all around. The entire crowd became one person, and we all swayed together. Myself...i was still in shock. I couldn't believe that I was right infront of Serj Tankian. Was I dreaming? *KICK* "Son of a-" Nope! The crowd surfer kicking in my jaw assured me that this was no dream. The security guards MESSED UP people. Crowd surfers were ripped from the crowd and thrown to the ground. Why would you pay $50 for a ticket just to get tossed out during the first 5 mins? (Although I don't know if they tossed people out or just brought them to the back of the floor)

BYOB ends and Revenga starts up, the crowd is still going full speed ahead and thrasing away at each other. The moshing reminded me of 10,000 people all trying to get the same last piece of bread. Well I got kicked in the face about three more times and elbowed a few times too. Meanwhile there are two girls, one on each side of me throwing up the horns right in my face. This concert rocks! *crap* Oh s*** I just fell down, but oddly enough 3 or 4 hands come to help pick me back up. Wow. That was really awesome. People stopped killing each other for just a few seconds to help poor ol' me get off my a**. This is turning out to be an amazing first concert, and only two songs have gone by.

It was basically the same drill for the next few songs. Know, Needles, Deer Dance, and Suggestions, and Psycho went by (They were all awesome might I add). Somehow the crowd still had the same energy as it did from the start. Here I am only 8 songs in already gasping for air and trying not to get shoved around too much. Chop Suey! starts to play and the crowd goes 100% ape s*** and suddenl--*KICK* Oh for craps sake....not again. Next up is Kill Rock N Roll and amazingly everyone at the concert already knows the words! Piracy? Warez? Pfft, nahhh. They played it really good, and after the song Daron explained to us that it was a track of their next album. He said "This song is off of a new album coming out in November..It's kind of like Mezmerize...except we put different songs on it." Serj started to laugh at that as they broke into Sad Statue which just made me so hyper and happy it being one of my favorite songs. During the chorus a few lighters went up in the air and the mosh pit turned into a lean-on-me dance.

The lights go out and a spotlight appears on Daron playing his guitar nice and slow. He starts to sing Violent Pornography in a nice slow tone and than the band breaks out into the REALLY fast and loud version of it. It was awesome. At the end of the song instead of "Turn off your T.V." he said something like "Everyone f*** me!" at which point Serj cracked up. After that they broke into Mr.Jack. About half way through they played Sartarabad and after that they finished off Mr.Jack. At this point I was having a lot of fun, but at the same time I was exausted, and I really needed just a few seconds to catch my breath. I said in my head "Please play Lost in Hollywood! Please don't play anything too heavy!"...and with that Cigaro starts....F*** me. Another slow intro by Daron had me cracking up. "My c*** is not bigger than yours..." he said as he slowly strummed on his guitar. The audience cheers him on and laughs, than as soon as he finished they bust into a crazy fast version of Cigaro, which lead right into This Cocaine Makes Me Feel like Im O*n This song. At this point I'm dehydrated and gasping for breath, but I don't want it to stop because it's so much fun! Then RIGHT as Bounce starts these two morons next to me decide to light some joints and I just start getting dizzy and sick feeling like I'm going to vomit. So I say "excuse me" about 100 times and find my way out of the floor area. Which was very hard becasue every mofo in the place was jumping up and down. I finnaly got out and caught my breath. It felt good to have some semi-fresh air.

I'm still kind of standing on the very edge of the pit when ATWA started, but I managed to find my way back into the mayhem before Forest started. Forest is my all time favorite SoaD song. I was so excited, and they played it so well. That just made the night right there. They could have said "F** this" and walked off stage and I would have been happy still. Right after Forest, Lost in Hollywood starts. Looking around I see just about everyone holding up either a lighter or a cellphone. It was amazing. I had my eyes shut during most of this song. As did many other people near me. The moshing stopped for this song, and we all just stood there. Waving our hands in the air like b****es and relaxing to the song... Daron sang the song VERY well except he accidently slipped and said "I'll wait here, wait crazy" instead of 'you're crazy'...That relaxing didn't last for long when SoaD busted out their latest Single Quesion! on our sorry a**es! Serj sat there with his acoustic guitar, and everyone cheered and jumped during the entire song. After Question!, War? was played and it was the biggest surprise of the night. The better half of the song was slowed down to a really mellowed out tune. It was nothing like the loud-thrashy war I knew. It was very nice. It was like they remade War? for Mezmerize or something.

The next four songs were a real big treat. Prison Song, Aerials, Toxicity, and Science all had the crowd going off the walls. These are all great tracks off of Toxicity as you all know and they were all played amazingly. (Except Serj said the wrong date in Prison Song. He said something else instead of 1985. /fanboy +1) After those songs Suite-Pee came on, and before they played Daron came on and said "This is the first song...off of our very first album!" The audience went pretty crazy but not as crazy as they did for Sugar. Before they played Sugar Serj and Daron thanked everyone for coming. Serj thanked all of us, the DCU Center, and ONE random bald security guard. It was weird. Serj put his hand out to high five the guard but I don't think he was paying attention. Remember when I said the crowd went 100% apes*** for Chop Suey? Well they went like 500% ape s*** for Sugar. I've never felt so much energy in a room at once. It was amazing. Shavo jumped on top of one of the speakers and he crouched down and played the song like that. There were two kids with an Armenian Flag, and when Shavo saw that he waved at them and tossed up the horns.

Sugar ended and Serj and Daron left the stage. John tossed about 6 drum sticks into the audience and Shavo threw a bottle of water at some people. That was it. I was expceting a 'Thank you! Goodnight!" or something, but then I remembered they already did that before Sugar. So I was happy. I walked away sweating and smelling of ganga. I was so sweaty it HONESTLY looked like I had just got out of a pool. On the way home I was so thirsty I stopped at a 7-11 to pick up a gallon of water...and a umm..a...Nacho Slim Jim as well.

Now I'm home and I'm sitting here typing up this review...and now that it's all over and I look back at tonights events. I can honestly say that was the best night of my life.

Wow, you described that quite well. After reading the whole thing I scrolled up and I cant believe I just read all of that :p

I've never been to a concert, but I want to. Well written review.

I've been to a few concerts, none of them were as crazy as this.

Awesome. Sounds like you definitely got your money's worth out of the concert.

Now, more than ever, I want System to come through Missouri.

wow, you got me pumped reading your review, im surprised you didn't see anyone boozing though?

Weren't you going with a certain someone?

I did go with someone. She got to my house 40 mins late >.<

Very awesome, man. I'm quite envious. Is SoaD coming to the pacific northwest united states? I'm not a HUGE fan of them but from what you described it sounds like a really good show. I'd definetely drive up to Seattle to see them.

I would have kicked her in the boob.

That review was amazingly well written. I felt the intensity and enjoyment you had. Well done.

And I'm glad you had so much fun considering all of the times you've bragged about this ticket on AIM -.-

JediKirby

Thanks. They posted my review on the front page of [url]www.soadfans.com[/url] <3

Sounds like fun, i'd love to see 'em.

Oct 5 - Seattle, WA - Key Arena

Tickets are on sale now, so get them while you can.

Based on your review I could tell that it was your first concert.

Yeah, it was pretty easy to tell...

Considering he SAID SO RIGHT IN THE REVIEW :p

Whoa...I'm totally going with my gf! All I need are tickets and a ride up there...

[edit]dude...I just checked the SoaD schedule and they're actually coming to Portland! How convenient for me! It better be worth it... :em321: [/edit]

Some pictures from last night. (I didn't take these, some professional did)

The massive Mezmerize curtian. From the roof to the floor.


Daron singing Soldier Side behind the HUGE Mezmerize curtian.



Serj being his cool Serj self.


Shavo rockin' out.


Do you smell what John is cookin'?!


Daron is crazy.


The fans.

I'm just sayin "eww the mariajuana smoke was blown in my face, wahhh i got elbowed and kicked"

Yar, I'm not in that picture

To see more, click here.

I didn't complain about getting elbowed and kicked. I knew it would happen, but still...noone wants to get kicked in the face. And shush about the marijuana. I expected that too, but the jerks weren't blowing it up like most people, they were blowing it in other peoples faces. I wasn't the only angry one.

Awesome, man!

Sounds ALOT like the Rammstein concert I was at here in Budapest. It was also my first concert - mostly the same thing, except that noone smoked marijuana, of course. People would probably get killed if they'd light a joint on a Rammsetin concert, heh. But whatever. It rocked.

Do you even KNOW tha majority of SoaD fans? I mean...honestly...

I'm going to ignore that last comment....because it was stupid. :p




I hear Rammstein concerts are CRAZY. With the fire and the FIRE and the freaking FIRE!

How was it stupid? I mean it's SoaD...most of the fans are ignorant "**** THE SYSTEM" types of kids who support the band because they're 'hardcore' and anti-Bush. I love them, but I take the fans for who they are. And those are most definitely the type to be doing a lot worse than just blowing smoke in your face.

I talked to atleast 20 or so people last night and all of them seemed pretty nice and smart to me. Sure some of them are just morons as you described, but saying most of them are ignorant jerks? Hell no. Go to [url]www.soadfans.com[/url] and visit the forums. I don't think ANYONE there is like that, and there are a LOT of fans there. Just look at how many people are currently logged in! Also, System of a Down is not 'hardcore' or anti-bush. They've been around since 1998, and just beacuse they oppose the war, and make anti-war songs doesn't mean they are 'HARDCORE' or anti-bush. I'm sure they might be anti-bush, but they don't try and push there belives on other people. BYOB is a song against the war, but it isn't a song BASHING Bush. So yes, your comment was very stupid.

[QUOTE=Dj Yoshi]How was it stupid? I mean it's SoaD...most of the fans are ignorant "**** THE SYSTEM" types of kids who support the band because they're 'hardcore' and anti-Bush. I love them, but I take the fans for who they are. And those are most definitely the type to be doing a lot worse than just blowing smoke in your face.[/QUOTE]

Actually I percieve most SOAD fans as Anti-Bush, but too pussy to do anything about it. I mean, I like SOAD, and listen to them. But I don't listen to them for their lyrics, I listen to them for their sound and music.

I wouldn't say that SoaD is anti-Bush - in the video for their song "Boom!," they have a short animated bit that criticized Bush, Blair, Osama, and Hussein. I tend to think they're more anti-violence than anti-specific-politician. A bit idealistic, in my opinion, but it's a more respectable opinion than others.

But you're also biased because it's your own.

You're just bitter because you didn't go.

Words. In my mouth. Take them out.

I said they're 'hardcore' because...they are. They're nuMETAL. Metal IS hardcore dude. I just don't like describing SoaD that way.

I didn't say they were pushing their views on ANYONE. And just because a lot of people who like SoaD act one way doesn't mean that's how they all do (which is in fact something I said. A lot of SoaD fans do act ignorant and of the '**** the system' stupidity mentality, but not all). The comment wasn't stupid, but what you inferred because of what was said does make me seem like an idiot.

People are putting words into my mouth a lot lately, and to be honest it tastes like crap. Stop it guys.

I'm not bitter at all SAJN. I was at a way more hardcore concert last night.
Disturbed. It freakin' rocked, and my ears are still ringing.

1. Hardcore is not the same as metal.
2. SoaD is more all around rock than metal. They have some songs that sound punkish, some metal sounding ones, some jewish sounding ones, they are all over the place now with Mez/Hyp.
3. They are not numetal.
4. Hardcore is not the same as metal.




It's really weird. I was pretty much deaf for a bit after the concert, but a while after I got home I was pretty okay. Now today the ringing started again. >.<

Hardcore is not the same as metal, but it's close. I was just describing it, don't be so anal about terms dude. And they PIONEERED numetal. Regardless of the fact that they have varyingly different sounding songs they are still Numetal. I think they are the first numetal band even.

SAJN don't claim to be an expert on everything when it's your first concert.

Why can't I be an expert on my favorite band? Because I've only been to one concert? That has nothing to do with how much I know about them. I check up on SOAD fan sites all the time, I'm always learning something new, reading a new article, a new interview, a new SOMETHING. I don't shoot off my mouth about stuff I know NOTHING about, but I do know a lot about SoaD, that's why I talk about them so much.

I've listened to a few numetal bands and never heard rap in them. Let's just agree that we're both right, okay? Really quite pointless to argue this anyways.

Jawol.

Ok I don't know about hardcore and I don't know about numetal, but to be honest, it seems like Yoshi is right because it simply seems like he has one hell of a bit better an idea of what he's talking about.

I saw SoaD when they came to Houston. I didn't really LOVE the band but they had a few good songs that I liked and I really enjoyed the concert. A bit more idiots in the crowd than I had hoped. It was expected though, so no let downs.

Congratsulations on your first concert. I've only been to two concerts, but I'd love to go to more. I just went to a Flogging Molly concert (Goldfinger opened! Whooo!) and I was slightly dissappointed because I wasn't in the pit, but in crappy seats that your couldn't move for crap in. Also, I only knew one or two of each band's songs, and I've found that concerts rock so much harder when you already know the songs.

i lost my voice, have zero energy and i need a 3rd shower to smell like normal.

4 day concerts rock.

funny time to mention, i saw SoaD at leeds 2003 and i just got back from 2005.

They were pretty good, i'd have been more excited to see the mars volta though.