System of a Down gets down with fans
Armenian-American band scores with emotional renderings of "Prison Song" and "Violent Pornography" as well as acoustic versions of several songs.
By Rei Nishimoto
System of a Down utterly captivated its audience at the Long Beach Arena Thursday night.
From the moment band frontman Serj Tankian -- whose appeal combines twisting, Latinesque dancing with melodically growled vocals -- opened the set with "B.Y.O.B," the crowd fed off his electric personality. (This was true even though guitarist Daron Malakian did most of the interacting with the audience between songs.)
Not only did the band's quirky stage presence translate well, the crowd gave the impression of true belief in every lyric and between-song comment.
Much of the Armenian-American band's material touches on politically sensitive subjects. Those comments were of a positive nature, such as when Malakian suggested that "red people" and "blue people" are really different shades of "purple people."
The two-hour set, which spanned System's four releases since 1998, was highlighted by emotional renderings of "Prison Song" and "Violent Pornography."
But although System of a Down is known for the aggressive side to its musical vision, Tankian and Malakian also scored big with the crowd by performing several songs acoustically.
System of a Down wasn't the only band on Thursday who proved qualified to lead rock into the future.
The Mars Volta -- buttressed by a cameo from Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist John Frusciante -- opened the show with wild musical improvisations heavy on Latin guitar, jazz-tinged horns and progressive-rock synthesizers. Every song included an extended jam that worked the audience into a frenzy.
Rei Nishimoto is a freelance entertainment writer.
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