Post by therealgws on Aug 19, 2024 3:54:42 GMT 1
System of a Down, Deftones draw 50,000 to San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park
By Zack Ruskin
Aug 18, 2024
Despite cloudy skies and occasional sprinkles during an unusually humid San Francisco summer day, 50,000 fans converged upon Golden Gate Park for a second weekend in a row, this time for a history-making concert that featured a rare appearance by heavy metal rockers System of a Down and Northern California legends Deftones.
The outdoor event on Saturday, Aug. 17, which also showcased the Mars Volta, Viagra Boys and Vowws, drew a crowd that stood in stark comparison to the mostly Gen Z fans at Outside Lands who flocked to see pop stars like the Killers, Sabrina Carpenter and Chappell Roan, but concertgoers weren’t any less enthusiastic.
“The day I heard this was happening, those became my plans for this summer,” 29-year-old Katie August, who traveled all the way from Chicago to see System of a Down for the first time, told the Chronicle
In line for more than an hour in one of just a few merchandise tents on Saturday, she admitted it was “not ideal” watching the Viagra Boys perform on the jumbo screen over cheering them on from the pit, but she said it was more important for her to have “my piece of history from my first System show.”
And the Grammy-winning Armenian American rockers didn’t disappoint.
The nostalgic set was the latest installment of the city’s ongoing partnership with promoter Another Planet Entertainment: the producers Outside Lands who also recently put on a surprise outdoor concert with Skrillex and Fred Again in front of San Francisco City Hall this May. Captivating the Polo Fields and guided by the distinct voice of frontman Serj Tankian, System of a Down delivered a 80-minute set on what had been the festival’s main stage the weekend prior.
Sure, it would have been nice to hear more from the band — it felt like a missed opportunity to open their set with a song about a genocide (“Genocidal Humanoidz”) without mentioning the violence currently happening in the world at this moment — but ultimately Saturday’s performance was a welcomed respite from politics during an already fraught year.
Aside from the Mars Volta singer Cedric Bixler-Zavala shouting out “Free Palestine!” during the Texas prog rock outfit’s time on stage, the five bands on the bill kept the day heavy only in their rock sounds.
Following a fun but sparsely attended opening set by Australian death pop act VOWWS, Swedish punk rock jokesters Viagra Boys whipped fans into a frenzy. Lead singer Sebastian Murphy, who had moved to Stockholm as a teenager, proudly stated his San Francisco origins and performed bare chested in defiance of the fog as he sang portions of “Sports” while doing push-ups on stage.
It was a nice warm-up for the audience as well, who continued to enjoy the sounds of Texas prog rockers the Mars Volta. Running through a well-curated selection of the group’s limited back catalog, Bixler-Zavala and guitarist Omar Rodríguez-López continued the strange musical dance they first started back in 1994 as the now-defunct At the Drive-In.
But it was obvious that just about everyone standing in the Polo Fields was awaiting the night’s final two acts.
Arguably both at their peak popularity during the alt rock radio boom of the late ’90s and early aughts, System of a Down infamously learned that their sophomore album, “Toxicity,” had reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200 the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, while Deftones won their first Grammy for best metal performance in 2000 for the single “Elite” off their breakthrough third album, “White Pony.”
For Hector Garcia, 53, of Oakland, the night marked at least his 20th time seeing Deftones by his estimate. Decked out in a well-worn band shirt from a 2000 Deftones performance at San Francisco’s Bill Graham Civic Center, Garcia was one of many just as eager to see the seasoned Sacramento band as the night’s closing attraction.
“I’ve never seen System, so I have to keep something in the tank for them,” he said midday, “but when I see Chino, I’m going to lose it.”
In many ways, the feeling was mutual. Deftones lead singer Chino Moreno wore a wide smile throughout the band’s set despite singing the group’s signature moody lyrics.
“I recognize some of you… that’s right,” he said, with a chuckle, pointing to the screaming fans before the stage. “It’s f—in' beautiful, man.”
Though indisputably popular, Deftones have managed to slide somewhat under-the-radar as a band that sonically bridges the gap between mainstream rock and the sonic machinations of bands like Tool. Showcasing their enduring talents as an iimpressively powerful wrecking ball of sound, Moreno, lead guitarist Stephen Carpenter, drummer Abe Cunningham and keyboardist Frank Delgado showed a deep affinity for their fans with both their effort and concern.
The crowd as Deftones played during the Golden Gate Park Concert Series in San Francisco.
The crowd as Deftones played during the Golden Gate Park Concert Series in San Francisco.
Andrew Rosas/Another Planet Entertainment
“If you see anyone going down, everybody help 'em up,” Moreno reminded the crowd during a brief breather. “I want everybody to have the greatest day!”
Closing with the triumphant trifecta of “Change (In the House of Flies),” “Genesis,” and “7 Words,” Deftones proved a perfect appetizer to System of a Down’s closing night performance.
It felt nothing short of historic, which is fair given the band has played roughly only 20 shows following the release of its 2005 double-album “Mezmerize/Hypnotize.” Offering shot after shot of pure adrenaline, the group’s 25-song setlist delivered hits and rarities alike from its nearly three-decade long catalog. Together, despite their well-reported differences, Tankian, Malakian, bassist Shavo Odadjian and drummer John Dolmayan proved that collectively they’re still as tight as ever as they stampeded through big singles like 2001’s “Chop Suey” and “Aerials” to 2005’s “B.Y.OB.” and unexpected deep cuts of “Mr. Jack,” “P.L.U.C.K.” and “Know.”
In response, the entire crowd sang while pogoing to seemingly every lyric, no matter how obscure the track. Throughout the Polo Fields, mosh pits formed and dissipated as quickly as tide pools, leaving only the foam of sweat-soaked shirts in their wake.
Following the group’s closing number, the frenetic fan favorite “Sugar,” it was evident that Another Planet Entertainment’s first foray into two weekends’ worth of music at Golden Gate Park was a success.
Similar to Goldenvoice’s Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival experiment of hosting a metal weekend before establishing its country offering, Stagecoach, and ultimately adding a second weekend to Coachella, perhaps the seeds have been sown for more mosh pits to bloom in future San Francisco summers.
Zack Ruskin is a freelance writer.
Aug 18, 2024
Zack Ruskin
'Crats a choad..
By Zack Ruskin
Aug 18, 2024
Despite cloudy skies and occasional sprinkles during an unusually humid San Francisco summer day, 50,000 fans converged upon Golden Gate Park for a second weekend in a row, this time for a history-making concert that featured a rare appearance by heavy metal rockers System of a Down and Northern California legends Deftones.
The outdoor event on Saturday, Aug. 17, which also showcased the Mars Volta, Viagra Boys and Vowws, drew a crowd that stood in stark comparison to the mostly Gen Z fans at Outside Lands who flocked to see pop stars like the Killers, Sabrina Carpenter and Chappell Roan, but concertgoers weren’t any less enthusiastic.
“The day I heard this was happening, those became my plans for this summer,” 29-year-old Katie August, who traveled all the way from Chicago to see System of a Down for the first time, told the Chronicle
In line for more than an hour in one of just a few merchandise tents on Saturday, she admitted it was “not ideal” watching the Viagra Boys perform on the jumbo screen over cheering them on from the pit, but she said it was more important for her to have “my piece of history from my first System show.”
And the Grammy-winning Armenian American rockers didn’t disappoint.
The nostalgic set was the latest installment of the city’s ongoing partnership with promoter Another Planet Entertainment: the producers Outside Lands who also recently put on a surprise outdoor concert with Skrillex and Fred Again in front of San Francisco City Hall this May. Captivating the Polo Fields and guided by the distinct voice of frontman Serj Tankian, System of a Down delivered a 80-minute set on what had been the festival’s main stage the weekend prior.
Sure, it would have been nice to hear more from the band — it felt like a missed opportunity to open their set with a song about a genocide (“Genocidal Humanoidz”) without mentioning the violence currently happening in the world at this moment — but ultimately Saturday’s performance was a welcomed respite from politics during an already fraught year.
Aside from the Mars Volta singer Cedric Bixler-Zavala shouting out “Free Palestine!” during the Texas prog rock outfit’s time on stage, the five bands on the bill kept the day heavy only in their rock sounds.
Following a fun but sparsely attended opening set by Australian death pop act VOWWS, Swedish punk rock jokesters Viagra Boys whipped fans into a frenzy. Lead singer Sebastian Murphy, who had moved to Stockholm as a teenager, proudly stated his San Francisco origins and performed bare chested in defiance of the fog as he sang portions of “Sports” while doing push-ups on stage.
It was a nice warm-up for the audience as well, who continued to enjoy the sounds of Texas prog rockers the Mars Volta. Running through a well-curated selection of the group’s limited back catalog, Bixler-Zavala and guitarist Omar Rodríguez-López continued the strange musical dance they first started back in 1994 as the now-defunct At the Drive-In.
But it was obvious that just about everyone standing in the Polo Fields was awaiting the night’s final two acts.
Arguably both at their peak popularity during the alt rock radio boom of the late ’90s and early aughts, System of a Down infamously learned that their sophomore album, “Toxicity,” had reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200 the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, while Deftones won their first Grammy for best metal performance in 2000 for the single “Elite” off their breakthrough third album, “White Pony.”
For Hector Garcia, 53, of Oakland, the night marked at least his 20th time seeing Deftones by his estimate. Decked out in a well-worn band shirt from a 2000 Deftones performance at San Francisco’s Bill Graham Civic Center, Garcia was one of many just as eager to see the seasoned Sacramento band as the night’s closing attraction.
“I’ve never seen System, so I have to keep something in the tank for them,” he said midday, “but when I see Chino, I’m going to lose it.”
In many ways, the feeling was mutual. Deftones lead singer Chino Moreno wore a wide smile throughout the band’s set despite singing the group’s signature moody lyrics.
“I recognize some of you… that’s right,” he said, with a chuckle, pointing to the screaming fans before the stage. “It’s f—in' beautiful, man.”
Though indisputably popular, Deftones have managed to slide somewhat under-the-radar as a band that sonically bridges the gap between mainstream rock and the sonic machinations of bands like Tool. Showcasing their enduring talents as an iimpressively powerful wrecking ball of sound, Moreno, lead guitarist Stephen Carpenter, drummer Abe Cunningham and keyboardist Frank Delgado showed a deep affinity for their fans with both their effort and concern.
The crowd as Deftones played during the Golden Gate Park Concert Series in San Francisco.
The crowd as Deftones played during the Golden Gate Park Concert Series in San Francisco.
Andrew Rosas/Another Planet Entertainment
“If you see anyone going down, everybody help 'em up,” Moreno reminded the crowd during a brief breather. “I want everybody to have the greatest day!”
Closing with the triumphant trifecta of “Change (In the House of Flies),” “Genesis,” and “7 Words,” Deftones proved a perfect appetizer to System of a Down’s closing night performance.
It felt nothing short of historic, which is fair given the band has played roughly only 20 shows following the release of its 2005 double-album “Mezmerize/Hypnotize.” Offering shot after shot of pure adrenaline, the group’s 25-song setlist delivered hits and rarities alike from its nearly three-decade long catalog. Together, despite their well-reported differences, Tankian, Malakian, bassist Shavo Odadjian and drummer John Dolmayan proved that collectively they’re still as tight as ever as they stampeded through big singles like 2001’s “Chop Suey” and “Aerials” to 2005’s “B.Y.OB.” and unexpected deep cuts of “Mr. Jack,” “P.L.U.C.K.” and “Know.”
In response, the entire crowd sang while pogoing to seemingly every lyric, no matter how obscure the track. Throughout the Polo Fields, mosh pits formed and dissipated as quickly as tide pools, leaving only the foam of sweat-soaked shirts in their wake.
Following the group’s closing number, the frenetic fan favorite “Sugar,” it was evident that Another Planet Entertainment’s first foray into two weekends’ worth of music at Golden Gate Park was a success.
Similar to Goldenvoice’s Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival experiment of hosting a metal weekend before establishing its country offering, Stagecoach, and ultimately adding a second weekend to Coachella, perhaps the seeds have been sown for more mosh pits to bloom in future San Francisco summers.
Zack Ruskin is a freelance writer.
Aug 18, 2024
Zack Ruskin
'Crats a choad..