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.