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| Chino Moreno of the Deftones @ Golden Gate Park (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
While Saturday’s huge concert in Golden Gate Park – headlined by the System of a Down and Deftones may have taken place on the same Polo Field used for the Lands End Stage the weekend before, the spirit of the day was more in keeping with the late Bill Graham’s beloved Day on the Green super-concerts than Outside Lands. The event had sold out in minutes and it was clear that this was a crowd that was populated with far more who came to watch and listen vs. “see and be seen”. The day’s acts took place one after the other on the same huge stage Outside Lands headliners had taken to the week before.
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| Vowws @ Golden Gate Park (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
Vowws had an unenviable task when they took the stage to a still-arriving crowd at 3 pm with the marine layer transforming from a foggy, cloudy state to full on light rain. The Australian duo of guitarist-vocalist Matt and lead vocalist-keyboardist Rizz was augmented by additional members. They delivered a strong performance of mostly unreleased material, in front of a crowd that was obviously unfamiliar with them. Still, they provided a strong visual and musical start to a big day.
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| Viagra Boys' Sebastian Murphy @ Golden Gate Park (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
Words cannot do justice to the unique and engaging set by Swedish punk-rock band Viagra Boys. Imagine the strangest family reunion with a sound that merges the Sex Pistols, Beastie Boys and heavy metal. Their lyrics and stage manner are satiric and alternate between dark and borderline silly. They are a punk rock version of a bouncy house and absolutely should not be missed.
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| Viagra Boys @ Golden Gate Park (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
As they took the stage, lead singer Sebastian Murphy pulled off his shirt to reveal his completely tattooed upper body above his black sweatpants. Murphy was not doing it because of any washboard abs as he sported and frequently brought attention to a rather substantial beer belly on Saturday. Saxophonist Oskar Carls walked out in cut-off short, shorts and a tight “GoGo” t-shirt, carrying a bottle and glass of champagne and proceeded to smoke cigarettes throughout much of the set. Bassist Henrik Hockert looked like a cross between The Rock and Pit Bull while keyboardist Elias Jungqvist could be confused with a beach Ken doll.
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| Viagra Boys' Elias Jungqvist @ Golden Gate Park (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
“What’s up you fu$#ing freaks? We’re the Deftones. Thanks for coming out!” Murphy said in the first of his many tongue-in-cheek and self-mocking comments. The band launched into a raucous “Ain’t Nice” that saw Murphy alternately smiling and sneering with a gleam in his eyes that challenged the audience as to what was real and what was not. Ironically, Murphy is the only non-Swedish born member. He was born in San Rafael and moved to Sweden at 17. Murphy and the band’s partying ways on stage were confirmed as legitimate by a friend I ran into in the crowd after their set.
“My buddy works with Viagra Boys and called me to come party with them in the Marina last night and we partied until 10:30,”
“Well, at least it was an early night,” I replied.
“No. 10:30 this morning.”
Songs like the society-mocking “Sports” and self-mocking “Punk Rock Losers” got huge crowd reactions as Murphy frequently came to the front of the stage and occasionally laid down as though he was seemingly ready to pass out. By the time Murphy picked up his shirt and exited the stage, the band seemed to have the entire crowd of 50,000 in their pocket.
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| The Mars Volta @ Golden Gate Park (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
It was my first time seeing The Mars Volta and a colleague joked about photographers being allowed to shoot “only” the first three songs. “I had an hour-long bootleg that was only three songs,” he told me. As photographers and media stood back at the soundboard for their set, it was clear that he had been dead on about the group. In all, they would play four songs for their entire nearly hour-long set and indeed by the middle of the second-song, most photographers had finished shooting and were ushered back into the audience.
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| The Mars Volta @ Golden Gate Park (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
Lead singer Cedric Bixler-Zavala had his microphone constantly in motion – not in a Roger Daltrey once or twice in a set manner – but throwing it up, down and all-around throughout the entire set. Drummer Linda-Philomène Tsoungui was also captivating to watch with her wide smile and merciless rhythms. The band’s songs straddled multiple genres but found a sweet spot when they seemed to blend their prog rock Rush energy with a deep and crunching Led Zeppelin feel.
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| Chino Moreno of the Deftones @ Golden Gate Park (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
Sacramento’s Deftones led the day in positive energy with lead singer Chino Moreno a blur of motion and smiles darting to the front and back of the stage, leaping and bouncing and frequently getting out as close to the audience as he could. Moreno leapt atop the monitor positioned at the outer edge of the stage before cueing the band into “Be Quiet and Drive (Far Away).” A defiant “My Own Summer (Shove It)” followed with the crowd driven into a bouncing, arms up frenzy. “It’s so wonderful to be here,” Moreno told the crowd. “This is fu$#ing beautiful!”
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| Chino Moreno of the Deftones @ Golden Gate Park (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
Moreno frequently stood atop the front monitor – bringing himself as close to the crowd as the stage would allow and embracing the energy of the love of fifty-thousand fans. Multiple times, Moreno even headed down the steps to wade onto the security barriers at the edge of the crowd. “Make sure you guys look out for one another down front, OK? If you see anybody going down, everybody help them up. We want everyone to have the greatest day.” Judging by the crowd reaction and the merch being worn, the crowd’s many Deftones fans were having that – despite the wet and heavy weather holding on. Songs such as “Digital Bath,” “Cherry Waves” and “Change (In the House of Flies)” were greeted lustily and saw a connected-audience singing along and raising their arms in giant waves of motion.
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| The Deftones @ Golden Gate Park (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
Founding lead guitarist Stephen Carpenter - who has been public with his struggles with social anxiety - was absent from this show. Here is hoping that if he wishes, he’s able to make a return to this powerful live band soon. “We’ve got one more,” Moreno told the appreciative crowd before the band finished with “7 Words.” “If you know it. You know it.”
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| The Deftones @ Golden Gate Park (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
The day’s heavy fog helped add a sense of darkness to System of a Down’s set and accented the light-heavy spectacle, while the absence of condensation enabled the crowd to fully enjoy the headliner set. The band members took the stage one-by-one under heavy dark blue lighting. First, drummer John Dolmayan, then bassist Shavo Odadjian, followed by singer Serj Tankian and guitarist Daron Malakian – who launched the band into a strobey, chaotic “Genocidal Humanoidz.” It was the first time the overtly political band had opened with the song and there could be little doubt that it was chosen to reflect the current status of the world’s conflicts.
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| System of a Down @ Golden Gate Park (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
“Genocidal Humanoidz” also marked the last song released by the band back in November of 2020 to aid the Armenia Fund. The band members - all of Armenian descent – have never shied away from making known their political views - calling for recognition of the Armenian genocide and for ongoing peace. Tankian – who as a boy experienced bomb’s falling in his neighborhood has been understandably vocal on the atrocities of war and its lasting effects.
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| Shavo Odadjian of System of a Down @ Golden Gate Park (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
Peace has unfortunately not been the band’s internal state of being. Along with not creating new music since 2020, the Golden Gate Park show was SOAD’s third show in the last two years and only their tenth since 2019. The band that was the biggest heavy metal band in the world and still maintains a huge following as witnessed by the enormous lines for the merch stands, has been torn apart by inner turmoil. Fingers have been pointed primarily at Malakian and Tankian’s failure to reach agreement on band direction with Tankian openly stating that “a return to egalitarianism” is the only thing that will bring them back to make new music. Tankian’s reluctance to engage in a tour is evidenced by the sporadic dates and his desire to only do one-off concerts or events.
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| Serj Tankian of System of a Down @ Golden Gate Park (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
But all signs of discontent were on hold on Saturday as the band looked and sounded like a well-connected, massive musical force with smiles and smooth transitions. Following the opener, Malakian’s signature intro came forth. “From Los Angeles, California - by way of Armenia – we are System of a Down and this is System of a Down style rock and roll music,” as the band plowed into “Suite-Pee.” Tankian’s vocals – a blend of poetic words packed tightly together and voice-emanated - sometimes grunts and roars - sounds were augmented by Malakian’s shouts of “Like a Motherfu$#er!” as Odadijian traversed the stage and jumped on miscellaneous amps and risers.
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| Daron Malakian of System of a Down @ Golden Gate Park (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
Tankian delivered a pointed “Mr. Jack” in what was perhaps the most direct statement on the world’s situation. In general, the set was filled with the music that fans so longed to hear and light on political stances. Malakian did have a word of advice for the crowd and the rest of the world prior to “Hypnotize”: “Stop Letting them divide you. Your neighbor is not your enemy. Your government is.” The entire crowd had hands up and were clapping as the song’s distinctive Armenian accents rang out.
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| System of a Down @ Golden Gate Park (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
“So, we sing thoughtful, sweet songs like that,” Tankian told the crowd. “But then we also sing songs about pulling a tapeworm out of your ass.” A lightning-fast version of “Needles” followed. The night was full of musical and visual highlights. It seemed that fifty-thousand phones were held up and videotaping “Chop Suey.” Malakian brought a tender, heart-wrenching “Lonely Day” as he slowly and sparingly picked the notes. A haunting version of “Lost in Hollywood” was accented by the mysterious, foggy night. “Toxicity” had the crowd in a frenzy as Tankian donned his guitar.
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| System of a Down @ Golden Gate Park (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
As he had introduced the concert, Malakian also brought the outro “For the thousands in attendance and the millions watching around the world, it’s time for “Sugar”!” Not only did the band deliver a pulverizing version of the song, but the end saw all of the members gather together for a big, bouncing group hug that perhaps gave hope for the band to find peace in the future.
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| System of a Down @ Golden Gate Park (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
This year’s concert was a testing ground to set the stage for what is rumored to be a full weekend of big concerts next year to leverage the logistics and infrastructure that is built for Outside Lands weekend and bring more money to SF Parks. Judging by the smooth operation of the Another Planet Entertainment team and the tight adherence to setlist times and curfew, the Bay Area music scene will be all the better for more of these terrific concert days!
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