The genre is experiencing a mainstream renaissance that’s seeing acts other than Metallica sell out huge venues
Last night at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, System of a Down made their triumphant return to North American stages. Fresh off a trek through South America, the storied quartet’s shows on U.S. soil have been few and far between over the last 10 years. Now, they’re bring their brand of metal back to the American masses with a select few stadium engagements as the 20th anniversary of their last album approaches.
Check out the setlist from the show and our live photo galleries below.
System of a Down performed alongside Korn, who are coming off a headlining performance at Lollapalooza earlier this month. Both shows at MetLife Stadium were sold out, a monstrous feat that can only be pulled off by a count-on-one-hand list of acts, regardless of genre. System of a Down and Korn were at the forefront of heavy rock’s massive resurgence in mainstream popularity in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Now, nearly three decades on, it seems like hard rock music is coming full circle, and possibly reaching heights it hasn’t seen since its 80s heyday.
After opening sets from Wisp and Polyphia, Korn took the stage in front of an already-full stadium. At this point – 31-years in as frontman Jonathan Davis would later acknowledge – Korn can pretty much play whatever they want. Typically bands save the best for last, but with a catalog as stacked as Korn’s, it’s kind of a toss-up nowadays. They chose to come out swinging, opening with their 1994 signature “Blind.”
Other highlights from the set included “Got the Life,” “Did My Time,” “Twisted Transistor,” “Somebody Someone,” “Falling Away from Me,” and more. Early on, they broke out “Here to Stay,” which was especially poignant after celebrating the recent 30th anniversary of their firs record. They also put a spin on “Shoots and Ladders,” adding in a mash-up of Metallica’s “One” which turned out fantastic.
They wrapped things up with their 1998 mainstream breakout, “Freak on a Leash.”
Three decades on, Korn are still one of the most dominate live forces in music. Over the course of their career, they’ve not only been innovators, but adaptors as well. They’ve reinvented themselves and put their spin on all the trends. Through it all, Korn have always remained relevant while remaining true to themselves at the same time, and there’s something to be said for that.
After headlining Lollapooza and these sold-out stadium shows, Korn have a fall arena tour of Canada scheduled. The run will be capped off with a headlining appearance at Aftershock in Sacramento, California on October 4. Now that they’ve had time to celebrate the 30th anniversary of their eponymous debut album, fans are certainly hoping that they take a much-deserved break from the road and use this momentum to get back in the studio for their next record.
Korn’s last studio album was 2022’s Requiem. Produced by the band alongside Chris Collier, the record hit No. 1 in several countries around the globe. It peaked at No. 14 on the Billboard 200, and No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Hard Rock Albums chart and the UK’s Rock & Metal Albums chart. Throughout their career, Korn have sold over 40 million records worldwide and collected two GRAMMY® Awards.
For a band who have seemingly become larger than life, System of a Down’s live shows don’t have any frills. It’s pretty simple, actually; they just stroll onto the stage and tear into their set. Maybe it’s the era in which they grew up, but it can be easy to forget just how technically sound they are despite their frenzied riffs and unbridled ferocity.
So, there’s really not much need for theatrics with this band.
They came out swinging with “X” from their seminal 2001 masterpiece Toxicity. They immediately threw it all the way back to their debut album with “Suite-Pee” followed by “Prison Song.” From there, the band proceeded to steamroll through a gargantuan 26-song set with pummeling brutality and razor-sharp precision. They pulled tracks from their entire discography, but Toxicity received the most attention by far. They played nearly the entire record, performing 12 tracks from the 15-song outing. Since they got so close this time, perhaps they might just do it next year for the record’s 25th anniversary.
Highlights from the set included “Violent Pornography,” “Hypnotized,” “Lost in Hollywood,” “Cigaro,” and “Toxicity,” amongst many others. Early on, they played two crushing Toxicity tracks back-to-back: “Needles” and “Deer Dance.” They frenzied crowd didn’t even have time to recover from perhaps the song of the night, “B.Y.O.B.,” which they had just played before getting hit over the head with those two hammers.
During the latter half of their performance, guitarist Daron Malakian took time to acknowledge the passing of one of heavy metal’s most influential figures – the only and only Ozzy Osbourne.
“Last month, we all experienced a tragic loss,” Malakian said referring not to himself and his bandmates, but the metal community as a whole. “There’s no one I looked up to more as a child than Ozzy Osbourne. When I was like 6 or 7-years old, I used to dream that Ozzy Osbourne was havin dinner with me and my parents. And then, somewhere down the line, we got the opportunity to play the Ozzfest. And if you were here last night – I told you that there is no tour that helps System of a Down get to where we are today more than the Ozzfest.”
Then, Daron paused, and said to all in attendance – “I can’t hear you chanting his name.”
Immediately, the capacity crowd starting shouting, “OZZY! OZZY! OZZY!”
Satisfied with the tribute, Malakian continued.
“He was not only the Prince of Darkness, but the King of Heavy Metal.”
He set up the next song, a Black Sabbath cover, stating, “We’re gonna do a number about cocaine. It’s called ‘Snowblind.’ Back in 2001, System of a Down put their signature spin on the Sabbath classic for the album Nativity in Black II: A Tribute to Black Sabbath. Last night, the band played it for the first time since 2002.
After their Ozzy tribute, System of a Down played six more songs, including “Cigaro,” “Toxicity,” and fantastic rendition of “Aerials.” They closed out the evening with “Sugar,” a fan favorite from their first album. Nearly three decades in, System of a Down are clearly still at the top of their game. Despite not releasing an album in nearly 20 years, their popularity has clearly endured, and that’s a wonderful thing for heavy music.
Over the last few years, we’ve seen some of the biggest acts in rock history like Slayer, KISS, and Aerosmith retire from the road. One of the biggest musical acts of all time – The Who – are in the midst of their final concert tour, while Black Sabbath recently performed together one last time before Ozzy’s passing. While their influences and contemporaries are hanging it up, there’s plenty of young and hungry acts doing big things. Shinedown are headlining major festivals and shattering chart records. In addition to announcing sold out arena tours, Ghost and Sleep Token both topped the Billboard 200 (U.S.) this month with new albums and scored No. 1 spots in other countries around the globe back in the spring. Greta Van Fleet, embarked on a massive global arena tour behind their hit album Starcatcher back in 2023. Gojira, who are set to tour with Metallica next year across Europe and the UK, performed during the Opening Ceremonies at the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
Rock music is going through another renaissance right now. Young bands are having success, and pushing the genre forward while storied acts like Metallica, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, and more are still doing it big. A lot is coming full circle right now. Creed and Linkin Park are back selling out arenas, and Foo Fighters are gearing up for a return to the stage later this fall. Along with Rammstein, rock music needs acts like System of a Down and Korn to keep this mainstream resurgence rolling at a stadium-sized rate. Hopefully, this short run is just the start of much more to come.
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