An event like the one that System of a Down and Deftones headlined at San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park in mid-August—with The Mars Volta, Viagra Boys, and VOWWS cast in supporting roles—only comes about when there are more than a few interested stakeholders involved. For Another Planet Entertainment, which produced the alt-metal mega-concert, it was an opportunity to amplify its ongoing investment in live music at the park. The company has been putting on Outside Lands, now a staple of the summer festival circuit in the U.S., since 2008. For this particular event, Another Planet would maintain (and monetize) the infrastructure already in place for Outside Lands’ Polo Field stage over an additional weekend. And since these sets were billed as the inaugural Golden Gate Park Concerts, Another Planet stands to benefit from this expansion in the calendar for years to come.
It was also an opportunity for the city of San Francisco itself to promote its needs and curry favor with its people. The concert was billed as an opportunity to bring in much-needed economic benefits to the city, some of which would flow toward staving off cuts to San Francisco’s parks and public programming. Unsaid in all that was the basic political reality that 2024 is an election year for the mayor’s office in San Francisco. London Breed, the city’s current mayor, stands to benefit from an event that brought 50,000 music lovers to the park for a day of headbanging, moshing, and all-around rocking. Not that any of those revelers likely cared at all about the aforementioned stakes, other than the fruit they bore on a deeply foggy day.
The giant get-together began with VOWWS warming up the crowd amid a soft but aggressive drizzle. The Deftones-endorsed Australian “death pop” band showered the early crowd with an EP’s-worth of unreleased songs, in addition to “Symbol System”, “Impulse Control”, and “One by One”. VOWWS’ goth-leaning vibes gave way to Viagra Boys. The Swedish punkers did their part to encourage some initial moshing, courtesy of irreverent, bass-heavy drones like “Ain’t Nice”, “Punk Rock Loser”, “Troglodyte”, and “ADD”.
With so many iconic band leaders on the bill, Sebastian Murphy did more than hold his own. On top of his expectedly gritty vocals, the Viagra Boys frontman told his fair share of hilariously random stories—including one about growing up in nearby Marin County—while drinking beer and trundling around the stage. During “Sports”, he even gave the audience seven pushups to cheer about.
In a city with a well-known affinity for psychedelic music, The Mars Volta proved to be a perfect fit in the middle of a surprisingly eclectic lineup. The prog-rockers from El Paso were in fine form at the Polo Grounds as they jammed to a handful of their tracks. Lead singer Cedric Bixler-Zavala warmed up with a few lines from Scott McKenzie’s “San Francisco” before embarking on an extended version of “Roulette Dares (The Haunt of)”. His hair and his mic-twirling tricks were as big as ever as the band blew minds with their musicianship on “L’Via L’Viaquez”, “Drunkship of Lanterns”, and “Graveyard Love”. Of all the impressive musicianship onstage for The Mara Volta, drummer Linda-Philomène Tsoungui truly stood out. The German percussionist was crisp and powerful on her set, more than earning her spotlight solos.
As the sun (presumably) began to set behind the fog cloud engulfing Golden Gate Park, the crowd reached a rowdy peak just in time for Deftones. Frontman Chino Moreno—with the only red shirt amid a band dressed in all black—riled up every attendee as he bounded with unbridled energy from one side of the stage to the other during an opener pair of “Be Quiet and Drive (Far Away)” and “My Own Summer (Shove It)”. Even without lead guitarist Stephen Carpenter—who sat out this show and several others due to sudden illness and has toured selectively since 2022—Chino and his fellow Sacramento natives more than managed to keep the crowd rowdy. They dropped “Cherry Waves” for the first time in 2024 per Setlist.fm, and had many a head banging to “Change (In The House of Flies)” before closing out with “Genesis” and “7 Words”.
That all set the tone for a phenomenal finale from System of a Down. To celebrate its 30th anniversary as a band, the quirky heavy metal rockers from Glendale put together a triumphant 25-song setlist comprised of deep cuts, core hits, and even a new-ish song.
System opened with “Genocidal Humanoidz”, which emerged in 2020 as one-half of the band’s first new single since 2005. They also sprinkled in three tracks—“Mr. Jack”, “P.L.U.C.K.”, and “Know”—that hadn’t seen the light of day at a SOAD show in at least five years. Those songs aside, the group brought the audience to a crescendo early and often with conscious rock anthems like “Suite-Pee”, “Prison Song”, and the Grammy-winning “B.Y.O.B.”.
Though more subdued onstage than in years past, Serj Tankian was no less spectacular on vocals. The 56-year-old legend of Los Angeles’ Armenian community showed off his dramatic singing range on “Aerials”, hit every frenetic yell and scream on “Chop Suey!” and was at his most powerful for “Toxicity” just prior to ending the evening with the unhinged, growling beat poetry of “Sugar”.
Though System of a Down doesn’t yet have any more performances on the calendar in 2024, most of the supporting bill will be varying levels of busy through the end of the year. Viagra Boys will head back across the Atlantic for dates in the U.K., Greece, and Italy before heading to Australia in November. The Mars Volta will play a pair of festivals this fall—first, Desert Daze in October, then Corona Capital in November. Those craving another dose of Deftones will have to find a way into Dia de Los Deftones, the band’s fifth-annual (and sold-out) Halloween festival in San Diego.
System Of A Down — Golden Gate Park — San Francisco, CA — 8/17/24 — Full Video
[Video: TJ]
Deftones — Golden Gate Park — San Francisco, CA — 8/17/24 — Full Video
[Video: Matthew King]
The Mars Volta — Golden Gate Park — San Francisco, CA — 8/17/24 — Partial Video
[Video: Dru Nature]
Viagra Boys — Golden Gate Park — San Francisco, CA — 8/17/24 — Partial Video
[Video: TJ]
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