Photos and a review of System of a Down’s Toronto top on their current tour featuring Deftones, Polyphia, and Wisp

[Once again, Ross MacDonald was there for us. – AC]

On Wednesday, September 3, alt-metal gods System of a Down brought their very limited Wake Up! Tour to Toronto for the first of two nights. This was their first time performing in Toronto since their 2012 reunion tour. And Toronto was only one of three cities (Chicago and East Rutherford being the other two) to get the opportunity.

The stop in Toronto was much more than a typical concert, it was almost like a mini-festival. Four bands performed, starting late in the afternoon at the new outdoor Rogers Stadium in the North York suburb of Toronto. The stadium is open to the elements, so it was fortunate that the evening was warm, with clear skies, and a light breeze to help cool off the fans up front in general admission.

At 5:30pm the artist known professionally as Wisp (Natalie Lu) took the stage with her band. Wisp is categorised as a shoegaze artist, but that isn’t fair. Yes, Natalie has mad guitar skills, and she uses fitting effects. But she doesn’t overdo her effects, and unlike other shoegaze artists, Natalie actually makes eye contact with her fans. So let’s just call her an indie alt-rocker who knows how to make beautiful riffs on an electric six-string.

This young lady from San Francisco told the crowd, “This is my first time in Canada, and I’m having a great time!” She was smiling and waving to the crowd, but seemed somewhat shy, so she mostly let her guitar do the talking.

With only about half an hour, Wisp made quick work of getting through four of her songs. It was a performance with quality over quantity. She closed her set with ‘Your Face’, a hit single that has been gaining some serious traction (almost 10M views on YouTube). Then it was time to wave thanks and make room for the next artist.

Following Wisp on stage were Texas rockers Polyphia. A conventional band most often has four members (guitarist, bass player, drummer, and a singer who often sports a rhythm guitar).

Polyphia are not conventional. There is no singer. The bassist is playing a five-string bass. And there are two lead guitarists, playing eight-string electric guitars (that is not a typo), often supplemented by an acoustic guitar. And there is no singular genre: one minute there is heavy metal shred, the next is a funky bossanova, then a hint of classical guitar (at incredibly fast picking), and sometimes all within a song. What is this band?!? Let’s just settle on instrumental prog-rock because that is fairly encompassing.

Again, the set time allocated to Polyphia was a relatively short time, about 40 minutes. So with a few words of welcome, the band got down to business. The guitarists Tim Henson and Scott LePage are up front and ever present.

The second-last song was ‘Playing God’, and once again this was another opportunity for guitarist Tim Henson to demonstrate his virtuosity. Starting on his classical acoustic guitar placed on a stand, then going back and forth on his eight-string Ibanez.

Polyphia wrapped up their set with their single ‘G.O.A.T.’ that also highlights the band’s rhythm section. With Clay Gober’s fast bass lines, and Clay Aeschliman’s quick hands (and feet) on his drums and cymbals, the syncopations added a complex depth that had everyone bobbing heads and raising their hands with devil horns, yelling out a lot of “hell yeahs” with their cheers and whistles.

The third band of the evening was Grammy award winners, California’s Deftones (it was a night with 3/4 of the bands from the west coast). They have been performing for 30 years? How is that possible when for their entire set lead singer Chino Moreno didn’t stand still for more than a few seconds. Constantly jumping up and off of the monitor speakers and drum riser.The only thing holding Chino back was a few times when his mic cord got caught up on the stage (fortunately it was never anything serious).

Photo: Clement Ruiz

And everyone was thrilled to have guitarist Stephen Carpenter back on stage, shredding as fine as ever. The classic lineup with Chino and Stephen up front was not lost on all the fans packed into the stadium.

They performed an incredible 18 songs over their 90 minute set. Starting off with a pair of older hits ‘Be Quiet and Drive (Far Away)’ followed by ‘My Own Summer (Shove It)’. And then it was their new hit single ‘My Mind Is A Mountain’ which received great applause from the crowd.

The fans on the floor wasted no time in starting mosh pits and crowd surfing. Security was kept busy escorting surfers out of the front throughout the set.

The Deftones ended their set with their funky protest song ‘7 Words’. There are few more pertinent songs at this time in world events. It was definitely a crowd favourite and a great set-up for the night’s headliner.

Photo: Clemente Ruiz

It was as if a dress code was sent out in advance of the concert: wear black. There were a lot of (heavy metal) band shirts, but almost everyone at the show was wearing black. One notable exception, and in a nod to ‘Vicinity Of Obscenity’, there were a lot of members in the audience dressed as bananas (including some crowd-surfing bananas). But no terracotta pies were spotted. Unfortunately for all those bananas in the crowd, ‘Vicinity of Obscenity’ wasn’t performed in Toronto.

Photo: Clement Ruiz

For over a decade fans of System of a Down have been clamouring for a reunion tour, and after 13 long years, Toronto fans finally got their wish. As the lights went out Daron Malakian was first on stage and announced into his mic, like he was introducing a professional wrestling match, the entry of the band.

System of a Down wear their politics on their sleeve and started off with the anti-war songs ‘Soldier Side’ and ‘B.Y.O.B.’ with explicit messages on the screen behind the band.

The stadium was filled with many diehard fans, but AJOMT spoke with one newer fan: “I was a casual fan of System of a Down, and this concert really converted me. I was on my feet the whole time.”

The band provides a full musical experience. The rhythms of John Dolmayan on drums (he must use double kick drum pedals) and Shavo Odadjian on bass (lightning fast picking) sounded like a machine gun at times. And all the while Daron’s shredding over top gave sounds of heavy metal heaven. Then in comes Serj’s vocals, like an opera singer.

No other band has that unmistakable sound of System of a Down. ‘Aerials’ was performed fairly early in the set and the quiet-loud-quiet of the music and vocals gave goosebumps, and it wasn’t even cold out.

Photo: Clement Ruiz

Throughout their set the band played deeper cuts and all their popular hit singles such as ‘Hypnotize’ about halfway through. The quiet intro, then the back and forth vocals between Serj and Daron made everyone’s jaws drop; except for the ever-present moshers and crowd surfers.

The beginning of ‘Lost In Hollywood’ started with The Who’s ‘Won’t Get Fooled Again’, who played in Toronto the night before; it was a great nod to the influential rockers.

And in what seems to be a new, and appreciated tradition, there was no disappearing offstage to be begged back for an encore. So the band continued their deluge of fast-paced on-stage mayhem with the last two songs hitting the hardest, ‘Toxicity’ followed by ‘Sugar’.

Throughout the evening, System of a Down gave the 50,000 fans exactly what they wanted: a rare mix of much needed political messaging, amazing instrumentation, operatic singing, and on-stage theatrics that were completely engaging all night long.

Nobody would be surprised if many of those same fans were back for a second night. Please don’t wait another 13 years to come back.

System of a Down:
Serj Tankian – lead vocals, keyboards, rhythm guitar
Daron Malakian – lead guitar, vocals
Shavo Odadjian – bass, backing vocals
John Dolmayan – drums, percussion

Deftones:
Chino Moreno – lead vocals
Stephen Carpenter – lead guitar
Abe Cunningham – drums
Frank Delgado – keyboards

Touring musician:
Fred Sablan – bass, backing vocals

Polyphia:
Tim Henson – guitar
Scott LePage – guitar
Clay Gober – bass
Clay Aeschliman – drums