This past Saturday (August 17th), System of a Down and Deftones rocked San Francisco, playing a co-headline show that was dramatically billed as “a standalone event at the historic Golden Gate Park.” It did not disappoint.
A sold-out crowd of 50,000 fans attended the Bay Area concert, which was warmed up with opening set by death-pop duo VOWWS, Swedish smarm-punks Viagra Boys and reunited psych-prog absurdists the Mars Volta.
Playing in the penultimate spot, Deftones — sans founding guitarist Stephen Carpenter — surged through a 15-song set, opening with Around the Fur favorite “Be Quiet and Drive (Far Away)” and closing with Adrenaline’s immortal rap-metal tantrum “7 Words.”
As for System, playing just their second show of 2024 — following their appearance at Las Vegas, Nevada’s Sick New World festival in the spring — the Armenian-American alt-metal titans pulled out all the stops, delivering a career-spanning 25-song mega-set. The quartet started things off fresh with their 2020 single “Genocidal Humanoidz,” but also dug deep, dusting off “Know” and “P.L.U.C.K.,” both of which hadn’t been performed since 2018, as well as Steal This Album!’s “Mr. Jack,” which was last played in 2019.
All in all, it made for a thrilling, action-packed event. Check out photos from throughout the memorable day below.
