System of a Down played their first show in more than two years last night at Las Vegas’ T-Mobile arena, which gave them the opportunity to finally perform their new songs “Genocidal Humanoidz” and “Protect the Land” live. Both songs came out last year and marked the band’s first new music in 15 years.
“[This song is] about some piece of shit government that tried again to kill our people. Fuck the genocidal humanoidz!” guitarist Daron Malakian declared to the crowd before diving into the track.
Prior to “Protect the Land,” singer Serj Tankian discussed the somber inspiration behind both songs and thanked fans for being part of the cause. “The combined forces of Azerbaijan, Turkey and Syria mercenaries attacked a peaceful people living in Nagorno-Karabakh who have been living there on their indigenous land for thousands of years,” he said. “Those are our people. At the time, System of a Down put out two songs to help bring attention to the cause, and what we want to do is thank you, because you helped join our effort to raise funds and bring attention to this very important event.”
The band was able to raise $600,000 for the Armenia Fund through proceeds from both songs.
Watch System of a Down live-debut “Genocidal Humanoidz” and “Protect the Land” below.
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Earlier this year, we spoke with Tankian about the future of SAOD and his solo EP, Elasticity. Read the full interview here.
