System of a Down hosted their only scheduled performance of 2023 at Las Vegas’ inaugural Sick New World festival on Saturday, and the top-billed heavy metal outfit did not hold back for their first live set in over a year.
The Grammy-winning rock quartet, who have only made sporadic on-stage appearances since their contentious hiatus in 2006, closed the main stage for the single-day event and unleashed one blistering hit after another, including the trio of breakout singles, “Chop Suey!” (which still scares singer Serj Tankian to this day), “Toxicity,” and “Aerials,” from 2001’s Toxicity.
The band also revived several rarities from their 1998 self-titled debut like “Soil,” “Darts,” “Suite-Pee,” and “Peephole,” the last receiving its first live rendition in 10 years. The stacked setlist truly spanned the group’s whole career as they played the early era demo track “DAM” along with their two 2020 comeback tracks, “Genocidal Humanoidz” and “Protect the Land.” Watch fan-captured footage of System of a Down’s Sick New World set below.
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Aside from System of a Down’s live set at Sick New World 2023, the nascent hard rock event also featured performances from Korn, Deftones, and more. Stay tuned for our full review of the inaugural event, plus an accompanying photo gallery from the day’s performances.
Setlist:
Prison Song
I-E-A-I-A-I-O
Soil (First live performance since 2015)
Mind (Intro only)
Darts (First live performance since 2017)
Soldier Side – Intro
B.Y.O.B.
Genocidal Humanoidz
Needles
Deer Dance
Bounce
Suggestions
Psycho
Chop Suey!
Lonely Day
Question!
Lost in Hollywood
Radio/Video
Peephole (First live performance since 2013)
Dreaming (Middle breakdown only)
Hypnotize
ATWA
Forest (First live performance since 2015)
Protect the Land
Spiders
Aerials
DAM (First live performance since 2017)
Cigaro
Suite-Pee
Toxicity
Sugar
I THINK WE CAN ALL AGREE THAT SYSTEM OF A DOWN KILLED IT TONIGHT 🔥 pic.twitter.com/X9fRX0Xlei
Advertisement— Sick New World Fest (@snwfest) May 14, 2023
