It's been a long seven-year drought for System of a Down fans, but tonight the Armenian-American thrash-metallers will return to New Zealand with a vengeance.
The Grammy-winning band behind hit songs like Chop Suey! and Aerials last performed in Auckland at the 2005 Big Day Out, a show memorable for several stoppages for over-aggressive moshing in the D-barricade.
A sweaty and heaving moshpit can be expected at tonight's show at Trusts Stadium in Waitakere, as the band rip through what is likely to be a greatest hits set cherry picked from the band's albums: 1998's System of a Down, 2001's Toxicity, 2002's Steal This Album!, and 2005's double release Mezmerize and Hypnotize.
It's the band's first New Zealand show since they reunited in 2009 after three-year hiatus. And they haven't performed since October 7 in Chile, but it's likely to be a fired up performance thanks to Serj Tankian, an occasional New Zealand resident, performing in front of what he considers to be something of a home town crowd.
"New Zealand feels like home to me, and while my work takes me many places I always love returning. I'm super-excited to be back home in Auckland again, this time with System," Tankian said.
