Scars on Broadway
July 23, 2018
Grammy Museum – Los Angeles, CA
Fresh off the release of their second studio album, Dictator, Daron Malakian and Scars on Broadway hit the Clive Davis Theater at the Grammy Museum for an intimate, semi-acoustic performance. With this being their first release since 2008 and their first show since 2012, fans from all over the world were anxious and excited.
The question remained as to why has it been so long? During his interview with Scott Goldman at the museum prior to the performance, Malakian explained that he was unsure whether there would be new music from System of a Down being released, so he held off on releasing Dictator. He explained how Dictator was created about 6 years ago! That’s a long time to sit on an album and of course that also means that “It’s not about Trump…” Malakian said with a grin as the crowd laughed.
Before the set began, Malakian mentioned that the band was only supposed to pay a few songs- maybe four- but he understood that fans wanted to hear music and he clearly had been waiting far too long to play some. The set began with two oldies, Enemy and Cute Machines from their self-titled record. This was the first show with the new band line-up and the first ever time Malakian performed these songs acoustically.
The set contained mainly older songs, which fans appreciated, but featured some new ones including Guns Are Loaded and Till The End which according to Malakian “is not a love song”. Interestingly enough, they did not play Lives, the lead single off the new album but they did surprise the crowd with acoustic versions of System of a Down’s Lonely Day and Lost In Hollywood.
As if the fans weren’t enjoying the show enough, Malakian performed a new song, You Destroy You. The song definitely had a different vibe than the other songs off Dictator so it might be a song for the following album- which we hope will be released sooner than 10 years from now!
14 songs later, the band received a standing ovation (yes, the crowd was sitting the entire time), thanked the audience and Daron Malakian treated the crowd to an after-show signing.
I could only imagine that after so many years, it would be difficult to release an album because there is a lot of anticipation and expectation for it to be great- but with Dictator, Malakian proved that he’s still able to create these great hard-rock songs. And if an acoustic performance can get so many people really feeling the music, then I’m excited and ready to see this set done at their headline shows!
Review by: Nicole Lemberg
