SYSTEM OF A DOWN Performs Live For First Time In 11 Months At Las Vegas's SICK NEW WORLD Festival

SYSTEM OF A DOWN played its first live show in 11 months Saturday night (April 27) as one of the headliners of the Sick New World festival in Las Vegas, Nevada for the second year in a row.

SYSTEM OF A DOWN opened its 27-song set with "X", a partial rendition of "Suite-Pee" and "Prison Song", before performing "B.Y.O.B." and following it up with the first airing of "Innervision" since 2019, and later playing "Bubbles" and "CUBErt" for the first time in almost a decade.

The full setlist was as follows:

01. X
02. Suite-Pee (partial)
03. Prison Song
04. Holy Mountains
05. Soldier Side - Intro
06. B.Y.O.B.
07. Innervision (first performance since 2019)
08. Dreaming (breakdown only)
09. Needles
10. Deer Dance
11. Radio/Video
12. Bubbles (first live performance since 2015)
13. CUBErt (first live performance since 2015)
14. Hypnotize
15. ATWA
16. Bounce
17. Suggestions
18. Psycho
19. Chop Suey!
20. Lonely Day
21. Kill Rock 'n' Roll (first performance since 2017)
22. Lost in Hollywood
23. Aerials
24. Genocidal Humanoidz
25. War?
26. Toxicity
27. Sugar

Last November, SYSTEM OF A DOWN frontman Serj Tankian addressed his comment from a year earlier that he wasn't interested in touring due to some health issues. Asked if those issues are still affecting him, Serj told Revolver magazine: "Some of my back stuff is a lot better, in terms of health, which is cool. I have some other things I'm dealing with right now, which may or may not be affected by travel or touring.

"It wasn't just a health-related decision as far as cutting down on touring, but also a lifestyle decision," he explained. "Based on family and vision.

"I've been touring for 20-something years, on and off, of course. Not every year. And it's fun, it's profitable, it makes a lot of people happy in terms of being out there and sharing the music and [seeing] the reaction, and people really enjoying it and getting that feedback. But after years of doing it and the travel that's involved, it's one of those things where it's not the top priority on my list in life."

Asked if that means that he wants to spend more time with his son, Serj said: "Travel takes you out of… you could take your family with you if you're doing a small tour, I guess. And that's something that we have done, even when our son was really young. But it's just about prioritizing life and what you really want to do.

"Some people like to tour until they're ready to go from this plane, and that's not how I see myself going," he explained. "To me, doing different things in measured form allows me to be more creative than to take something that's repetitious and do it for a long period of time. And that includes everything that I do."

As previously reported, Serj's memoir, "Down With The System", will be released on May 14, 2024 via Hachette Books.

SYSTEM OF A DOWN vocalist/guitarist Daron Malakian has resurrected his SCARS ON BROADWAY project for its first live appearances in five years: October 5 at the BMO Stadium in Los Angeles as the support act for KORN, and October 11 at the Aftershock festival in Sacramento, California.