Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London, July 13, 2026
There are shows where you can just feel that something monumental is about to take place.
There’s a heaviness to the air around you, a coiled spring of expectancy, a quiet excitement that is impossible to shift. The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium is rife with that feeling right now, and it’s all because of System Of A Down. Nine years since they last set foot on British land, and ten since they were last in England’s capital city, such an occasion is the definition of long time coming.
Yet this doesn’t just feel like a long-awaited return. This feels like a cultural moment of the highest order. A gathering of hearts and minds of all ages, all creeds and backgrounds, that need the band more than ever before. Their absence has been felt not just in sound but in stature, and even before a note has been played, the relief that this is actually happening is undeniable.
Queens Of The Stone Age are the perfect accompaniment to such anticipation too. Their hour on stage is akin to the dirt under your fingernails that you just can’t seem to budge; a murky, deafening, grooving tour de force of tension and tenacity. Josh Homme is firmly locked in, his iconic drawl feeling all the more hypnotising than usual, as a dizzying ‘Sick, Sick, Sick’ and scorching ‘My God Is The Sun’ rip and tear at the masses before him with dusty desire.
There are moments where he allows the weight of the occasion to let his stony demeanour slip, especially during a playful ‘No One Knows’, reworked in a manner that he can hear just how loud the crowd singing along is, and a sensational ‘Song For The Dead’, which leaves the masses before him looking like a battleground. It’s a good indicator of just how riled up and ready to put it all on the line so many here are, and Homme clearly appreciates such commitment to the cause.
But fast-forward half an hour, and somehow such chaos is multiplied tenfold. As Daron Malakian croons his way through a beautiful ‘Soldier Side – Intro’ as the rest of System saunter into position, the anticipation has never been more palpable. And as the gritty riff of ‘B.Y.O.B.’ kicks into life, and a scream-along to those immortal opening words hits a whole new decibel, everything and everyone explodes into life.
It is full blown chaos, and it doesn’t let up for a second.
What follows is nothing short of a masterclass. The fact that a band that has crafted such off-kilter, deranged sounds continues to capture such frenzied attention from so many is a testament not just to how much the listening public craves being challenged, but also to SOAD’s continued drive to offer a place for complete abandon. ‘Prison Song’ is belligerent and bold, ‘Radio / Video’ is still as vital as it was 20 years ago and ‘I-E-A-I-A-I-O’ is bizarre and brazen in equal measure.
Though what sets this particular display apart from previous times the band have made the journey through their discography on these shores is just how clearly they are loving every second. Serj Tankian can’t help but smile his way through every word that leaves his mouth, even when they are presented via the most guttural of howls. Shavo Odadjian stomps his feet and bangs his head with pure abandon, channelling the sort of energy usually suited to a show at the Underworld rather than a theatre of this magnitude. And John Dolmayan doesn’t miss a beat behind his kit, whilst also letting a smile or two creep out from behind his concentration, usually in response to something Daron, a total showman, has said.
There is a clear togetherness radiating between the four of them. They are not just playing these songs because they feel like they have to. They are living through them once more. And the result is that it is so beautifully effective. Every riff is harder, every melody is grander, and every twist and turn is more exhilarating. Musicianship at its absolute finest.
And it is in the slower moments that that bond is most noticeable. ‘Aerials’ is enough to give you permanent goosebumps, whilst ‘Lost In Hollywood’ is so beautifully delivered, harmonies aplenty, that it could have closed the whole show out by how incredible it is.
But that job is up to ‘Toxicity’, which sees the absolutely jam-packed floor take carnage to a whole new level. From front to back, circle pits form in abundance, like ants at the mercy of their queen, swirling at such visceral, violent speed that it’s impossible not to want to go to the party. A complete loss of inhibition, putting everything on the line in pursuit of total euphoria.
It’s just one of a series of beautiful moments that make up this tapestry of a triumph. This is the sort of show that goes down in history. That is talked about with intense excitement for years to come, and defined by an energy that cannot be bottled or forced, only dispensed through natural and sporadic means. This is System Of A Down at the absolute peak of their powers. Passionate, punishing and pitch perfect, as vital and undeniable as is possible and leaving this shell-shocked and breathless crowd begging to do it all over again.
The world is so much better when this band are in it, and here’s hoping that stays the way for more than the foreseeable.
