(Ultimate-Guitar.Com)–Described by the media as "the most wonderfully bombastic band in modern rock,"the most wholly unique band making music today," and "capable of single-handedly carrying rock into a new era," System Of A Down will kick off its first major North American tour in three years on August 4–headlining the Long Beach Arena just outside of Los Angeles. The tour–which features The Mars Volta as special guests and Bad Acid Trip as the tour’s first leg openers–will see System Of A Down headlining arenas in some forty cities over a ten-week period.
Tickets for the first five cities on the tour–Long Beach–San Diego–Houston–San Antonio–and Dallas–will go on sale this weekend and will be priced from $32.50 to $45.00. System Of A Down’s site will host a ticket presale beginning this Wednesday–June 8 at 10:00AM PDT running through 10:00PM PDT on Thursday–June 9. Log onto the site–www.systemofadown.com–for the special password and complete details. General ticket on-sales will begin this weekend for these initial five dates at the band’s website–at all Ticketmaster outlets including ticketmaster.com–and at the venues’ box office.
The tour is in support of System Of A Down’s brand-new album–"Mezmerize," which was released May 17 and debuted in the number one slot on the Billboard/SoundScan charts. "Mezmerize" also experienced worldwide first-week success having soared to the top of album charts in more than a dozen countries–worldwide sales for "Mezmerize" in its first week topped 800,000 copies. "Mezmerize" is the first disc in a two-disc set–with disc two–"Hypnotize," set for a late fall release. "Mezmerize/Hypnotize" was produced by Rick Rubin and System’s main songwriter/guitarist Daron Malakian.
Since its self-titled debut in 1998–System Of A Down–Daron Malakian (guitars–vocals)–Serj Tankian (vocals)–Shavo Odadjian (bass)–John Dolmayan (drums)–has sold more than 10-million records world wide–and risen to the level of an arena headliner while maintaining its musical integrity–its core fan base–and its position as one of the most unique bands in rock. With the unexpected commercial radio success of "Chop Suey!,"Toxicity," and the Number One "Aerials," the three Top 10 radio tracks from 2001’s multi-platinum album "Toxicity," System blew the definition of mainstream rock wide open. System Of A Down’s music is impossible to pigeonhole–as it runs the gamut from Metallica to Frank Zappa to Gilbert and Sullivan to Armenian folk tunes. Lyrically–System is highly opinionated about numerous topics including war–religion–politics–Hollywood–love–genocide–drugs–sex–injustice–and just having a good time.
System Of A Down is currently on a 23-date tour of Europe comprised of appearances at major rock festivals as well as handful of headlining dates including a three-night stand at London’s Brixton Academy. This past April–the band took to the road on a nine-city "guerrilla tour," headlining small venues in major US markets with the shows being announced only a day or two ahead of time. Of the Washington–DC show–the Washington Post wrote that System "delivered a performance as pummeling and cathartic as rock gets." Initial confirmed dates for System of a Down’s North American tour are as follows:
08/04–Long Beach Arena–Long Beach–CA–On-sale is 12 noon, Saturday–June 11
08/06–TBA–San Diego–CA–On-sale is 3:00 PM–Friday–June 10
08/11–American Airlines Center–Dallas–TX–On-sale is 12 noon Saturday–June 11
08/12–SBC Arena–San Antonio–TX–On-sale is 10:00 AM–Saturday, June 11
08/13–Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion–Houston–TX–On-sale is 10:00 AM–Saturday–June 11
More dates to be announced shortly.