In a surprising turn of events, given the lack of touring activities for the band in recent years, System Of A Down recently announced an ambitious return to the stage with a six-show stadium tour in North America for 2025. During a recent appearance on SiriusXM’s Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk, bassist Shavarsh “Shavo” Odadjian shared his thoughts on the band’s resurgence, the quick sellouts, and their future plans.
The shows, featuring special guests Korn, Avenged Sevenfold, and Deftones, will kick off on August 27-28 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, followed by two nights at Soldier Field in Chicago (August 31-September 1) and concluding at Rogers Centre in Toronto on September 3 and 5. Tickets sold out within hours of going on sale, prompting the band to add additional dates in each city.
“Literally within a few hours, we sold out every show, and it was a shock to us. But I’m very glad that the stadiums were available near those dates,” Shavo revealed. “We had a band conference about it. My manager hit us up. He’s, like, ‘Dude, you guys sold it all out.’ … It floored me. People are, like, ‘Why should it be so surprising to you?’ Everyone sees us a certain way. I still see us as that band from Hollywood. I’m not seeing us as this giant band that could sell out MetLife twice, two nights in a row. Football stadiums, bro. So, we decided, ‘Let’s add another show to each.’ And we put it out there the next day and those sold out too.”
For fans, the limited number of cities on the tour has raised questions, but Shavo explained that the band is taking a measured approach to returning to the spotlight. “We haven’t played a lot together for a while. We’ve been doing one or two shows a year since 2017. So, the relationships were not as great as they are now. It’s just everybody wasn’t on the same page,” he said. “We’ve been talking. Everything’s great, knock on wood. Everyone’s happy. So we decided to test the waters and play some shows. And that’s what it is. There is no strategy to it, there’s no plan to do the rest of the world just yet. I’m not saying it’s not gonna happen; I’m not saying it is gonna happen. We told each other, ‘Let’s play it by ear, do these shows, see how we feel afterward. If we don’t wanna do anymore, we don’t do anymore. If we wanna do more, we’ll do more.’ There’s no heavy responsibility on anyone, because I feel like a lot of it is just thinking too much, overthinking what could happen.”
Reflecting on why the band is approaching things cautiously, Shavo added: “Bad experiences have happened to certain people, and they hold that as PTSD, I think. And now that things are better, we’re older, we’re, like, ‘Dude, no pressure, bro. Let’s just do it. If we like it, we do. If we don’t like it, we [don’t].’ ’Cause you know what? Serj had a great time at the Sick New World festival last year. We had such an amazing, fun show and everyone left the stage hugging. And so he called back, he’s, like, ‘Dude, I loved it. Let’s do more of these.’ So that’s where that happened. We’re, like, ‘Let’s go.’ As long as everyone is down. Daron was down. So we decided, ‘Let’s test the waters. Let’s not just go full blast and start doing months. Let’s just test the waters with three shows.’ Those three shows turned to six.”
The East Coast focus of this tour is no coincidence. The band has primarily played West Coast venues in recent years, leaving East Coast fans feeling overlooked. “We haven’t been there for a long time. ’Cause we’ve been doing West Coast stuff a lot, because we haven’t been leaving the West Coast,” Shavo explained. “Like I said, we’ve been kind of dipping our toe in the water, testing the temperature of the water. So, we’ve been kind of upsetting the East Coast. It seems like we don’t like going there, but we love the East Coast. We love all over. We love the entire country. It’s not personal at all. So when we decided to do some extra shows, we said, ‘We need to go to the East Coast. That’s where this year has to be.’ So that’s the reason — because we love the East; we really do. We talk about it every day — John and I talk about it every day. We’re, like, ‘We can’t wait for this.’ So we’re looking forward to seeing the crowd, being there and seeing the city and enjoying it with that eye again. We’re playing the city again. And to play two stadiums in each city is just — it’s a gift.”
When asked about the logistical challenges of ramping up to perform at stadiums for just six shows, Shavo admitted, “We can do it. Look, for the last few years, we’ve been doing one or two shows. And we go and we rehearse for two weeks for one show. I think that’s not smart. So six shows are better than one show to me. I’ll take it. I’ll take it, and I’m not gonna ask for more. I want it to happen organically. I think our band is that band — we can’t be told what to do. The more we push each other to do something, the less we do. So I figure the less we push, the more we’ll do. It should be done because we wanna do it, we love to do it, and that’s why we do it.”
The band is also set to tour South America this spring as part of their “Wake Up! South America” tour, marking their first visit to the continent since 2015. The seven-show run will include stops in Colombia, Peru, Chile, Argentina, and Brazil.
Whether this marks the beginning of a new era or simply a limited return, thousands of System of a Down’s fans are ready to embrace every note, and the band is embracing the moment on their own terms.
