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Serj Tankian
Amager Bio, Copenhagen - 2008
Text: Tobias Nilsson Photo: Lunah Lauridsen
Enter the Serjical church; reverend Tankian is holding a sermon.
I write this, because this show really gave me a feeling of being in one of those gospel style churches you sometimes see on TV, where the reverend shouts "Praise the Lord" at the top of his lungs, and the congregation answers with howls of ecstasy. And "Praise the Lord" he did shout, "Praise The Lord And Pass The Ammunition". And his ragtag congregation of Danish metalheads answered him with shouts of pure admiration. And it was good.
The show actually did not start there, it started with the Flying Cunts of Chaos (FCC) entering the scene, where after they began jamming a little. Quiet, calm, and very nice. After a short while Serj entered the stage as well, joining the jamming with some falsetto humming; and there the shouts began.
The jamming quickly transformed into a new song called Sounds Of War, which sounded really good, almost like a poem reading with music added. After this he proceeded with playing his debut solo album, Elect The Dead, in its entirety.
The setlist also included Charades, a song which appears on the Axis Of Justice: Concert series Volume 1 album (Axis of Justice being the political organization formed by Serj Tankian and Tom Morello (Audioslave, ex-Rage Against The Machine)), and a cover of Dead Kennedys' Holiday In Cambodia.
More than just a singer, Serj joined Dan Monti and Larry 'Ler' LaLonde (Primus) on guitar for Saving Us and Baby, and took control of the keyboard for Praise The Lord... and Elect The Dead, with which he ended the show.
Serj played Elect The Dead alone on stage, which could have been a great idea, but I'm sorry to say that this was, in my eyes, the weakest point of the show. The reason was that he played right where the keyboard had been standing throughout the show, making him face the drumkit for the entire song. I think it would have worked better if they had taken the time to move the keyboard up center stage, so that he would have faced the audience, thus involving us a bit more in this, otherwise, beautiful ending of a great concert.
Setlist:
Sounds Of War
Empty Walls
Feed Us
Lie Lie Lie
Saving Us
Baby
Sky Is Over
Praise The Lord And Pass The Ammunition
Charades
Honking Antelope
Holiday In Cambodia (Dead Kennedys cover)
Beethoven's Cunt
The Unthinking Majority
Money
Elect The Dead
I write this, because this show really gave me a feeling of being in one of those gospel style churches you sometimes see on TV, where the reverend shouts "Praise the Lord" at the top of his lungs, and the congregation answers with howls of ecstasy. And "Praise the Lord" he did shout, "Praise The Lord And Pass The Ammunition". And his ragtag congregation of Danish metalheads answered him with shouts of pure admiration. And it was good.
The show actually did not start there, it started with the Flying Cunts of Chaos (FCC) entering the scene, where after they began jamming a little. Quiet, calm, and very nice. After a short while Serj entered the stage as well, joining the jamming with some falsetto humming; and there the shouts began.
The jamming quickly transformed into a new song called Sounds Of War, which sounded really good, almost like a poem reading with music added. After this he proceeded with playing his debut solo album, Elect The Dead, in its entirety.
The setlist also included Charades, a song which appears on the Axis Of Justice: Concert series Volume 1 album (Axis of Justice being the political organization formed by Serj Tankian and Tom Morello (Audioslave, ex-Rage Against The Machine)), and a cover of Dead Kennedys' Holiday In Cambodia.
More than just a singer, Serj joined Dan Monti and Larry 'Ler' LaLonde (Primus) on guitar for Saving Us and Baby, and took control of the keyboard for Praise The Lord... and Elect The Dead, with which he ended the show.
Serj played Elect The Dead alone on stage, which could have been a great idea, but I'm sorry to say that this was, in my eyes, the weakest point of the show. The reason was that he played right where the keyboard had been standing throughout the show, making him face the drumkit for the entire song. I think it would have worked better if they had taken the time to move the keyboard up center stage, so that he would have faced the audience, thus involving us a bit more in this, otherwise, beautiful ending of a great concert.
Setlist:
Sounds Of War
Empty Walls
Feed Us
Lie Lie Lie
Saving Us
Baby
Sky Is Over
Praise The Lord And Pass The Ammunition
Charades
Honking Antelope
Holiday In Cambodia (Dead Kennedys cover)
Beethoven's Cunt
The Unthinking Majority
Money
Elect The Dead
Serj Tankian
