26-08-2008 Serj Tankian

Supports: InMe ; Venue: 013, Tilburg (Netherlands)
By: Elvira Visser

Tonight InMe had the task to entertain the crowd before Serj Tankian entered the stage. Usually a hard task because it can be very hard to get the crowd going while they are waiting for another artist. Tonight however the audience got into the music of InMe, a band from Essex, UK. It did not take them long for the crowd to cheer along and applaud after their tracks. And I must say it was well deserved. This band formed back in 1996, seemed a little dull in the beginning but as their set continued the number of brilliant riffs increased. Their music is also very varied not only between tracks but also within them. It can start of slowly with a high voice reminding me of Radiohead (only the slow higher parts), quite emotional to burst out in a wall of sounds while screaming.

This was the first time for Serj Tankian to play in the Netherlands as a solo artist in a venue. He did play at Lowlands festival and left quite different opinions. Some thought he was great others thought he needed to work on his performance. Well tonight I think it did not really matter to the crowd what they did. They just wanted to see and hear him singing his songs. While entering the stage he already got a big applause and screaming fans. When he opened his mouth to sing I was actually wondering for a few seconds if his microphone was working. Because the audience was singing so loud. And they did this with every track. As soon as they heard the intro there was this response and they just sang along from start to end.

You might know Serj Tankian from System of a Down, and his solo work does remind you of SOAD, it has some parallels but it is less heavy. Less chaotic on stage. But Serj still knows how to entertain the crowd, taking off his top hat while bowing to the audience or dancing on the music. Sitting on his knees while singing. He knows how to entertain. His lyrics are politically influenced and I kind of expected him to shout some of them, but he kept it to some minor statements. It was great to see him having fun, with a group of musicians which are called the Flying Cunts of Chaos (the FCC). They know how to play many melodic, strangely arranged parts but they also know for sure how to create a wall of noise. But it all fits around the vocals of Serj, who just proved again that he is an excellent singer.

More pictures of this gig available at photographicretentions.nl

Links:
Serj Tankian MySpace
Serj Tankian Official