Turbinenhalle, Oberhausen, Germany
21st October 2012
Serj Tankian, Viza & The Hollywood Arson Project
The Lebanese-born Armenian-American singer, songwriter, poet, activist, and multi-instrumentalist SERJ TANKIAN is probably better known as the leading voice of the alternative metal band SYSTEM OF A DOWN with which he released five albums. Now he’s touring Europe with his new solo album, stopping by in Oberhausen as well. The hall was not totally sold-out, but really packed when Serj started. But it was really well filled already when not announced opener THE HOLLYWOOD ARSON PROJECT entered the stage at 19:30, 30 minutes before the scheduled starting time…
The Hollywood Arson Project
Entering the stage really early, many people did not expect this unannounced opening act. As I learned later, the band opened already several shows before, strange that no announcement for the Oberhausen show spoke of them. Anyway, THE HOLLYWOOD ARSON PROJECT is 60% F.C.C. (the band accompanying Serj on tour) and consists of Jeff Mallow (guitar & vocals), Mario Pagliarulo (bass) and Troy Zeigler (drums). On stage, they were supported by Orbel Babayan of following band VIZA. https://www.facebook.com/thehollywoodarsonproject
Music & Performance
This evening’s opener had a very small slot – just 20 minutes time meant 4 songs to play. I must say that the evening’s opener was pretty boring to me. THE HOLLYWOOD ARSON PROJECT played some uninspired rock that did not really catch many people even though there were at least some interesting bass lines and drum rhythms. But then again, this band just started its career and so, there is room for improvement and their mix of progressive rock and psychedelic sounds has surely potential.
Rating
Music: 5
Performance: 4
Sound: 6
Light: 6
Total: 5 / 10
Viza
VIZA (formerly known as Visa) is an American rock band from Los Angeles, California, including some unusual instruments like oud or several percussions into their songs where they blend with conventional rock elements like guitars, bass and drums. They also include Armenian or Greek, Mediterranean, Middle Eastern, Eastern European and Latin elements into their music which sounded to me like a wild mix of SYSTEM OF A DOWN and GOGOL BORDELLO. The band’s latest album, ‘Carnivalia’, was released in 2011. VIZA is K'noup (vocals, 12 string guitar), Orbel Babayan (electric guitar, harmonica, vocals), Shant Bismejian (electric guitar), Andrew Kzirian (oud), Alex Khatcherian (bass ), Chris Daniel (percussion, vocals) and Hiram Rosario (drums). http://www.experienceviza.com / https://www.facebook.com/vizamusic
Music & Performance
After just 10 minutes rebuilding break, short past eight VIZA, all in all 7 people, entered the stage for their 45 minutes set. And what a set it was! Right from the start the caught the audience with the uncommon style mixture. With already several releases, they already had enough material to chose from. Quite new is THE DOORS cover of ‘Alabama Song (Whisky Bar)’ where they added their own strong seasonings and aggressive fusion style. Was a great choice to play this song live! I don’t overdraw by saying that they nearly exploded on stage while their unusual instrument mix surprises you over and over again. The show was really intoxicating and invigorating, making people move and scream during the whole show. Not only the above mentioned cover rocked, also songs like ‘My Mona Lisa’ or ‘Carnivalia’ from the latest album. There was nothing to moan about the show… well, maybe just the little fact that the right dressing for such a performance was missing. And there was something else missing compared with several other shows. There was no duet with Serj during ‘Viktor’. 
Anyway, when the band left after ‘Carnivalia’, there were lots of screams for encores and since there was still a little time “they played another fast song”. I must say, this was really some entertaining 45 minutes. Need to check out the band again on a headliner show!
Setlist
01. Trans-Siberian Standoff
02. It's All Wrong
03. Viktor
04. Viktor's Sister
05. Breakout the Violins
06. A Magic Ladder
07. In Coins
08. Alabama Song (Whisky Bar) (The Doors cover)
09. My Mona Lisa
10. Fork in the Road
11. Carnivalia
12. The Uzbek Brothel
Rating
Music: 8
Performance: 9
Sound: 8
Light: 7
Total: 8 / 10
Serj Tankian
Serj Tankian, best known as the lead vocalist, songwriter, keyboardist, and occasional live rhythm guitarist of the rock band SYSTEM OF A DAWN (SOAD), is also a fantastic solo artist. During his musical career, Tankian has released five albums with SOAD and in 2007, he released his solo album ‘Elect The Dead’ followed by ‘Imperfect Harmonies’ in 2010. 2012 finally saw the release of his recent work, ‘Harakiri’. Besides his musical work, he and Rage Against the Machine/Audioslave guitarist Tom Morello co-founded a non-profit political activist organization, Axis of Justice. Tankian also founded the music label Serjical Strike Records. During his live shows, SERJ TANKIAN is supported by his backing band, The F.C.C. (Flying Cunts of Chaos), consisting of Mario Pagliarulo (bass, vocals), Erwin Khachikian (keyboards, piano, synthesizers, vocals), Troy Zeigler (drums, vocals), Dan Monti (guitar, vocals) and Jeff Mallow (guitar, vocals). http://www.serjtankian.com / https://www.facebook.com/SerjTankian
Music & Performance
Mr. Tankian and his supporting band were entering the stage at 9:45 with two songs from the recent album, ‘Figure it out’ and ‘Cornucopia’, making sure from the very beginning that he’s in top form, vocally and in entertaining matters. I was especially impressed by the variety in his voice, he was playing it like other play their instruments. Simply phantastic! Supported by an extraordinary light show, at least judging from the stuff usually happening in that venue, he had the audience in his hands from the very start. Parts from ‘Wings of Summer’ introduced ‘Baby’, which Serj accompanied with the guitar. Following were two more songs from the current album, ‘Butterflies’ and the title song ‘Harakiri’. Latter one is one of my faves on the album and it was amazingly presented, causing me goose bumps. Also the audience was impressed and the hall was celebrating. The title song of the debut album, ‘Elect the Dead’ which followed now, was introduced by an extended intro when the whole stage was tinted into red light. The calm and vocally impressing beginning soon turned into a very intense live piece of music causing storms of excitement within the audience. 
“I have to fuck up the setlist all the time” was Serj’s comment when messing up the beginning of the next song, ‘The Unthinking Majority’, which was changed with ‘Occupied Tears’ short before. But no one cared really about it, it just caused some laughs. New song ‘Occupied Tears’ was introduced by a little political speech… guess that’s a must during a Tankian concert judging by his overall political engagement. Following was ‘Honking Antelope’ and then with ‘Ching Chime’ the last new song during the set where Serj welcomed a guest on stage: Andrew Kzirian of VIZA supporting the band on the oud. Of course, his backing band needed some introduction as well since they all are talented musicians and this wa given before the hall was freaking out during ‘Lie Lie Lie’. ‘Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition’ afterwards got the audience involved some more when one half of the audience had to scream “Praise the Lord” and the other half “Pass the Ammunition”. Playing that game visa versa, this was a perfect introduction of the song. 
“Were here to entertain” said Serj and grabbed his guitar to start ‘Saving us’ which was a low-tempo song. Again, he was vocally on a very high level. Faster ‘Beethoven's Cunt’ and fantastic ‘Empty Walls’ ended the main set. An encore was of course given but sadly, it was shorter than planned according to the printed setlist. SOAD song ‘Aerals’ and ‘Uneducated Democracy’ had been skipped and so, the last songs of the evening were ‘Left Of Center’ and ‘Gate 21’ which Serj supported on piano without his band. To sum the show up: it was amazing and I wish to see one more!
Setlist
01. Figure It Out
02. Cornucopia
03. Feed Us
04. Sky Is Over
05. Baby (Parts from Wings of Summer as an intro)
06. Butterfly
07. Harakiri
08. Elect the Dead (with Extended intro)
09. The Unthinking Majority (Serj admits to having "fucked up" the order)
10. Occupied Tears
11. Honking Antelope
12. Ching Chime (With Andrew Kzirian on the oud)
13. Lie Lie Lie
14. Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition
15. Saving Us
16. Beethoven's Cunt
17. Empty Walls
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18. Left Of Center
19. Gate 21 (Serj on the piano without his band)
Not Played Bonus Songs: Aerals (SOAD Song) / Uneducated Democracy
Rating
Music: 9
Performance: 10
Sound: 8
Light: 10
Total: 9.5 / 10
All pictures by Daniela Vorndran (http://www.vorndranphotography.com / http://www.black-cat-net.de/ / http://www.myspace.com/vorndranphotography / http://www.facebook.com/blackcatnet)
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