System of a Down, Deftones headline sold-out Golden Gate Park concert Saturday
A week after the Outside Lands Music Festival drew tens of thousands of music fans to Golden Gate Park, promoter Another Planet Entertainment presented another big San Francisco concert Saturday featuring System of a Down, Sacramento's Deftones and more.
The concert, the inaugural event on what the promoter has named the Golden Gate Park Concerts, was announced last April and quickly sold out when tickets went on sale.
- Golden Gate Park Concerts: What to know before you go | Map
Formed by four Armenian-American musicians in the Southern California city of Glendale during the early 1990s, System of a Down has become on of the most popular alternative-metal bands on the planet, despite not releasing a new album in almost 20 years and only making sporadic live appearances for festivals and headlining tours.
Co-headliners Deftones are a hugely successful group from Sacramento (arguably the biggest band to ever emerge from the state's capitol) who have been pushing the boundaries of heavy alternative music for more than three decades. While their debut album Adrenaline drew heavily on hardcore punk influences (D.C. pioneers Bad Brains in particular), the group began introducing more melodic, melancholy elements on Around the Fur, leading critics to compare their sound to the Cure and Radiohead.
By the time they released White Pony in 2000, Deftones were venturing into far moodier territory, an approach they have continued for the past two decades. In 2020, Deftones released their latest original album Ohms, but that same year also reissued White Pony in a special 20th anniversary commemorative edition that featured a remix of every song on the original recording.
The balance of the bill on Saturday was rounded out by reunited progressive-punk band the Mars Volta (who released their first new album in a decade with their eponymous effort in 2022, followed by a stripped-down acoustic re-recording of the same songs entitled Que Dios Te Maldiga Mi Corazón last year), Swedish punk band Viagra Boys and opening Australian "death pop" duo VOWWS.
The gates for the sold-out concert in the Polo Fields opened at 1:30 p.m. with the first band starting at 3 p.m., according to the Golden Gate Concerts official website. While the promoter is funding free Muni rides to and from the Polo Field for concert ticket holders, it is also offering paid shuttle service from downtown San Francisco (at the Civic Center), the Cow Palace in Daly City and Sacramento.
Additional information regarding bag restrictions, entrances and more is available at the official website.
It was initially announced that Another Planet would be holding multiple additional ticketed concerts in the park using the main Lands End stage and other festival infrastructure from Outside Lands. However, the System of a Down and Deftones co-headlining show was the only event that materialized in the months since the plan was approved last September by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.
Under the approved agreement, Another Planet will be able to host two or three ticketed concerts in the Polo Fields during the weekend following the Outside Lands Music Festival through 2026. The additional concerts in the Polo Fields will have a footprint about a third the size of the Outside Lands Festival, and will be smaller, headliner-focused events.