Roll up! Roll up! Serj Tankian's in town tonight and he's dressed in a wonderfully smart white suit and top hat which are reminiscent of a circus ringmaster's garb. In accordance with his usually playful manner, Tankian is bursting full of beans and he demonstrates this surge (!) of energy in his enthusiastic leaps and jumps across the stage. The venue is rammed to the walls with a multiplicity of excited onlookers, who are just as excited as the man himself, to be seeing him back on the live scene again.Current single 'Empty Walls' features very early in the set tonight and there's not a mouth in the room that doesn't spout the lyrics to the chorus out of their thirsty heads with a fascinated and encouraging demeanor. In fact, considering the material he's showcasing tonight from solo album Elect the Dead is relatively new, it's surprising to see that avid fans manage to regurgitate full lyrics to almost all of the songs he plays.
There's quite a restrained and emotional tone to the evening as a whole, where at some points Tankian sits down to his keyboard on stage and croons through a few of the songs with a poignant intensity. Atop this emotional backdrop, there are also moments of intense energy and heavier, pumped up rock flirtations, which ring true to previous form.
As any Tankian fan will know, the man is very heavily involved in promoting political awareness and tonight is no exception; wedged in between each song he has a chat with the audience, throwing out bold statements such as: "All empires are fucking greedy and eventually die" – these are unsurprisingly received to mass applause from his eager followers.
To lighten the mood he serves up a couple of exciting and unpredictable covers in the form of 'Girl' from The Beatles' Rubber Soul album and 'Holiday in Cambodia' by the Dead Kennedy's. The high pitched screeching vocals he adopts for the latter work astoundingly well with the tune and are an indicator of his keen eye for providing a well-rounded and engaging performance.
The evening is a perfect opportunity to highlight the range and skill this talented individual possesses and undoubtedly proves that there is much more to come from this unique and imaginative soul. Critics who were quick to dispel the solo project as a mere poor mans version of System of a Down are proved entirely wrong tonight as we see a set which beautifully demonstrates the quality material Tankian has produced at the beginning of what should become a long and successful solo career. It's all the fun of the fair, and then some.
Words: Naomi Misquita-Rice
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