NEWS
System Of A Down have vowed to “drastically” switch up the setlists for their upcoming 2025 tour.
Last December, System Of A Down announced their longest stretch of tour dates in years as they take over South America in April and May, and North America in August and September.
The dates – all of which are sold out – will mark the first time since 2017 that the band are performing back-to-back shows for an extended period of time, having only played one or two shows a year in recent times.
Bassist Shavo Odadjian previously said that these shows are meant to “test the waters” following years of one-off shows. “The relationships were not as great as they are now. It’s just everybody wasn’t on the same page. We’ve been talking. Everything’s great, knock on wood. Everyone’s happy,” he told SiriusXM’s Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk in January.
Now, in a new interview with SNSMix.com, Odadjian says that the back-to-back shows will present different setlists on each night.
“We’ll probably change the set up drastically between each one so if you come to both shows you’ll hear different songs,” Odadjian said.
“We’re going to play two-hour sets. We’ll go through the catalog. We’ve got 70-plus songs, but we’ll do 30 of them — maybe 27 to 30 songs — and we’ll mix and match.
“We’re going to rehearse a lot so we can know a lot and then we can switch songs up between sets all the time, not play the same thing over and over.” Watch Odadjian talk about the upcoming System Of A Down shows below (skip to 28:28).
As for what the tour might mean for new music, Odadjian clarified in January that nothing’s set in stone per Blabbermouth: “I can’t promise. We haven’t said anything. Like I said, man, there is no pressure.
“We said, ‘Let’s get together. Let’s play these shows, see how it goes.’ We haven’t done this many shows… Literally, we’re doing more shows this year than we have the last seven years combined. So, let’s do that first and see where that takes us.”
The group haven’t put out an album since their two 2005 releases: ‘Mezmerize’ and ‘Hypnotize’, and speaking with Metal Hammer last year, frontman Serj Tankian revealed he “became very passive” during the writing and recording process for those.
Speaking to NME in December, however, Odadjian revealed that he was unsure what the singer meant by the comments, and said that the hopes of new music are still slim.
“I don’t know what he means by that,” Odadjian said. “We’ve done things a certain way in our career where it’s always going in a new direction. Every time we do something new, it’s in a direction you don’t expect. Process-wise, we’ll have to see when we get together. If it goes in a way that works for one person but not the others, we won’t do it. It has to work for all four of us.”
In January, guitarist Daron Malakian also admitted to Rick Rubin in his podcast that he’s “not sure how much I want” a new System Of A Down album “anymore”.
“It would have been nice to see where the band would have evolved if we kept putting music out. If we put out an album now, it’s just so far away from [‘Mezmerize’ and ‘Hypnotize’] it doesn’t continue the story to me.”
Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso honored Shyne with a key to the city during a ceremony held at the East Flatbush Young Men’s Mentorship Expo on Saturday. The recognition highlighted both his influence in hip hop and his contributions as a public figure and advocate. Reynoso also declared April 25, 2026 as “Shyne Day” in Brooklyn.
“Shyne embodies what is possible when a community believes in its young people, and the magic that can happen when young people are given the resources they need to thrive. East Flatbush raised Shyne, and it only made sense to present him with the Key to Brooklyn as we team up to deliver hope and opportunity to dozens of young men today,” Reynoso said at the event, as caught by BK Reader.
Shyne also addressed the crowd. “This is the community that raised me, and it’s important for me to pass that love forward,” he said. “There couldn’t be a better way to celebrate this milestone than coming back home and pouring into the next generation.” He also revealed that everyone in attendance would receive complimentary tickets to his 25th anniversary concert on May 2 at the Kings Theatre.
The show will mark 25 years since the release of his self titled debut studio album, which arrived on September 26, 2000. Even while Shyne was incarcerated at the time, the project debuted and reached number five on the Billboard 200 chart. It moved close to 160,000 units in its opening week.
Earlier this week, Shyne posted a video of himself standing outside the Kings Theatre on Instagram while promoting the upcoming performance. "Can’t wait to see you this Saturday, May 2 @kingsbklyn as we celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the Shyne Album…..the celebration will continue @crownhilltheatre where I will meet, take pictures and party with you, my loyal supporters, who’ve made Shyne a Rap Legend," he captioned the post. Fans filled the comments with fire emojis in response.
