System Of A Down and Deftones announce stacked one-night-only co-headline show

System Of A Down and Deftones performing live in 2022
(Image credit: Kevin Winter/Getty Images | Martin Philbey)

System Of A Down and Deftones have announced a standalone co-headline show.

The two beloved nu metal-era bands will perform at the Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, California, on August 17.

It will be the first-ever night-time concert to take place at the outdoor park and garden.

Support will come from prog rockers The Mars Volta, Swedish punks Viagra Boys and US industrial rockers Vowws.

Tickets to the concert will go on sale on Friday (April 12) at 10am Pacific Time.

Deftones have confirmed that the System Of A Down co-headline concert will be a one-off, describing it on social media as “a standalone, once-in-a-lifetime event”.

System Of A Down and Deftones came to prominence during the ascent of nu metal in the late 1990s. However, both bands have rejected the genre tag.

In a 2017 interview with Metal Hammer, Deftones singer Chino Moreno revealed the band went as far as to refuse tours with Limp Bizkit and Korn to avoid being pigeonholed as a nu metal act.

“We did make a very conscious choice of who we were going to play shows with,” he said.

“It was hard to be this young band and having to turn down tours. I can’t remember how many times I turned down Korn! And they got pissed at us. Jonathan [Davis] would say, ‘Why do you hate us?’ and I didn’t know what to say.

“I’d tell him, ‘Dude, I don’t hate you. I love you guys, you’re my friends. But I don’t want to tour with you. I don’t want to be on the Family Values with you and Limp Bizkit.’

“The name of the genre was nu metal, so anything that is new is one day going to be old. And I didn’t to be old with it.”

Similarly, System Of A Down frontman Serj Tankian told Metal Hammer’s Jon Weiderhorn in 1998: “When we write music, we try to do something different than even what we do.

“I’m serious. We want every new song to be done in a way we haven’t done before. We try to not sound like System Of A Down, let alone anyone else. That keeps us not only a step ahead, but a step ahead of ourselves.” 

The Golden Gate Park concert is one of only two concerts System Of A Down have announced for 2024. The other is a headline slot at the Sick New World festival in Las Vegas on April 27.

Meanwhile, Deftones have several shows announced for the year. The full list is below and tickets are available via the band’s website.

Deftones 2024 tour dates:

Apr 12: Indio Coachella festival, CA
Apr 19: Indio Coachella festival, CA
May 28: Madrid Sala Riviera, Spain
May 20: Barcelona Primavera Sound, Spain
Aug 03: Chicago Lollapalooza, IL
Aug 17: San Francisco Golden Gate Park, CA

Matt Mills
Contributing Editor, Metal Hammer

Louder’s resident Gojira obsessive was still at uni when he joined the team in 2017. Since then, Matt’s become a regular in Prog and Metal Hammer, at his happiest when interviewing the most forward-thinking artists heavy music can muster. He’s got bylines in The Guardian, The Telegraph, NME, Guitar and many others, too. When he’s not writing, you’ll probably find him skydiving, scuba diving or coasteering.