System Of A Down tour dates - audio available

System Of A Down have revealed most of the dates for the first leg of their North American tour. It begins on August 4 and will bring the band to 40 cities over a ten-week period. Aside from a brief club run earlier this spring, this will be System's first major North American trek in three years.

Bassist Shavo Odadjian told us that staying away from the stage for so long has its pros and cons:
[ click here to listen if you have a Backstage Pass] "I miss the crowds, I miss the audience, I miss the stage, I miss the whole performance aspect of it, you know. I could play 24-7 at home, but there's nothing like being in front of an audience, you know. But it's also good to, like, sort of stay away for a little while and then come back and blow up onstage because we haven't played for so long, and then just all that aggression and all that time spent at home will come out onstage."

The Mars Volta will be special guests on the entire tour, with Bad Acid Trip acting as openers for the first leg.

Ticket presales will be available at the band's official website, systemofadown.com.

System Of A Down is supporting the first half of its two-CD set, Mezmerize, which arrived on May 17. The second disc, Hypnotize, will be out sometime this autumn.

Confirmed System Of A Down dates:

August 4 - Long Beach, CA - Long Beach Arena
August 5 - Long Beach, CA - Long Beach Arena
August 6 - San Diego, CA - Sports Arena
August 8 - Phoenix, AZ - America West Arena
August 11 - Dallas, TX - American Airlines Center, Dallas, TX
August 12 - San Antonio, TX - SBC Arena
August 13 - Houston, TX - Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
August 15 - Pensacola, FL - Civic Center
August 16 - Orlando, FL - TD Waterhouse Arena
August 17 - Miami, FL - Office Depot Center
August 19 - Atlanta, GA - Gwinnett Arena
August 21 - Hampton, VA - Hampton Coliseum
August 22 - Baltimore, MD - Baltimore Arena
August 23 - East Rutherford, NJ - Continental Airlines Arena
August 26 - Philadelphia, PA - Wachovia Spectrum Center
August 29 - Montreal, QUE - Belle Centre
August 30 - Quebec City, QUE - Colisee Pepsi
September 1 - Toronto, ONT - Air Canada Center