As the opening chords of the hit song “B.Y.O.B” ripped through the crowd at Joe Louis Arena; you could tell this was going to be one of the more intense shows in recent history. The four piece Los Angeles band tore through an ADD-style, 95 minute set that bounced through nearly 30 songs, for a crowd of about 6,500 people. System spent of a lot of the first part of the set running through new material, as tracks like Revenga, and Violent Pornography were played.

It is hard to imagine the crowd singing along to lyrics such as “choking chicks and sodomy”; but the crowd screamed those lyrics more than some of the more mainstream tracks. Early on, the band went into new material from their upcoming album; the second half of the double headed monster known as Mesmerize and Hypnotize; with the latter due out in November. The title track and Kill Rock & Rollgot the live treatment.

The band themselves have seemed chattier in past performance. Guitarist Daron Malakian has been known for running around in circles until he falls over, and babbling incoherently for minutes on end. There was barely any of that; and lead singer Serj Tankian hardly addressing the crowd at all. There were no political rants, or nonsensical things. Perhaps it is a sign of the band maturing, and taking themselves more seriously.

Material from their massive Toxicity album was covered; with Needles, their anti-protest violence track Deer Dance, and the hit Chop Suey. The band saved the title track and Aerials until the end of their set.

By the time the band reached the finale; the first System single, Sugar; the crowd seemed warmed up and ready to smash and bump into one another.

In comparison, the critically acclaimed El Paso band, The Mars Volta, got lost in the arena setting. Their hodge-podge sounds were muffled in the large arena acoustics, while most of the fans in the crowd seemed puzzled. The group put on a stronger set at the State Theatre back in May, a venue more suitable for their sound.