DARON MALAKIAN Crashed A SYSTEM OF A DOWN Cover Band’s Show In Chicago

Fans at The Cubby Bear in Chicago, IL got the shock of a lifetime this past weekend when System Of A Down guitarist/vocalist Daron Malakian unexpectedly hopped onstage with local System Of A Down cover band Peephole.

Malakian, in town ahead of System Of A Down‘s pair of stadium shows at Soldier Field, explained on social media that the encounter was pure chance. After grabbing dinner, he set out with photographer Greg Watermann to take photos around the city. The two wound up near Wrigley Field when Malakian suddenly heard the opening riff of “Needles” drifting out of a nearby bar.

“At first my cousin thought it was karaoke,” Malakian recalled. “I decided to walk across the street and go into the bar and found that it was a System Of A Down cover band called Peephole. I walked right to the front of the stage and surprised the band and the audience… I joined the band and sang ‘Cigaro,’ shook their hands, took some pictures with the fans in the audience, and walked out of the place.”

He added, “The odds of this happening were so slim. Probably had a better chance of getting struck by lightning. So many stars had to align for me to end up at the right place and right time. One of the coolest moments I’ve ever had!”

Peephole themselves were equally stunned, posting: “Last night the unthinkable happened. @daronmalakian from System Of A Down just so happened to be in the neighborhood and heard us playing from the street! So he came in, said what’s up and then sang ‘Cigaro’ with us! We are still shocked by this amazing moment. A dream come true for us! We love SOAD with all of our hearts and cannot believe how fortunate we are. What an amazing human and musician!”

The band also shouted out Malakian before his sold-out Soldier Field set: “Daron, thank you so much for this! We’ll see you tonight at Soldier Field!”