P.O.D. Guitarist Marcos Curiel Dishes on Upcoming 'Satellite Over Southtown' Streaming Concert (Exclusive)

Over the past year, streaming concerts have been on the rise, understandably due to the [...]

By Stephen Andrew

Over the past year, streaming concerts have been on the rise, understandably due to the coronavirus pandemic, which caused a shutdown of large gatherings. The streaming events allow fans to check out their favorite bands and artists in concert but from the safety of their own home, rather than being in a big crowd and risking exposure to the virus. For nu-metal godfathers P.O.D., this was a big factor when planning their upcoming streaming concert series "Satellite Over Southtown," which guitarist Marcos Curiel told PopCulture.com was a "good opportunity" for the band "to connect" with their fans and "show them a little love."

During an exclusive interview, Curiel explained that they all knew the 20th anniversary of their groundbreaking album Satellite — which was released in 2001 — was cause for celebration but, seeing as the world is still in the heat of the coronavirus pandemic, that was a "big key factor" in the band deciding to plan a streaming concert wherein fans can catch the band playing the album in its entirety on May 13, on steaming concert site Mandolin. The band isn't stopping there, however, as they are also doing a separate concert playing their breakthrough 1999 album The Fundamental Elements of Southtown in its entirety as well, which will air two weeks later, on May 27. If you thought they were done after that, you would be gravely mistaken, because P.O.D. has yet one more streaming concert on June 10, which will feature a setlist of other hit tunes, b-sides, and songs that they rarely (or never) play live.

Curiel explained that "the easy part was doing both of those records, Fundamental Elements of Southtown and then Satellite, from beginning to end," but the third set was far more challenging to map out. The band asked themselves, "Are we going back? Are we going to go back to our roots, before we were signed?" The answer... Curiel can't tell us, but it's possible that longtime fans of the band might hear some classics from way back. "I don't want to let the cat out of the bag, but you know what? That could very well happen. Who knows, it's a huge maybe."

With the exception of a few, such as Korn's "Monumental" concert from the Stranger Things experience in Los Angeles, many bands have done live streaming sets from small venues. P.O.D. could have done that, Curial says, as they "had been getting offers to do streaming events" from "different clubs or different venues." The band thought that was "cool," and they were grateful, but they really wanted "to do something different" so they "just sat in wait for the right opportunity."

Enter the San Diego Padres organization, with whom these hometown boys have had "a pretty good friendship with...throughout the years." Curiel says the idea "got brought up" because Petco Park, where the Padres play, has an "outdoor stage where they do a lot of events" such as the annual Dia de los Deftones festival. "We've played there a couple of times and we were like, 'Dude why don't we just see if we can do it at Petco.'" P.O.D. reached out with the proposal, and the Petco Park team "so stoked about it" they jump at the opportunity to host the concert series. The performances each debut two weeks apart, beginning this Thursday, and fans can get tickets here.

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