Deftones08.22.25
Vancouver, BC
My first metal show! And probably my last for a while, since I don't dabble in the genre much. Deftones are a bit of an exception though, since they have a lot of indie sensibilities in their sound, mainly through shoegaze and dream pop. Like My Bloody Valentine and The Cure.
They just put out their latest record, private music, the night before this show. The record itself hadn't been announced when the tour was announced, so it was quite the pleasant surprise to hear about the album release after the fact and realize it coincided right with the Vancouver show, at Rogers Arena.
I wasn't quite prepared to shell out the cash for a GA ticket during the initial onsale, so I settled for a pair of upper bowl seats. Combining an artist pre-sale seat with an American Express Front Of The Line seat. I put those up for sale a couple months later, not being sure I would make it to the show, and then forgot I had them up. Someone randomly bought them, which gave me the opportunity to upgrade to the lower bowl anyways.
There were two openers for this show, first being The Barbarians Of California, second being Phantogram. Didn't know either of them going into this. A bit of a juxtaposition there, going heavy to more atmospheric. But I guess the sum of those parts is pretty much Deftones.
Deftones killed it though. Chino sounded great. Rogers Arena doesn't have the best acoustics, but the gist of it all came through loud and clear. They opened the show with the two classics from Around The Fur, "Be Quiet And Drive (Far Away)" and "My Own Summer (Shove It)", and dove into the rest of their catalogue from there. I was glad to hear them play "Diamond Eyes" and "Hole In The Earth", two tracks that have become favourites of mine as I prepared for this show. They didn't touch on the new record much, playing both singles and one new album cut, "infinite source". But that one is actually my favourite non-single in the twenty four hours we've had with the record, so I'll take it! There was a bit of a mishap when Chino's vocals weren't coming through during the first half of "Change", but the crowd was still going nuts anyways.
My biggest takeaway here is how Deftones have been able to transcend generations. We're talking about a band that debuted in the 90s, and there were people of all ages at this show. I didn't feel particularly young or old in the crowd, which is a testament to their lasting appeal.
