After rescheduling their original London gig back in November following the tragic Paris shootings at the Eagles Of Death Metal gig at the Bataclan, Deftones made their way to Wembley Arena and the White Pony’s couldn’t keep us away!
The venue seemed a little vacant, not at full capacity, which is unlike Wembley Arena (but we just put this down to the date swap). Despite this, the atmosphere was buzzing. With the release of new album Gore to potentially test waters with, the eclectic mix of thousands of Deftones fans waited in anticipation for Chino and his band of metal merry-men.
After what felt like a year long intro, an average-weighted Chino appears and the room erupts. A light display to rival a planetarium followed and we had literal diamonds in our eyes as opening belter Rocket Skates sent everyone into a frenzy. The set was like a pick and mix of all your favourite sweets, a sporadic accumulation of tunes from eight studio albums.
Nostalgic classics like My Own Summer and MX made an early appearance and separated the hardcore fans from the late bloomers, yet crowd-pleased enough to cause the night’s first mosh pit. Chino Moreno is to live performance what Ryan Gosling is to a lady’s pants. Dedicating Prince to the late legend as the lights dimmed to a solemn red, he moved across the stage like a God of rock in his own right, leaning into a thousand adoring hands like Moses in the Red Sea. The band truly have an energy that comes with experience that just flawlessly delivers. Even when they banterfully messed up riffs and Chino sassily side-stepped into hip rolls, they couldn’t deter their metal street-cred. The guy literally did a mic drop!
Besides Deftones themselves smashing it, a special mention is needed for the lighting and tech guys. The stage set up was unconventionally insane like the music, each member had their own spotlighted space and the drums were on a platform, showing every dimension of talent within the band. Each song was accompanied with a mood emulating VT, with light shows that would vary from angry strobes to firefly spotlights. This made the atmosphere electric and highlighted songs of the night.
Change (In The House Of Flies) literally came alive in the arena, transforming the place into a satanic dungeon swarmed with red flies. You’ve Seen The Butcher had the best opening to a live song we’ve seen in a while! A huge pulsating heart on the VT mirrored the crowd’s during the iconic bass-line, as Chino climbed on the tower of amps and spat water like exploding lava to the eruption of the intro.
Prayers/Triangles and Rubicon represented new album Gore and it went down a treat. A “get the fuck up” order threw us back into Koi No Yokan with Swerve City as the soundtrack. Knife Party got the biggest hype of the night, with the whole stadium echoing back the chorus. Penultimate closer Around The Fur was a runner up for best song, but carried heavy weight champion of the messiest circle pit instead. During the last ear belting riff the remainder of the crowd mobbed a sweaty Chino, who cooly blew his constituents a kiss then exited the stage as quick as they appeared.
An underwhelming energy lack from the crowd at times had us worried that they wouldn’t bother with an encore and at only 2 tracks long, it didn’t really feel like one. Root kicked off the Adrenaline and had the crowd back into gear for brutal track Engine No. 9. In true Deftones fashion they added a twist in the form of Cyprus Hill’s How I Could Just Kill A Man, which left us feeling dazed and spoilt with the coverage of eight studio albums. This gig was well worth the wait!
If you haven’t had a chance to see these Sacremento legends live, first of all, why? Second of all, go ASAP!
9/10
Written By: Charly Phillips
