Deftones
Music Farm
Sept. 5
Deftones treated a sold-out Music Farm audience to an impressive performance on Sunday night. The Sacramento-based group is known for creating genre-bending rock albums for the better part of the past two decades. Since their debut Adrenaline dropped in 1995, they’ve crafted their art both on stage and in the studio, earning critical acclaim and mainstream success along the way. But they have always strayed just a bit out of the spotlight, which has helped them stay fresh during the downfall of a genre they helped create: nü metal.
As the house lights went off, the Deftones crept onto the Music Farm stage and the room came alive. The band obviously had strong local following. Starting the set off with the title-track off their newest album, Diamond Eyes, the band was energetic and tight. Frontman Chino Moreno was on point, displaying a vocal range unparalleled in the industry and the charisma to boot.
With a catalog full of hits and fan favorites, one could basically throw darts at a list of their songs and create an interesting setlist. They put careful thought into those they chose to play for their first-ever performance in Charleston, plucking tracks from all of their six albums, save for Saturday Night Wrist, an album that dropped in 2006 during some of the most tumultuous times the band has ever faced. This was the record that was the result of the band’s near breakup at that time, and it seemed as if the band chose to focus on the positive instead.
The Deftones tore through more than 20 songs in a little under two hours. They knew when to lay off the gas on some of their more aggressive offerings by slowing the tempo down with electronica-tinged ballads. There was a good amount of interaction between the crowd and Moreno, who has been known to sometimes give less-than aspiring performances in the past. The band had so much fun they even launched into an impromptu cover of the beginning of Steve Miller Band’s “Swing Town” as the crowd sang along with delight.
Other highlights included some of their lesser known songs, including “Needles and Pins” from their self-titled album, and “Feiticeira,” the opening track off 2000’s epic White Pony.
As the night came to a steamy and sweltering close, however, it was clear that the band was here to entertain their old-school fans. Performing a finale featuring several tracks off Adrenaline and ending with a furious rendition of “7 Words,” the Deftones left the crowd feeling worn out and energized simultaneously as the house lights went up.
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