Despite the fact that they hail from about 80 miles to the east, the San Francisco Bay Area has always brought the love for Deftones the way they would for any mega hometown band. So when it came town for a return visit in support of their latest release, Gore, they wisely booked Berkeley’s Greek Theater to make room for the throngs that would have been left in the lurch had they tried to fit into a smaller venue.
While respectful to openers Rituals of Mine and YelaWolf, the crowd was undoubtedly there for Deftones. The front rail, which was somewhat surprisingly crammed solid with women, went ballistic when the band strode onto stage one by one, starting with guitarist Stephen Carpenter and ending with frontman Chino Moreno who was grinning ear to ear as he hopped up onto the risers at the front of the stage to survey the crowd.
If you weren’t there, Friday night’s show can be described as watching water slowly reach a roiling boil. From the get-go, the floor of the Greek was packed tight and singing along … a couple small but rowdy pits keeping active. For the most part there were very few phones in the air as people soaked it all in. In a smart move, the crew erected a platform in front of the high stage which Chino frequently hopped onto to get closer to the fans who crushed forward each time. On stage, a crapload of lighting meshed perfectly with the each song providing the amphitheater seats with plenty of eye candy as the set progressed.
By the time the band hit Change (In the House of Flies), the had reached the boilover point. Those mini pits expanded, merged and sucked in everything around them to become what appeared to be a seething and heaving mass. Not losing momentum, the band took a minimal break before busting into two encores which included a pair of tunes each from White Pony and Adrenaline.
The end result of the night … 90 minutes of Deftones at their best. The Bay Area loves the Deftones but it was abundantly clear that the Deftones love the Bay Area right back.
Setlist:
- Rocket Skates
- Geometric Headdress
- Be Quiet and Drive (Far Away)
- Rickets
- Diamond Eyes
- Rosemary
- Swerve City
- Gore
- Kimdracula
- Digital Bath
- Prince
- (L)MIRL
- Knife Prty
- Change (In the House of Flies)
- Passenger
–Encore 1–
- My Own Summer (Shove It)
- Headup
–Encore 2–
- Bored (with Prince’s Purple Rain intro)
- Engine No. 9 (with Cypress Hill’s How I Could Just Kill A Man chorus)
Supporting acts: YelaWolf | Rituals of Mine
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