Deftones w/ Reggie Watts and The Only

The Palace – 31st January 2011

When I first found out I would be reviewing the Deftones Big Day Out sideshow at The Palace I was curious to see if the band could stand the test of time and still give a lively and quality performance of their back catalogue, half of which dating over 10 years. Either way the night was sure to transport me back to the year 2000 when I first discovered White Pony, the Deftones third studio album which to this day remains my favourite of the 7 they have released thus far (if you include the B sides and Rarities album). The night began with a new breed of British scalper outside The Palace (as this was a sold out show) and a smartass bouncer who told me “no make-up was allowed inside” which obviously caused me to lose my shit as I carry half of Maybelline’s summer cosmetics line in my purse. Once inside like a punch in the face the heat was inescapable and oh so pungent but there’s nothing like a good live show to take your mind off such trivial things.

Not only was I taken aback by the ridiculous price of beer but also by the support acts for the evening. The first being a duo called The Only, I was able to find one website for the band and this was how they were described – “something of an art school project that isn’t sure if it’s a band, a comic book or a visual art installation”. This is a perfect description; The Only is a confused pre pubescent teenager that doesn’t know which subculture to follow. The second support act was one dude that looked like Afro Samurai (but not nearly as cool) and a set of turntables spinning fairly lacklustre beats and telling lame jokes over the top. What boggled the mind even more was how much the audience ate it up though. Either my sense of humour is extremely twisted or everyone in this room was high as a kite and would laugh at anything. The only information I could find about the DJ pre and post show was his name, Reggie Watts. Better parts of his set were when he actually used his impressive vocals, which at times sounded reminiscent of Andre 3000 of Outkast, I found myself enjoying it a little more however these parts of his material were always short lived. Again always going for the cheap laugh he proceeded to tell the crowed he was going to do a cover of a popular Deftones tune where he spun something completely unrecognisable to my ears and ran around the stage impersonating each member playing their instrument….hilarious (I don’t know if sarcasm translates well in print so if not then that was sarcasm)! I know I am not alone in this, as the fat guy in front of me couldn’t seem to resist pulling a muffin out of his pocket and completely zoning out of the performance while he concentrated on his chocolatey delight.

So finally it was time for the act we had all come to see and for a dude in his late 30’s Chino came bouncing onto the stage like a huge metaphorical ball of energy to the tune of Birthmark. Wasting no time it wasn’t long until he was up on top of the amps where the roadies quickly fell in line to support his weight, perfect way to illustrate how the entire band and crew included worked as one tight unit throughout the entire set. As you will come to see by the end of this review the band churned out song after song from the get go with very little breaks in between which resulted in a whopping 24 songs in total for this performance. This being said the band quickly delved into Engine No.9 before what I feel was one of the best songs for the night, Be Quiet and Drive (Far Away). This song I feel really shows off Chino’s vocal ability and one of my biggest concerns for the night was how his voice would hold up, not only due to complications his voice suffered in 2001 but the sometimes impossible task of being louder than the band with clean vocals but I would have to say in both cases Chino succeeded.

After a brief complication with Chino’s microphone the crowed typically went crazy for the next song which was none other than My Own Summer (Shove it) but in a way I felt like they had prematurely shot their wad with 2 of their biggest songs so soon in their set, My Own Summer could definitely have waited till later in the set but I suppose it kept people guessing. Either way this song sounded great live with the two different extremes as the song goes from heavy to mellow and the transitions were flawless. This tour saw the band without bassist Chi Cheng after he suffered injuries from a car accident in 2008 and a replacement in Sergio Vega who was the former bassist of Quicksand and during this song he really came into his own and really fed off Chino’s energy.

As the band got stuck into Lhabia I went from the upstairs balcony down to the lower level and I would have to say that the sound was better from upstairs. I could hear a lot of feedback etc on the lower level but in all I would say the sound at this show was leaps and bounds better than what I have previously experienced at The Palace. Granted all the shows I have seen at The Palace (except for The Black Keys) have been really heavy bands and I don’t think this venue is great for really heavy music. After Around the Fur Chino was brought his guitar and I had a sneaking suspicion for what we were in for next and I wasn’t disappointed when the intro to Digital Bath began. Easily my favourite Deftones song it was awesome to see live and along with the mood lighting it was truly awesome, except that I actually prefer the stripped down version of this song from the B Sides and Rarities album and I think that would have been amazing to see live.

After Knife Party Chino finally decided to share a few words with the audience – “We play clubs with 5 levels at once, that’s how we roll”. Next stand out song for me after Hexagram was the mellow sounds of Minerva where Chino seemed to wave his arms in between like a maestro commanding the crowed. Succeeding Bloody Cape was a string of 7 tracks off the latest album, Diamond Eyes. I really don’t understand this move? Playing them all one after each other I think made me lose a lot of interest in the set, it was off to such a great start but I hadn’t given the latest album extensive play on my Itunes so this chunk of the set kind of lost me. The band got through Diamond Eyes and CMND/CTRL before a fairly subpar performance of Royal, however Chino did state afterwards he wasn’t ready to play that song. To follow were Sextape, Rocket Skates, You’ve Seen the Butcher and Beauty School. Now this is not to say that their latest release is not as worthy as the rest of their albums, in fact it quite easily slots in with the rest, but obviously their older fans are more familiar with their older albums so I think I am not alone in saying that the set took a downward spiral until they went back to their previous release Saturday Night Wrist with Hole in the Earth which was proceeded by Kimdracula and another crowed favourite, Change (In the House of Flies).

Last stand out song for the night was Passenger and my friend and I could not resist the urge to hope that there was some slim possibility that Maynard Keenan of Tool would come out to sing his parts of the song. Of course those dreams went unfounded, he’s probably too busy jerking off fake penises with Rammstein or something else equally weird but Chino did a great job taking his parts in his stride. The dynamics between the band appeared fairly solid as Chino did his signature groove alongside Vega, Delgado, Cunningham and Carpenter. After the song Chino finally changed out of his flannelet shirt (which was making me hot just looking at him) and into a t-shirt to wrap up the set with Root and 7 Words. It was nice to see a band not waste their time with an encore which has always been a tradition that I hate, the obligatory one that is.

All in all it was a great night, much better than I had anticipated. If I were to pick faults it would be the strange order of the set list as it seemed to create a bit of a lull. Chino may not be the most confident and charismatic front man but I think what he said to the crowed earlier in the show adequately explains – “We haven’t spoken much tonight, but I like to think we have communicated through the music”. When you think about it there really isn’t another band like the Deftones, in their own way they are truly unique and this added to making this night such an enjoyable experience. It’s so nice to see a band that came about around the Nu-Metal wave remaining as relevant today as they were back then, which is not something we can say for a lot of the other bands from that era.