Deftones @ Electric Ballroom,Camden, London, (14/10/06)

Thu 19th Oct, 2006 in Gig Reviews

Sometimes the Rock God shines down on you, everything comes together and you have one of those magical gigs where you feel like everything has been arranged just for you. And those are the gigs that make you remember why you are alive, give you faith that all is not lost, and stay with you forever.

Let me set the scene for you. Camden Town, a queue of people waiting just near the ‘Camden Lock Market’ sign for the Electric Ballroom to open its doors. It’s just hitting the dodgy hour; there’s junkies and pushers staggering about and a loud fight between two ugly Rottweilers breaks out in the middle of the street which everyone stands around staring at. The girl next to us in the queue, Zara from Leeds, is nervous. She’d heard bad things about Camden. People are edgy, wave after wave of flyer distributors are shoving their promos in our hands but we’re too excited to notice or decline, so by the time they let us in we have wads of cardboard in each hand that we don’t want. There’s a discernable buzz. Deftones. The gig was barely announced and the venue holds only about 1000 people. Everyone here is a fan. Holy shit.

We get in, hit the merch, grab our beverage and stake some territory. And then we wait. There’s no support, there’s just an hour and a half of anticipation, increasing crowdedness, uncomfortable shuffling, and a bizarre playlist running the gauntlet from Bjork to Rod Stewart. There’s a Deftones roadie, a big guy with Chino-esque facial hair, who keeps walking around on the stage. He’s not Chino. The guy next to me is telling his girlfriend, ‘There he is again! Did you see him? There’s no mistaking Chino, really.’     

Finally, finally they are on stage. Omigod, they’re playing Knife Prty! Chino stands up on the edge looming over the crowd and it fucking rocks. Then it’s My Own Summer and the crowd is going crazy and I haven’t moshed like this for years. The band is sounding tighter than I’ve ever heard them. But THEN the unmistakable opening sound of a helicopter is telling us that…no wait, they couldn’t be….they’re playing Passenger! The crowd proves that whatever they were doing before was nothing and really lose it. Everyone is screaming along and hardly anyone is lamenting the lack of Maynard from Tool, who duets on this song from White Pony, because Chino is giving us his all. He’s hitting all the notes and screaming every scream, never been better. Now what? After an opening like that they manage somehow to keep to momentum and continue with a greatest hits set where they’ve put ego’s to bed and play exactly what the audience want to hear. Amazingly they play just one song from their last, self-titled, album, When Girls Telephone Boys (incidentally one of the heaviest tracks), and play at least three songs from their 1995 debut Adrenaline. The crowd is awesome – they’re bouncing along with me for Root, giving me space to close my eyes and drift away during Change (In theHouse of Flies) (not normally a set highlight but they’re on another plane tonight) and lose their fuckin minds with me for 7 Words. Chino is in a playful mood (saying of the band ‘these guys are my brothers and sisters’ and later addressing Abe, ‘You ready Jermaine?) and during the Around the Fur breakdown even treats us to a little JT ‘Sexy Back’ stylie.

They’re sounding better than they ever have and the good news is the new songs are equally kick ass. Though it might sound a bit weak played from their myspace site, the intro from the new single Hole In the Earth flattens the front row with it’s massive guitar sound. It’s awesome. Despite (or maybe due to) all the reported in-fighting and near break ups that occurred during the making of upcoming album Saturday Night Wrist, by all appearances it will be one of their best. Bring. It. On. October 31, buy it. Thanks Deftones, and thank you Rock God.