Deftones, Thrice, 18 Visions,Flyleaf @ Thebarton Theatre,Adelaide, (01/03/07)

Wed 7th Mar, 2007 in Gig Reviews

I like the Deftones. Since the days of White Pony right through to Saturday Night Wrist I have asserted (and quite correctly I feel) that the Deftones are indeed a good band. On paper no one could accuse them of being anything less than technically brilliant. They are original and talented. Their music is at once experimental, aggressive, weird, brutally honest and at times even beautiful. They are free of ostentation. If I am to be truly honest though Deftones are just a little too inscrutable and it stops me just short of loving them.

Catching the Sacramento-based rockers at the Thebarton Theatre last week I definitely felt my reservations kept me in the minority. While the venue was in no danger of selling out, the eager crowd showed me that some people have no such issues – Deftones’ are welcome visitors to Adelaide. From the dusky, atmospheric opening to the sweaty, spittle riddled end Chino Moreno and the boys were amongst friends.

They careered though a powerful set touching on much of their back catalogue as well as their freshest material. The eclectic tirade of metal, rock and atmospherics ran the gamut – from bone rattling aggression to cooler, deeper ethereal tones. In slower songs like Hole In The Earth Moreno drew beautifully from his palette of ‘Curish’ vocal tones contrasting pathetic with kinetic.

His chargers can change gears at a moment’s notice and equally Moreno can spring out of dark melody straight in to primal screams. This explosive dynamism is a rare art and they know it. They understand that ugliness is only truly understood in context. They create astonishing contrasts by showing you their beauty… and then destroy it. This take guts, the type of guts that can have a hard rock band cover Sade’s No Ordinary Love without even the slightest whiff of irony.

Still, to me, something from the night was missing. It wasn’t the muddy mix (the band punched a hole right through that!). It wasn’t the overused vocal delays tricks. It wasn’t the head-scratching strangeness of guitar techs effects-switching right there on stage. It wasn’t even that they didn’t play Minerva! It wasn’t anything tangible. It was that inscrutability again. Deftones’ only failing is just as apparent live as it is on record.

At the end of the night I went home happy and impressed and I’m sure the crowd got their money’s worth; I just didn’t go home ‘filled’ with the band. I’m sure a lot of punters there will disagree with me, and more power to them. Maybe they picked up on an emotional wave that I missed, but I have come to the conclusion that I must be content for the Deftones and I to have an amicable relationship.