Deftones - Gig Review & Photo Gallery 30th November @ Thebarton Theatre, Adel SA
Deftones
Thebarton Theatre, Adelaide, SA
November 30, 2022
Support: VOWWS
In March 2020 the Australian version of Download Festival was due to take place in yet another historical manner; a near inconceivable artist list including My Chemical Romance, Ministry, Jimmy Eat World, The HU, Deftones and many more were uniting alternative music fans to get “spacey with the common love of music” together. As humanity would know it, this and countless other events never transpired due to the pandemic.
Two years have passed and in this time numerous of these acts have since toured down under, others will be in the very near future and festivals have returned to a great extent. Thankfully on this night, Chino Moreno’s crooned words of: “Time will see us realign” during Deftones’ performance of their wonderfully wavering hit ‘Diamond Eyes’ spoke a heavier truth than the world could have ever known. We realigned on the eve of summer to observe the pioneers of alternative metal and the Californian quintet were witness to Adelaide “come fall in love with the sound” all over again as they had many times before.
A sold out crowd had lined-up outside the venue hours before the doors were opened to public incredibly and more fascinatingly the divergence of age was in all probability the most impressive facet. From teenage devotees to worshippers of the headliners since their inception in 1988, this was testament that music can be timeless. As brilliantly bewildering as this sentiment can be, it is oddly suiting to the openers for the night Sydney’s VOWWS (via California) as even their role for the event was mostly unknown until practically the last minute.
The duo’s inclusion may have been confusing for many, especially the metal enthusiasts; regardless, VOWWS in fact have a collaboration track entitled ‘Structure Of Love II’ featuring Mr Moreno himself that is on the same sound wavelength as the Crosses ††† project. It might have hit some in their raw nerve, but if the shoe fits, wear it on-stage at Thebarton Theatre in front of nearing 2000 people.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqKe4bgGwG0
After a slight delay which caused near unbearable tension, the lights dimmed and two dark figures emerged to an uproar from the audience that prompted unbridled excitement. Many in the crowd were in all likelihood expecting a support act from the upcoming Good Things Festival, but what they were gothically greeted with was an artistic triumph landing somewhere between Wax Idols, Orgy, Kraftwerk and even Killing Joke. ‘You Never Knew’ mixed all of these elements together into a mesmerising post-punk disco and then ‘Inside Out’ delivered a nightmare aura, as if the underrated Swedish vampire film ‘Let The Right One In’ finally discovered its perfect soundtrack song. ‘Losing Myself In You’ had a superlative New Order emittance that quivered those who were intrigued and then the rockier ‘One By One’ brought the real “death” element to their “death pop” description and it actually altered heartbeats with its sonic and audio prowess. In summation, this extravaganza may have been perplexing, but as Academy award nominated director David Lynch has said: “This whole world is wild at heart and weird on top.”, this quotation is VOWWS, flawlessly.
“I Watch How Wild We Get” - what immaculate words to be screamed by the illuminating Chino Moreno to introduce Deftones to Adelaide after a long two year delay. The song is ‘Genesis’ from the outstanding album Ohms and it is how the five-piece announced themselves, albeit perfectly dramatically. Not in the sense that “drama” was involved, in the cinematic scope and undoubtedly Thebarton was THEIR theatre. As aforementioned, ‘Diamond Eyes’ reconnected the alt-metal icons with South Australia, crunch and all which energised all within to breaking point that ‘Needles And Pins’ enhanced impossibly further. ‘RX Queen’ then brought about a unifying moment, the words: “Now we’re all the virus” oddly ironic with how dramatically planet Earth changed, yet, we now stand undefeated. Undoubtedly seeing Chino lose himself in an Ian Curtis dream-scape dance moment to conclude was a joyous moment.
Slowing it down in miraculous margins, ‘Digital Bath’ was simply impassioned and thankfully ‘Be Quiet And Drive’ was magnified due to this ideal lead up and the song’s general unrest. No rest for the wicked though, as we were on the eve of summer and Deftones needed to acknowledge that with ‘My Own Summer’, an anthem that has been so missed on our shores - a saviour that shoved its importance by how impeccable the outfit’s chemistry is (still).
Led Zeppelin has ‘Stairway To Heaven’, Deftones have ‘Rosemary’ - that’s a mislead, the songs are not related in any particular way. Although, the options are either climbing a stairway to classic rock or losing oneself in a dreary powerful alt metal chimaera by boat - “come sail with me” as it is remarkably harmonised. “All aboard” was in all probability the answer as we sailed to the ‘Bloody Cape’ in a hard hitting storm.
The seas calmed for ‘Sextape’ which became a shining moment for the Californian long-stayers; the romance, enticement and seduction this piece of art is genre-defining and breathes radiance inexplicably.
Bounce - a bizarre word which can be heard for its action, not its description. For this writer, hearing or seeing this word, ‘Swerve City’ by Deftones is what instantly comes to mind. Band and audience alike, it is quite clear what transpired, in a beautiful rhythmic flow. ‘Cherry Waves’ provided the Pink Floyd moment, then ‘Error’ brought us all back to this universe. Ironically we had fallen out of a “long sadistic trance” when ‘Rocket Skater’ hit, because it did at the elitist level. How to uphold this vivacity? ‘Change (In The House Of Flies)’ astoundingly the five-piece do this with a different animation, as if they are able to transcend dimensions.
It wasn’t heard at Download Festival - so a two year nu-metal uppercut ‘Head Up’ heroically obliterated the walls of Thebby. So much so, a rest was demanded, momentarily. A new earthquake began, from the feet of Adelaide, the ceiling bounced for demands of the enticing encore… what was to happen?
“This promise we make” Mr Moreno serenades Adelaide during a required live version of ‘Ohms’ which was praised expectedly and deservedly; but how to conclude? The only way the crowd would go ‘Back To School’ - “well there you go”.
Fun fact: Do you know that in the song ‘My Own Summer’ vocalist Chino Moreno states in a beautiful utterance: “Hits the six and it’s summer” - this scribe cannot find a better closure to this report.
Gig Review by Will Oakeshott. Insta: @teenwolfwill
Photo Gallery by Dave Rubinich Insta: @dave.rubinich
Please Credit & Tag Wall of Sound and Dave Rubinich if you repost photos.
VOWWS
Deftones
Good Things Festival
December 2 – Melb – SOLD OUT
December 3 – Sydney – LAST TICKETS
December 4 – Brisbane – LAST TICKETS
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