Peteetong, boys and girls!
Last Tuesday, September 28, the Black Diamond Skye tour took over Aaron’s Amphitheatre at Lakewood. Along with Alice in Chains, the Deftones and Atlanta’s very own Mastodon drew a crowd of thousands of headbangers, with our reluctant girlfriends in tow. The large crowd was typically raucous and rowdy, fueled by PBR and low-grade weed, most likely bought in the parking lot.
A lot of people assume my favorite music is jam rock like Phish or Widespread Panic, but my first musical love has always been metal. The Deftones’ Adrenaline was one of the first CDs I ever bought, and I still play it regularly. Their newest album, the highly anticipated Diamond Eyes, released in May, is their first CD since the tragic car accident that put their original bassist, Chi Cheng, into a coma in 2008. Diamond Eyes delivered the goods, and proved to fans that the Deftones can still rock, even without Cheng.
When I arrived at Lakewood, Mastodon was already onstage. Mastodon plays incredibly fast, complex melodies that are wildly impressive even if they aren’t always easy to listen to. Their live show, complete with dark images of Rasputin travelling through time and space, is more suited to a dark, indoor venue than an open setting like Lakewood. Nevertheless, Mastodon performed to a receptive home town crowd and shredded their strings as the sun went down.
By the time the Deftones took the stage, the sun had vanished, and the crowd was properly lubricated. This was my girlfriend’s first metal show, and she wasn’t expecting the usually tame lawn crowd to get violent. It didn’t take long for her to realize that weren’t at a happy, hippy concert.
The Deftones opened with a few tracks from Diamond Eyes, and it was immediately apparent that they hadn’t lost a step. Lead singer Chino Moreno’s voice is hit-or-miss, but he managed to duplicate all his notes and screams that night. Moreno’s surgically repaired vocal chords held up throughout the set, and he brought all the energy that Deftones fans have come to expect from their live shows.
They plowed on through the set, performing tracks from all their albums. The band played tight, hitting all the hard notes with the kind of fury you only expect from a young, angst-ridden band. The Deftones have been playing hard rock for over twenty years, but they haven’t lost their initial passion and energy that earned them their original fans.
As the show continued, the crowd grew rowdier with every song. Mosh pits began forming all around my friends and I, but I wasn’t worried. Then, the band played the really old tracks from Adrenaline. For four blistering, high-powered songs, the crowd swarmed around us, pushing and crashing into each other like rag dolls. I don’t typically get involved in that sort of madness, but it’s hard to avoid when it gets close. My crew made a human wall to protect the girls that were with us, and we all escaped without harm.
After the Deftones, Alice in Chains was a slightly anticlimactic headliner. They played all their hits well, but their music lacks the energy that the Deftones bring to the table. Replacement lead singer William DuVall does a great Layne Staley impression, but it felt a little forced. I stayed and enjoyed the show, but the obvious highlight for me was the Deftones playing the loud, fast songs I started loving 15 years ago.
I’ll be posting my review of Rush later this weekend, so check back soon! Next week, I’ll tell you all about the Megadeth, Anthrax and Slayer concert I’m working tonight. If I survive, that is.