Deftones at the Palms

I have been down with the Deftones ever since I saw them at Cal State Dominguez Hills on the first warped tour in 1995. Stephen Carpenter(Guitars) was playing Fender guitars and Chino Moreno (Vocals) was screaming at the top of his lungs at all times. I couldn't resist going to the Pearl Theatre at the Palms to see the Deftones destroy Las Vegas.

Fall of Troy opened with their bizarre schizophrenic songs. Thomas Erak (Guitars/Vocals) had some serious shred skills that he showed off to the crowd. He was playing a Gibson SG plugged into an Orange amp head and cabinet. Tim Ward (Bass) held down the low end with his Gibson Grabber bass. The band was talented as musicians but I couldn't grasp the songs as they were too all over the place without forming a nice groove. It seemed like a impromptu jam session.

Dir En Gray looked promising before they hit the stage as I spotted two Diezel VH4 amp heads on stage on one side. Dir En Gray hail from Japan and have been around since 1997. I had never heard about them until this show. I couldn't understand any of the lyrics that Kyo (Vocals) was spitting out. The riffs were okay but nothing garnered my attention. One of the funny parts of the show was when their guitar tech would run out to do the pedal switching for one of the guitarists. If you are going to have the guitar tech step on your pedals for you at least do it off the stage. Kyo also did the ultimate metal move with fake blood pellets and smearing it all over his body. As far as fake blood goes, only Wayne Coyne (Flaming Lips) and Gene Simmons (KISS) can get away with using fake blood. It is a music law.

The Deftones destroyed the crowd. Stephen Carpenter was brutally riffing all night on his custom ESP guitars that are covered with Louis Vuitton logo. Stephen even has a Gucci ESP guitar. I can only imagine how much those cost him or if he even got permission. It is quite the juxtaposition on stage though. The Pearl soundsystem was excellent as usual and highlighted some of the ambient effects that Frank Delgado (DJ, Synthesizers) was serving up all night. The Deftones were so hot out of the gate that the power went out during "Lhabia". This did nothing to slow the Deftones as they recovered nicely with a brutal rendition of "Around The Fur". One of the cool effects during the show is that Chino saves his voice and changes his screams to a high pitched reverb and echo filtered scream that serve as punctuation marks to the songs. "Korea" is one of my favorite Deftones riffs to play on guitar and was as sharp as a Ginsu knife. The Deftones also have a penchant for playing cover songs and shocked me with a cover of Sade's "No Ordinary Love". I still would have preferred to hear their cover of Depeche Mode's "To Have And To Hold" or Helmet's "Sinatra" but was amused with this particular rendition. The slower songs like "Beware" and "Digital Bath" were equally intoxicating but as you can see from the setlist that it was a particularly heavy "Adrenaline" and "White Pony" night. Chi Cheng (Bass) was a madman all night with his dreadlocks flying all over the place. They capped the night with a ferocious version of "7 Words" that left the crowd buzzing. This is why I go to Las Vegas to catch shows.

Deftones Setlist for the Palms (6/26/07)
"Be Quiet and Drive"
"My Own Summer"
"Lhabia"
"Around The Fur"
"Rickets"
"Beware"
"Root"
"Engine No 9"
"Feticiera"
"Digital Bath"
"Knife Party"
"Korea"
"Hole In The Earth"
"Xerces"
"Bored"
"Nosebleed"
"No Ordinary Love"
"Rats!Rats!Rats!"
"Passenger"
"Back To School"
"Change(In The House of Flies)"
"7 Words"