07.12.2007 Deftones / First to Last / Die Mannequin

photo: rlos1104

I can't remember the last time that I have ever been so disappointed in my life. Not getting to hear The Blood Brothers play "Ambulance, Ambulance" the last 2 times I've seen them or Wintersleep play "People Talk", while dissatisfying, really doesn't compare to this. Three Nights of Deftones and three mediocore setlists. (note: if you are kind of lost see the last 3 posts)

Once again, Die Mannequin and From First to Last opened the show. Both bands really did not deviate too much from the last two nights. I'm still not sure that I like Die Mannequin song-wise, but as like the last two shows, they were pretty entertaining. From First to Last still did nothing for me. I'll note that they are still quite infatuated with Transformers. The only thing that would have piqued my interest was if someone had fallen off the stage again (see night 1).

By the time the Deftones hit the stage, I was already wondering if I had wasted my money. The final tallies were posted on the band's myspace a couple of hours before - to my chagrin. The result were what I had feared; the majority of the songs were standard set songs. At that point, I could only hope for deviation. Well I sort of got what I wanted. The set was really just combination of the first 2 nights. Crowd favourite like Bored, Passenger, Engine no. 9, My Own Summer and 7 Words were all played. Also played were 2 older songs that I could do without: Elite and Back to School. The latter being a song that the band once mentioned as being a song that they never liked. Most glaring were omissions of neither any cover songs, nor any cover snippets (ie: engine no. 9>Wicked, 7 words>say it ain't so ). At the very least I was hoping Teething would have been played on at least one of the shows. A more objective view of the show would be that it was pretty decent show; they did play well over 90 minutes. However, for the third night of a three night stand, coupled with a choose your own setlist dangled over my nose, my expectations were high. So was my disappointment.

Setlist

Feiticiera
Elite
Passenger
My Own Summer (Shove it)
Be Quite and Drive
Around the Fur
Beware
Rats! Rats! Rats!
Knife Party
Rx Queen
Root
Engine no. 9
Hole In the Earth
Xerces
Bored
Minus Blindfold
Lifter
=========
Back to School
Change
7 Words



$10/$50 - I don't think I'll pay to see Deftones again.

07.11.2007 Deftones / First to Last / Die Mannequin

photo: quaelin

so night 2 of a 3 night stand in vancouver. same openers as last night.

die mannequin: i'm starting to dig this band. there are still some songs which I'm not sold on, but the solos and overall showmanship are starting to win me over. I dunno if this was true because i couldn't make a visual confirmation (and i did try) but the bassist mentioned that Tegan and Sara were in the front row. I managed to check out some of their studio stuff. like a lot of bands, they're better live. the deftones' touring videographer (i want his job) came up on stage for some reason during DM's set, but didn't really do anything. Care Failure's solo at the end of the night was actually one of the highlights of my night.

first to last: alexisonfire seemed to be off their game today oh wait.. these guys again. man this was a rough 40min for me to watch. in vancouver we have to put up with nickelback clones. in toronto, they get the alexisonfire-wannabes. just painful...and i have to put up with this again tomorrow.

deftones: pretty good setlist on an average deftones night. nothing special or rare or covers. highlights included engine and headup. i'm pretty sure i saw either drive or change before passenger on the setlist, but i guess they're being lazy or something. the PA actually cut out earlier on in the show, but the sound guys were able to fix it pretty quickly. Deftones, you guys have more 1 night to go to do something special.

Setlist

Korea
Elite
Digital Bath
Beware
Rats! Rats! Rats!
One Weak
Root
Nosebleed
Bored
My Own Summer (Shove it)
Lhabia
Minerva
Bloody Cape
Hole In the Earth
Kimdracula
Around the Fur
Headup
============
Passenger
Engine no. 9

$40/$50

07.10.2007 Deftones / First to Last / Die Mannequin

photo: quaelin

Last time the Deftones were in town, they played both Around the Fur and Adrenaline in their entirety and in order. The Commodore was sold out and ticket brokers were getting $150 a ticket. Today was much different. Being the first of three shows, and sparsely sold, tickets were being bought for as low as $25 dollars.

Die Mannequin started off the evening. The power trio, lead by a female singer/guitarist, were pretty decent on the whole. Their music, while nothing to write home about, was heightened somewhat by the jammy/extended parts that they would add. Coupled by singer's Care Failure willingness to engage the crowd by playing a portion of a song in the crowd, I was relatively entertained for their half hour set. I should note that Care Failure was also in The Big Dirty Band.

First to Last followed to a decent crowd response. They were much more polished, but much more derivative. Their music was not unlike the thousands of other bands that are in the genre. Even their stage movements seemed to be taken off some other band. Not to be callous, but the only memorable thing that I remember is that one of the guitarists was leaning over the stage lip and somehow managed to fall off. About the only interesting thing that happened during the set.

After a brief stage change, the Deftones hit the stage to a frenzied crowd. The stage set up was actually kind of impressive. With bright giant pot lights on each side of the stage and back-dropped by a massive LCD like screen, there was definitely a light show. In fact production-wise it was about as good as an arena show. The setlist was fairly diverse with each of the albums represented. In fact, the only songs that weren't really played were the covers and rare songs (which I suppose will be in the coming days). Chino's voice which has been criticized over the years as being anywhere from "spot on" to a "complete mess", was just okay tonight. Most of the singing parts were on key, but some were not. Songs from Around the Fur and Adrenaline were well received as expected. Crowd banter was minimal as usual, revolving around weed. Show was almost exhausting clocking in at 1 hour and 45 minutes. Bring on Night 2.

Setlist

My Own Summer
Lhabia
Root
Nosebleed
Beware
Korea
Knife Party
Digital Bath
When Girls Telephone Boys
Birthmark
Hole in the Earth
Cherry Waves
Rats Rats Rats
Around the Fur
Rickets
Passenger
________
Be Quiet and Drive
Change
7 Words

$40/$50

Why some people shouldn't be allowed to vote.

A couple of days ago, I read that the Deftones are going to do a choose your own setlist for one of the Deftones Commodore shows (from their myspace). Usually this results in one of two things happening. 1) People are smart and choose some rare songs to play - also known as the right thing to do. 2) People aren't very smart and choose their favorite songs. The problem with the latter is that it defeats the purpose of doing a choose your own setlist. I mean, why make a special thing out of it when all people are going to do is pick a setlist that is similiar to every other date that they play on the tour.

As I write, the first twenty picks are setlist staples (My Own Summer. BQAD, Engine no.9, Head Up, etc). Whereas songs that have never been played live, or rarely played live are near the bottom (like Linus, fist, nightboat, acoustic songs). This is an opportunity to hear some rare material - some that may not be played again. So, why aren't people taking advantage of it?

I guess I'm not really suprised. In 2001, Megadeth did a similar sort of deal where you could pick your setlist. As I recall, Vancouver was one of the only cities that were suckered into picking the radio rockers Breadline and Crush 'em, over more credible songs. Democracy, I suppose, is a double edge sword.

/rant