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