Deftones @ The Greek Theatre. 11-1-13.

Deftones just spent the past few months opening for Avenged Sevenfold on some crappy arena tour across the USA. I say crappy because I wouldn't wish touring with Avenged Sevenfold upon my worst enemy. So the tour ends and Deftones rush back to California and play this awesome one off headlining show at The Greek Theatre. Just the band and five thousand or so friends hanging out together in the Hollywood hillside. Oh...and Glassjaw was opening. Cool right?

Unfortunately, traffic in Southern California is the 5th horseman of the Apocalypse. Journeying through the ungodly confines of the 5 fwy, then traversing through a Mt. Everest of parking lot congestion, we missed Glassjaw and damn near missed the beginning of the headliner's set as well. The only semi-good thing to come out of this traffic/parking nightmare, was seeing Serj and Shavo from System of a Down huddled under a tree outside the venue waiting for the rest of their band mates to show up (this was later confirmed by the power of the internetz). 

Thankfully, we made it to our seats moments before Deftones went into the opening notes of "Feiticeira," off White Pony. After months of playing a brief "best of" type set for non Deftones fans, Chino said it felt great playing whatever they wanted. That meant lots of rare treats like "Elite," "Lhabia," "Teenager," and "Bloody Cape," alongside a healthy dose of new cuts from 2012's Koi No Yokan. "Temptest" and "Romantic Dreams" sounded just as good, if not better (heavier and with crazy urgency) live than on the new record. Even after watching Chino play guitar all night with Palms this summer, it's still so odd watching him with a guitar in Deftones. I guess I'm just used to him jumping and swinging his microphone around.

photo boosted from: L.A. RECORD

Outdoor venues can be tricky, with sound levels fluctuating on the whims of a breezy night, but Deftones sounded great this evening at the Greek. Stephen's guitar was pummeling as ever during "Diamond Eyes," just as Abe's ghost notes and full on snare bashing were on display during "Passenger." We all know Chino is modern rock's crown prince of crooning/screaming, but Sergio Vega's backing vocals have become a crucial component to the Deftones live show. Not only is he a legendary bassist, but the dude can carry a tune. I couldn't believe it but Sergio basically made "Be Quiet and Drive (Far Away)" his own.



A few bummers about Deftones' otherwise awesome show:

• Curfew- the venue is nestled between the woodland expanse of Griffith Park, and very expensive residential homes. The wealthy neighbors don't take kindly to late night concerts in their backyard so the Deftones performance at the forest moon of Endor (Chino's words) was cut short by a few songs.
• Layout-although a great sounding venue, if you aren't within the first few rows of the stage the band feels a bit far away. We were lucky enough to land seats with a birds eye view but still couldn't manage any decent photos or video =/
• Parking- yeah I'm bitching about parking again. Really it's that fucking horrible trying to park here. We spent about the same amount of time in the car (arriving then trying to exit afterwards) as we did inside the venue watching Deftones play. Sheer insanity.

Small grievances aside, Deftones continued their reign of awesomeness with back to back album & concert victories. So thankful they played this show and didn't force me to buy an Avenged Sevenfold ticket. Thanks guys, I owe you one.