For me it was the first time at the Paradiso. That venue kicks ass! Because of the balconies, there’s room for disabled or little children or just people who like to watch the gig without getting all crazy moshing people all over themselves. We decided to be one of those crazy moshing people for once, so we stood on the dancefloor. Yup, the dancefloor, we did some nice moves and convinced many that we cheesenuts do have soul. So what the hell am I saying here….I don’t know. However, after our road trip we first went for a cold beer (or two).

 

That’s why we only saw a few songs from the support act, Will Haven. Unfortunately for the band, the sound wasn’t all that. And next to that, most of the audience we’re all waiting for the Deftones to come up. Still the band put up a nice show and got some parts of the crowd moving. They did rock out even though that wasn’t because of the blonde guitarist. That guy just stood there banging his guitar emotionless. Not much of a thrill to see him play. The rest of the band did pretty good. The vocals reminded me of the hardcore band Maypole (rip) from Eindhoven Rockcity. Probably because he sang quite aggressive but yet melodic. 

 

Then it was time for the band we were all waiting for. From the moment that Deftones came on stage people went crazy. I’ve seen them playing twice so far but this gig was superior compared to my first experience of a Deftones gig. I always thought they sucked live. Due to Chino’s crazy vocals and because of the characteristic guitar sound that would be hard to achieve live. But tonight the sound was just perfect. All the bombastic low and shredding high typical Deftones sounds got pumped out of the speakers! Chino even did the middle part of ‘Knife Party’  flawless. Just listen to the album version and imagine it twice as wicked and you got our live version….

 

In fact, just do the same with the whole White Pony and Around The Fur records, and you got the whole gig. Oh yes, they played all my favourites that night. And most of my favourites are on those two records. To name a few they played that night; ‘Passenger’, ‘Around The Fur’, ‘Knife Party’, ‘Dai The Flu’, ‘Be Quiet And Drive’, ‘Digital Bath’, ‘Change (in the house of flies)’ and so on. They also played some of their latest records Deftones and Saturday Night Wrist. But you could clearly see that the audience enjoyed the ‘classic’ ones the most.

 

It was good to see that the audience consisted of all different kinds of people. Kids, adults, metalheads, punks and so on. Because I believe when you achieve that as a band, you did a very good job. To manage such a variety in your fan base you have to be in the business for quite a while. And more important, be good at what you do!

 

But besides that flawless show, with an incredible sound (especially for the Deftones) I do have the thought they got old(er). They looked tired and even a little bit worn out. But hey, it was at the end of their tour. So maybe I should just shut the f*ck up…. The fact is, I finally went to see the Deftones play live again, I had the chance to go there and experience it with some of my best friends, they played a marvellous show and I even got a guitar pick from Stef (Guus even managed to catch a drumstick from Abe). What else do you want? Yeah, another Deftones show…..

 

Love Maurits