Deftones at Shepherd’s Bush Empire
Deftones – Sheperd’s Bush Empire – 24 August 2011
Words and Photos by Sean Gibson
It’s pretty impressive to think that the Deftones have been together for 23 years, no mean feat in the dog eat dog world of rock ‘n roll. This longevity has resulted in a very family-like feel to the band and this is immediately demonstrated to me by a sign at the guest list window requesting a £5 donation from everyone on the list to go towards Chi Cheng’s medical bills. I’m impressed by how only one of the several people in front of me bitches about this (obviously not a true fan).
With a big slot way up the bill looming at the Reading and Leeds festivals in a couple of days this one-off treat for London is definitely serving as a warm-up for the guys before the weekend and it looks to me like they’re having all the more fun for it. Chino strides onto stage with a big grin on his face and they rip into a couple of new tracks off Diamond Eyes, with ‘Rocket Skates’ getting the crowd behind the photo pit literally frothing at the mouth.
Deftones are a phenomenal stage act, all the guys looking more than in their element up in front of the packed house. Stand-in bassist Sergio Vega on the right hand side of the stage is a great counterbalance to a traditionally fairly static Stephen Carpenter on the left. He bounces around large tracts of stage, feeding off the hurricane that is Chino Moreno. Moreno is an amazing front-man and I’d love to see him with more room to move on a stage somewhere like Reading. At one point he loses his in-ear monitor and his poor roadie has a hard time getting him to stand still long enough to hook it up again. I think it’s a pretty good indicator of just how aggressively he involves every part of his body in the music that his microphone is swaddled in gaffer tape all around it and about a metre down the cord to protect it from the beating it takes. It needs it, trust me.
With the all the brilliance of this band and their vortex of energy spinning up on stage I’m feeling let down by the sound tonight. It’s muddy and Moreno’s voice is getting lost somewhere. The drums and bass sound great but something’s happening in the mids that’s detracting from the performance, which is a pity because Chino is holding some of the best vocal cords on any stage anywhere and it’d be nice to hear them properly. Still, that aside it‘s a great gig and with 6 albums of material to pick from we’re treated to whole range of their stuff with ‘My Own Summer’ raising the roof and ‘Digital Bath’ getting everyone singing along, hands reaching high.
The atmosphere I mentioned earlier of this feeling like a good-time, warm-up show for the band is evident in the few mistakes they make (and they are few) tonight and the their reactions to them. As they’re going through the spooky sound-scape that leads into ‘Digital Bath’ Abe Cunnigham cracks the snare a couple of bars too soon which gets all of them laughing, sharing the moment, and it makes me a little jealous. I want to be in an awesome band with my closest mates, having a good time on stage and laughing at each other’s cock-ups.
Author’s Side Note – Thank you to the security staff at The Empire and the PR lady for the band. You guys were super friendly, made us photographers feel more than welcome and did your work efficiently and with a smiles on your faces. I’ve been to most of London’s bigger venues and you guys outshine ‘em all.
