Deftones, continuing to ride high on the success of their critically acclaimed and eighth studio release Gore, recently pulled the tour bus onto the streets of Baltimore to deliver the charm city crazies a dose of their unique melodic bombast alongside Swedish hard core punk heroes Refused and psych-doom metal outfit Spotlights.
Although many cities can lay claim to possessing outdoor music venues, few if any of them offer the inveigle, intimacy, sound quality and overall musical experience the picturesque Pier Six Pavilion, located on the shores of Baltimore’s historic inner harbor waterfront district, serves up to its patrons.
The venue thus provided a paradisiac backdrop for hosting a night of stirring, heavy and heart pounding music that saw the close to 4,500 in attendance standing on the edge of their seats screaming, sweating and crashing into one another from the first note strummed to the moment the house lights were raised signaling the end to the evening’s performance.
Brooklyn based Spotlights, helmed by husband and wife duo Sarah Quintero (bass/guitar vocals) and Mario Quintero (guitar/synths/vocals) alongside drummer Josh Cooper, kicked off the night’s musical festivities with their own brand of self-described sludge-gaze.
Despite the crowd only beginning to stream into the venue Spotlights delivered a set that literally forced the early arriving attendees to take notice. As the band’s sound straddles close enough to that of the Deftones’, Spotlights’ takes on tracks from their recently released full length debut Tidals came off extremely well.
One aspect of the Deftones I’ve always enjoyed is the ability for the listener to get lost in both the layers and complexity of their music and I found the more I let myself drift into Spotlights’ soundscapes, the more I became mesmerized by their music as well.
Do yourself a favor, find a dark room, throw on a set of quality head phones, perhaps partake in an adult beverage or two and allow yourself to get bewitched by Spotlight tracks such as “Joseph”.
Not exactly an obvious choice to serve as tour support Deftones tabbed Refused to join them on the road as they finish up Gore’s summer touring cycle. Much like Spotlights before them Refused immediately engaged the crowd with a blistering ferocity from the second they took to the lighted stage.
Although I doubt many in the audience were all too familiar with Refused’s music it certainly didn’t stop the vast majority of those in attendance from reveling in the band’s brand of scorching punk from across the pond.
From Set opener “Elektra” off of 2015’s Freedom to set closer “New Noise” from the 1998 classic, The Shape of Punk to Come, Refused were a whirling dervish of bluster and sonic rampage which at one point included front man Dennis Lyxzén taking to the crowd for a demented, delirious and fan interactive sing-a-long.
Not long after the sun set behind Baltimore’s downtown skyline Deftones took to the Pier Six stage to by far and away the loudest roar of the evening. Launching into “KimDracula, a track that just recently made its way back into the band’s live performance following a near five-year hiatus, Chino Moreno and company went onto to deliver a blistering twenty-one song bludgeoning set list which included tracks from all eight of the band’s studio releases.
Highlights on the evening including fan favorites such as “Change (In the House of Flies)”, “My Own Summer (Shove It)”,” Be Quiet and Drive (Far Away)” and a torrid take on the Max Cavelera collaboration off of 1997’s Around the Fur, “Headup”.
By the time Deftones closed out the night with the only track from their debut album Adrenaline, “Bored”, I’m guessing most fans were in a state of shoe-gaze delirium as well as borderline mental and physical exhaustion.
You see one of the most unique aspects of any Deftones performance is the fact that if you’re not as completely spent of every ounce of energy as the band themselves following one of their transcendent live sets, it’s abundantly clear you simply weren’t paying the requisite amount of attention.
Deftones continue to prove over twenty plus years into their career that they are not only signs of ever slowing down but they are but one of a handful of hard rock and heavy metal bands still out there today that are actually getting better with age both in terms of recorded material as well as live performance. Well played Deftones, well played.
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Photography and editorial by Bob Forte
