Deftones, Snapcase and Quicksand


November 27, 1998
Main Street Armory, Rochester, NY

by aron

Okay, so having never been in Rochester before the night of the concert, I was somewhat worried that we might not even find this place, but when we pulled up in front of a castle-ish building with about 200 kids standing in front, I was pretty sure we were where we were supposed to be.

The lineup was pretty impressive, even though, once again, I don't care for Snapcase, who, fortunately, were up first. The played what seemed like a relatively short set which included some older stuff, newer songs like "Zombie Prescription" and "Caboose" and a cover of a Bad Brains song to replace the traditional Misfits cover in the set list. This was my fourth Snapcase performance, and as I have said before, even if you don't like their music, you have to admit that they put on a good show. If you want more of my opinions on Snapcase (yeah, right), I refer you back to the Face to Face show review from last April.

Quicksand was up next. I wasn't familiar with their stuff at all, having only heard them once before, and that was three years ago when someone played me about 5 seconds of the album Manic Compression. (BTW, didn't Quicksand break up a few years back? Anyone know what happened?) They sounded amazing. While they are undoubtedly labeled a hardcore band, the music was far too melodic to be classified as such. The singer's voice carried over the rest of the music, which at times had an almost psychedelic feel to it. Check these guys out if you can.

Finally, after a long wait, the lights dimmed and everyone started screaming, as is tradition (kinda in the same vein as cheering for the soundcheck guys, right?). By this time, my friends and I were near the front, close to the middle. We had figured that if the pit started up around here (if! Hah!) we would be able to make it to the edge without much trouble if we didn't feel like moshing. Ahh, naïveté. The screams became louder as the members of the Deftones took the stage, and when "Be Quiet and Drive" started up, everyone went insane. I think that at one point there were four separate pits, and that was just what I could see. The sound was great and the music was...well, it was live Deftones. That's about all you need to know. When the opening notes of "Root" sounded out, I, too, went crazy. I jumped and thrashed around with the rest of the crowd during this, one of my very favorite Deftones songs and throughout most of the rest of the set.

After throwing the crowd into a frenzy with the first few songs, the testosterone levels were allowed to cool during an amazing rendition of "Mascara," which was followed by the equally amazing "Around the Fur." The band played a good mix of the old and the new, drawing from both albums, and throwing in a couple surprises for good measure. "Teething" came as a very welcome surprise for me. The highlight of the set, though, would've had to be either "Dai the Flu" or "Bored" (a song which I was extremely happy to hear, having felt unfulfilled after it was left out of the set list at Warped). About an hour into the set, Chino began singing something that was decidedly not a song I was familiar with. Anyone know what this was? Was it a cover? New song? To my knowledge, the Deftones have officially (i.e., not demos, etc.) released two covers, Duran Duran's "The Chauffeur" and Depeche Mode's "To Have and to Hold." This was neither. Whatever it was, it was incredible. If anyone has any idea, please e-mail me. After this, the band walked offstage, leaving a screaming crowd behind. They soon returned, however, with a quick encore of "Headup," thanked the crowd repeatedly, and left. This was simply one of the most amazing and emotionally charged sets I have ever heard/seen. 'Nuff said.

Deftones Set List (not in order)

Be Quiet and Drive (Far Away)
My Own Summer (Shove It)
Root
Mascara
Around the Fur
7 Words
Bored
Teething
Nosebleed
Engine No. 9
Dai the Flu
Lotion
?
Headup


live shows