Words by Marco Denzer
Deftones brought their long-awaited Spring 2022 Tour, featuring special guests Gojira, to New York City’s leading venue The Rooftop at Pier 17 on May 15. Weather conditions for an open-air concert, including pleasant spring temperatures and a mostly sunny sky punctuated by occasional Cirrus clouds, were absolutely idyllic and key to setting a tone of good vibes for the fans in attendance.
L.A. based Australian duo VOWWS, featuring musicians Matt James (vocals/guitar) and Arezo “Rizz” Khanjani (vocals/keyboard) kicked off the evening with a solid set that easily ignited the fuse for what was to come.
As daylight slowly began to fade over the city and the audience quieted down in anticipation of Gojira’s set, a shirtless Mario Duplantier slowly emerged from behind his drum set and waived at the roaring crowd. The rest of his band mates, Joe Duplantier (guitar/vocals), Christian Andreu (guitar) and Jean-Michael Labadie (bass) followed closely behind him and the wait was finally over.
The Frenchmen held nothing back as they kicked ass with a phenomenal eleven song set, it was an absolute headbanger’s delight and the crowd loved every note of it. With Mario seated high on the drum riser like a wizard casting intricate rhythmic spells on the audience, shredding and mesmerizing with his double bass percussion, the quartet played songs like “Born of One Thing”, “Flying Whales” and “Hold On” among several others to the satisfaction of those in the crowd.
By the time Deftones hit the stage, the large and bright full moon looked amazing above the Brooklyn skyline. What a setting for a stage entrance! The good vibe instantly turned into excitement and joy with their arrival.
The bi-level stage arrangement was such that it gave Chino Moreno ample space to work in. With keyboards/turntables and drums situated on the higher level and guitars and bass on the lower level, the restless vocalist moved freely from left to right and up and down the stage singing and interacting with fans in the front rows.
A large parallelogram shaped fixture of computer-controlled lighting hung above the stage creating significant dynamics and ambience for the performance. The lighting system’s vast array of colors and patterns, carefully synchronized to their music, greatly enriched the concert experience. It created an extremely captivating and entertaining dimension to the show.
Occasionally a single white spotlight illuminated Moreno standing center stage while other multicolored beams of light swirled around him, the scene easily conjured up an image of a UFO landing with an extraterrestrial stepping out of the spacecraft ready to explore. It was straight up sci-fi material!
Deftones curated an excellent and extensive setlist for the show, and they gave one hell of a performance. The list of songs included hits like “Be Quiet and Drive”, “My Own Summer”, “Sex Tape” and many others. It was a geat variety of tunes from their repertoire.
Deftones – Setlist
Genesis
Rocket Skates
Prayers/Triangles
Royal
Be Quiet and Drive (Far Away)
My Own Summer (Shove It)
Tempest
Swerve City
Digital Bath
Knife Prty
Beware
Sextape
Diamond Eyes
Rosemary
Blood Cape
Change (In the House of Flies)
Ohms
Encore
Lotion
Engine #9
Gojira – Setlist
Born of One Thing
Backbone
Stranded
Flying Whales
The Cell
Love/Remembrance
Hold On
Grind
Silvera
L’enfant Sauvage
Amazonia
TheWaster.com | NYC
5.19.22
