Deftones dazzle Boston with energetic TD Garden show
'You've Seen the Butcher,' from 2008′s 'Diamond Eyes,' opens with riffs that resemble a malfunctioning car ignition before the song explodes into a hiccupping, grinding chronicle of obsession, while 'Sextape,' also from that album, is searching and cavernous, Moreno looking for metaphysical clarity and closure while tethered to Earth. The encore-opening 'Minerva,' from the band's 2003 self-titled album, pairs sweeping riffs with a churning low end, giving Moreno's stretched-out syllables ample room to soar.
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The Deftones fanbase has steadily grown in multiple directions since their debut 'Adrenaline' came out in 1995. Newer bands proudly cite them as an influence, the genres their music has touched on over the years get freshly discovered by younger listeners, and older rock enthusiasts who missed them the first time around unearth them on streaming services. The audience was solidly cross-generational, with the general-admission ticket holders on the floor erupting into push-and-shove mosh pits as a testament to their collective appreciation.
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From the first note, Tuesday's show provided a dazzling example of why Deftones have become part of rock's firmament. The band closed their set with the thwacking 'Adrenaline' cut '7 Words,' a scrappy young cousin of skate-metallers Suicidal Tendencies' angst-ridden 1983 touchstone 'Institutionalized' that allowed Moreno to lead the arena in one final, frenzied freakout, placing an exclamation point on the room's shared catharsis.
DEFTONES
With The Mars Volta, Fleshwater
At TD Garden, Tuesday
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