On Tuesday, March 12th, East Stroudsburg’s Sherman Theater hosted Sacramento’s, Deftones.  The band, long associated with the nu-metal movement of the late ’90s has overcome this tag through constant musical reinvention.  That was on full display during their show.

Anyone who was hoping to hear a few gems off of Deftones or Saturday Night Wrist went home a little disappointed because those albums were ignored.  Instead, the set was comprised of their earlier material (to appease the older fans and those songs still work very well live) and their inspired two latest albums, Diamond Eyes and Koi No Yokan.  The selections were a good representation of the band’s sound as it covered the aggressive material as well as some more atmospheric styles that they explore.  Almost all of the hits were present which, considering the their reasonably deep catalog, was no small feat.

The addition of current bass player Sergio Vega has reinvigorated the band, not only on their records but live, as well.  He was an energetic presence on stage.  Singer Chino Moreno occasionally involved the front row of the crowd and seemed to be having fun cracking a few jokes with drummer Abe Cunningham and giving an energetic performance.  His voice seemed to get lost a few times, especially early on in the set.  A few of the spacier tracks saw him pick up a guitar and add a layer to what Stephen Carpenter was laying down.  As always, Frank Delgado’s keys and turntables lent depth to the songs.

Things ended with a two song encore that saw that band go out on “7 Words,” a longtime fan favorite.

Periphery, hailing from Washington D.C.,started the evening with a healthy mix of songs from their self-titled debut and last year’s Periphery II: This Time It’s Personal.  Frontman Spencer Sotelo did his best to involve the crowd but less than ideal sound levels early in the set put a damper on things.  This was eventually corrected and some of the intricacies of the guitar work could be appreciated a bit more.  Speaking of those three guitars, an inordinate amount of time was spent tuning them between songs.  It killed the flow of the performance.

Overall, it was everything you could hope for from a show: an up-and-coming young band warming up the crowd for some legitimate headliners who gave the audience what they came for.

Listen here for the exclusive interview we did with Frank Delgado and Abe Cunningham of the Deftones. We discussed the making of  Koi No Yokan, the science of the perfect setlist, upcoming Record Store Day exclusives,  and music to fornicate to.

[We were able to do an interview with the band but unfortunately, we weren’t granted photo access. Therefore, you’ll have to settle for pictures from our Instagram feed instead.]

This post was written by:

Henry Chung – When Henry’s not busy updating this page and speaking in third person,he’s busy shooting and editing pictures from concerts and designing logos for bands.