Deftones prove their mettle in high-energy Las Vegas show

Chino Moreno, front man for the Deftones, right, jumps off a stage monitor in front of a full house on Saturday, March 8, 2025, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. The Deftones were in Las Vegas on the sixth stop of their 2025 tour. Photo by Courtesy of Clemente Ruiz

Talk about “Adrenaline.”

It was pumping, literally and figuratively, through MGM Grand Garden Arena unabated Saturday for the Deftones’ first concert in Las Vegas since 2022 and the sixth stop on their global tour.

“Adrenaline,” as fans of the Sacramento, Calif.-based group know, is the band’s 1995 debut album. In a nod to their roots, the Deftones closed out their 20-song set with two cuts from the album, “Bored,” and “7 Words,” the latter of which set off the biggest, most frenzied — dare we say adrenaline-filled? — mosh pit of the night on the arena floor just in front of the stage.

But we’re getting ahead of ourselves.

Led by original members and boyhood buddies Chino Moreno, lead guitarist Stephen Carpenter and drummer Abe Cunningham, and joined by bassist Fred Sablan, DJ Frank Delgado and touring guitarist Lance Jackman, the Deftones put on a pulsating, energy-filled 90-minute set.

Forget that frontman Moreno is just three months shy of his 52nd birthday. He was a dynamo all evening, racing around the two-tiered set, posting up on stage monitors to tower over the crowd and igniting the arena with strong vocals and a stronger presence.

It’s hard to imagine how the guy can keep up the pace for a full concert, but Moreno was more than up to the task. Shrieking “Guns, razors, knives” like he did while performing “Rocket Skates” was just one of many songs where he seemingly stretched his vocal cords to the outer limits.

The rest of the band followed suit. Cunningham was a force on the drums, taming the skins with impressive aggression. Carpenter and Sablan (a relative newcomer to the Deftones, arriving in 2022 after a stint in Marilyn Manson’s band) were more than able. Delgado’s background effects added to the mood and tempo of each song.

But for two songs, “Prayers/Triangles,” from the 2016 album “Gore,” and “Genesis,” from 2020’s “Ohms” album, the show was entirely made up of songs at least a decade old. Many of them were originally recorded 20, even 30 years ago. “Swerve City” and “Rosemary,” from the 2012 album “Koi No Yokan,” “Sextape” and “You’ve Seen the Butcher,” from 2010’s “Diamond Eyes” album, “Be Quiet and Drive (Far Away)” and“My Own Summer (Shove It),” cuts from 1997 album, “Around the Fur,” and the aforementioned “Bored” and “7 Words,” from their debut album, were among the night’s highlights.

Yet, Saturday’s sold-out crowd of more than 16,000 people included more than its share of 20-somethings and younger. It’s a testament to the Deftones’ ability, and durability, to continue to engage new audiences while still appealing to longtime fans. If there was any question about TikTok’s ability to spur interest among younger generations, type “Deftones” into the app’s search function and be amazed by the breadth of videos that come up.

Their music has been categorized through the years as everything from alternative metal, nu metal, post-punk and drone rock, among others. But as a good friend of mine says, its genre is Deftones.

Songs from the past and genres aside, the rumor mill is churning out reports that the Deftones will be announcing the release of their 10th studio album, the first since “Ohms” five years ago, at some point during their current tour, which ends Oct. 3 at Aftershock 2025, the four-day megafestival in Sacramento.

If the past is prologue, those tracks will also produce adrenaline among the Deftones’ faithful, old and new.

— Anthony Stephens, a contributor to the Sun, added to this report.

— Anthony Stephens, a contributor to the Sun, added to this report.