I went to Sacramento when I was 17. At the time, I obviously had no clue I’d get to witness one of the Californian city’s biggest (if not the) exports playing to a 6,000-strong-crowd in Halifax aged 31. But there I was; standing in the presence of absolute heavy rock pioneers, on a wet Tuesday evening. The rain poured, the crowd roared. The whole experience* was biblical amid the unrelenting torrential downpours — and not a single person flinched as droplets pinged off them. Heads banged, limbs flailed, lungs were tested.

It was completely and utterly surreal to be in the presence of such icons. Not only from a fan’s perspective, but in terms of the Record Weekly CV. ‘Bucket-list stuff’ couldn’t do it justice. 

Anyway, have we all just about calmed down yet? Deftones’ first UK gig in three years was bound to bring with it a lot of hype, but oh boy, it delivered. Considered as something of a warm-up (despite the dismal weather) for of their upcoming Glastonbury and Crystal Palace shows, Halifax was still dubbed by frontman Chino (Moreno) “the best crowd in Europe”. We didn’t argue. The team behind TK Maxx presents Live at The Piece Hall 2025 — as with all their events — did a stellar job making sure everyone was in there safely, and ready to go mad for Deftones. 

When they opened with the mighty ‘Be Quiet and Drive (Far Away)’, we didn’t need permission to let loose. Perhaps as it was a more predictable setlist starter, there was intense screaming during its first seconds — the realisation that this was all actually happening. 

While I was personally surprised neither ‘Royal’ nor ‘Beauty School’ made the cut, the band blessed us with riotous, hair-raising crowd-pleasers in ‘Diamond Eyes’, ‘Around the Fur’, ‘Digital Bath’ and ‘Change (In the House of Flies)’. And you can bet any money all the bodies in the venue went wild for the dark, grungy, scuzzy ‘You’ve Seen the Butcher’. Pinch-me moments galore.

The rain’s input ebbed and flowed, but no shred of energy was spared as Deftones romped through classic after classic. Offering a spine-tingling change of pace midway through, the soft and delicate yet yearning ‘Sextape’ was incredibly well-received. 

The outfit rounded off their set in the main with the groundbreaking ‘Genesis’ before they paused, dispersed from the stage, then re-emerged for an encore. We weren’t left guessing for too long, as they gifted us ‘Minerva’, ‘Bored’ and ‘7 Words’ in that order.

We gladly could’ve heard more; 90 minutes had past fast and furiously, and we were all in a dream-like daze on the way out. If ever there was a night to be remembered… 

*With huge thanks to Rhodes Media on behalf of The Piece Hall for the press passes, and to Cuffe and Taylor and The Piece Hall for selected images (credited within the article).