By Carla Meyer
cmeyer@sacbee.com
Metal music can be empowering, invigorating, aggression-relieving. Deftones' show Sunday night at Sacramento's Memorial Auditorium was all those things, along with being seductive in a way hard rock hardly ever is.
Layering Chino Moreno's lush vocals over Stephen Carpenter's relentless, complex guitar work and the driving, insinuating rhythms created by drummer Abe Cunningham, bassist Sergio Vega and keyboardist Frank Delgado, the Sacramento-bred band infused its show with sensuality.
Sensuality in this instance does not necessarily imply sex or love, though those topics got ample play on the yearning, supple "Sextape" and whisper/scream "Rocket Skates," from Deftones' most recent album, "Diamond Eyes."
It is more the way the music hits so many senses at once. Deftones unsettle with a fundamentally hardcore sound, then entrance with Moreno's breathy tenor, taking the listener to a realm where feeling outweighs thought -- and eliminates any desire to analyze Moreno's obtuse lyrics.
Musically, nothing seemed out of place Sunday. Yet a vital part of Deftones' evolution was missing: longtime bassist Chi Cheng, who remains in a minimally conscious state after a 2008 auto accident.
Donating $1 from every ticket to a fund helping with Cheng's medical expenses, Deftones also quietly acknowledged Cheng's absence during the show.
Early in the show, Moreno noted that it was a beautiful Sacramento night, and that he wished Cheng were there with everyone. He dedicated "Dai the Flu," a pounding song from 1997's "Around the Fur" softened by the lyric, "Thank God that you love at all," to Cheng.
Moreno also donned a T-shirt bearing Cheng's likeness for Deftones' encore. He didn't make a big deal about the shirt. He didn't need to, since there seemed to be a tacit understanding between Deftones and the hometown crowd that the group's continuation after Cheng's accident is itself a tribute.
Moreno started the show in a natty, button-down shirt, and stayed suave throughout despite jumping around and sweating under the lights. Moreno - the man, the songwriter, the voice - is the reason so many women showed up at Sunday's concert, which offered that rarity at dude-centric, hard-rock shows: long lines for the ladies' room.
Playing before an auditorium that was between half and three-quarters full (an official count was not made available), Moreno bounced around much of the time without an instrument. But when he played guitar alongside Carpenter, he measurably enriched Deftones' already intricate sound. "Hole in the Earth," from the 2006 album "Saturday Night Wrist," sounded even dreamier live than it does on record - a feat considering Memorial's faulty acoustics.
Call The Bee's Carla Meyer, (916) 321-1118.
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