by Tim - tanderso@kcc.com

My band Downface (http://www.downface.com) got selected to play Summerfest in Milwaukee for the first time this year. We were pretty excited since the 10 day festival draws more than 1 million people per year. At first, we figured that the opening day of the festival (June 29th) was as good as any other day to play, since there would be a lot of people there for the opening day bullshit. Anyway, we couldn't believe our ears when the promoter told us that the Deftones were going to be playing later that night on the same stage we were going to be playing at. Since we were in one of the bands that got to play that day, we got backstage passes for the entire night. So not only did we get to watch the Deftones from the best seat in the house, we also got to meet them all.

Chi was the most enthusiastic of the band before their set started. He was really getting into the 9 o'clock band Glassjaw from New York. He came over and talked to us for a little while to see how our show went. He was a real nice guy. Abe came out of the trailer to hang out next. He is quiet, but he was really cool to talk to. He talked to our drummer for a few minutes and took a picture with him. Chino came walking by. He was real quiet, but was singing something to himself and kind of dancing as he walked. You could see he was really getting prepared for the show he was about to give. Lastly, Frank and Steph came out of the trailer. Frank was really to himself, but Steph came right over and talked to us. He asked about the marijuana laws in Wisconsin, and then proceeded to tell us all of the places he smoked up throughout the day. Definitely a nice guy.

After the Opening day fireworks, it was finally time for the Deftones to come on. Man were they loud. Even though they were playing on the same PA as the rest of the bands that day, they were twice as loud as any of the other bands (including us). It was weird seeing Chino with a guitar in his hands, but it really filled out the songs he played on. One thing that surprised me was that they really mixed the show up with new and old music. I am not sure about the order, but they played "Seven Words", "Bored", "Around The Fur", "My own Summer", "Mascara", "Be Quite and Drive", "Korea", "Feiticeira", "Digital Bath", and "Change". They took a brief break and then came on to finish their show with "Head Up". They were unbelievable. I never noticed how much Frank added to the music as much as this show. Every sound he produced was perfect, and fit in perfectly with the song. When Chino left his guitar, he went right back to jumping around and screaming at the crowd. It was a damn good show. Definitely the best band to ever play at the Lazer 103 Rock stage at Summerfest.