A cool, rainy evening served as the perfect backdrop for the only SoCal stop for ††† (Crosses) on their Familiar World Tour at the Hollywood Palladium. With almost 10 years’ time since the band’s last full tour, a sold-out crowd provided a warm welcome for the electronic side project made up of Chino Moreno (Deftones lead singer) and Shaun Lopez (producer and Far guitarist).
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Crosses
Touring in support of last year’s “Goodnight, God Bless, I Love U, Delete” – their first full album since 2014 – the Hollywood stop was one of the final US shows on their 23-show run over the past month. With two albums and a couple of EPs, the band now has plenty of material to properly fill up a setlist. Between three sold out November shows at the Masonic Lodge at Hollywood Forever and a sunset performance at the Darker Waves Festival in Huntington Beach, the band knows they can always rely on strong Southern California support.
After dodging heavy raindrops outside, the early arriving crowd quickly filled the Palladium floor—many sporting ††† and Deftones gear. For just short of an hour, DJ Crook One warmed the venue up with a heavy dose of vintage dark pop and goth rock.
Following a short changeover, three LED crosses were uncovered by a stagehand as Moreno and Lopez hit the stage with “Invisible Hand,” the hypnotic lead single off of “Goodnight.” The song is a perfect blend of passion and controlled hostility, and immediately set the tone for the evening.
With barely a breath in between songs, Moreno tore through “This Is a Trick” and “Ghost Ride” as he covered every inch of the stage, not standing still for a moment. Shaun Lopez (who is responsible for programming and spellbinding beats) occasionally joined Moreno with his guitar front and center on the riser.
The show did not slow down until the midway point with “thholyghst,” one of only a few melodic and leisurely songs in the band’s arsenal. A projection system placed behind the three crosses showcased subtle images, drawing upon Moreno’s affinity for art and symbolic representation. Overall the show was selectively lit, with ground-based riser lights and back spots making up a majority of the lighting coverage.
A smoke effect filled the red, white, and blue illuminated stage on “The Epilogue,” which saw a sea of cell phones held in the air to document the moment while legendary primal screams from Moreno were (of course) present on “Bitches Brew.”
Moreno was definitely not chatty during the show, choosing to blow through the 18-song set in about 75 minutes as the rap-infused “Big Youth” closed out the main set. A quick encore featuring “telepathy” and “Option” offered one last chance for the crowd to soak in the “Chino strut.”
This amazing side project is clearly a personal outlet for Moreno to partner and creatively collaborate with Lopez. After a decade of touring silence, it was great to see them pack the historic LA venue.
The band finished up their US tour this past weekend with shows in Portland and Seattle and European dates will fill up the entire month of June. In the meantime, Moreno returns to his full-time Deftones gig at Coachella next month with two shows over consecutive weekends on April 12th and 19th.
