Deftones opened their summer European tour at METAStadt in Vienna on August 16 with a 21-song set that closed a long gap in their live catalog: "Risk," a song from 2010's Diamond Eyes that the band hadn't played live since 2011. Frontman Chino Moreno has called it one of the most touching and moving songs the band has written, and the set also pulled four tracks from last year's Private Music, "My Mind Is A Mountain," "Locked Club," "Infinite Source" and "Milk Of The Madonna," alongside support from Show Me The Body.
"Risk" carries weight beyond its rarity onstage in the band's metal catalog. The song was written in the aftermath of a 2008 car accident that left Deftones bassist Chi Cheng in a coma; Cheng died in April 2013 at age 42 without regaining consciousness. Reviving it for the tour's opening night turned a deep cut into a tribute, and gave longtime fans a moment the band had kept off setlists for a decade and a half.
Moreno has spoken about what keeps a band together this far into a career. "After all this time, we're really able to reflect and be grateful that, at this age and this stage of our lives, we're able to be creative and have people care," he told NME last year. "Multiple generations are into what we're doing. When I'm on stage, it is inspiring to look out there and see fresh faces, and familiar faces as well."
From Vienna, the tour heads to Berlin and then festival sets at Cabaret Vert and Pukkelpop before Deftones headline the Outbreak edition of All Points East at London's Victoria Park on Sunday, August 23, on a bill that also includes IDLES, Amyl And The Sniffers, Interpol and AFI. That festival slot follows Nia Archives DJing the event's official afterparty and Twenty One Pilots asking fans there for their own concert footage, part of a busy summer for the festival. After London, Deftones play outdoor shows with IDLES in Dublin and Edinburgh, and the band is already booked to return to San Diego's Petco Park on November 7 for the seventh edition of its own Dia De Los Deftones festival.
The facts
- Deftones opened their European tour in Vienna on August 16, 2026
- They played "Risk" live for the first time since 2011
- The song was written after the 2008 car accident that left bassist Chi Cheng in a coma; he died in 2013
- Deftones headline the Outbreak edition of All Points East in London on August 23, 2026
- The Vienna set included four songs from last year's album Private Music
How this checks out
Single source
Reported by a single outlet
Only one outlet has reported it so far, so it stays a single source.
Cited sources 1
Every outlet that reported this, linked to what it published. Equal credits, in alphabetical order.