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Wâldrock
Deftones and the Wâldrock disasterJune 30th 2001by Sly Masmeijer, 04 Oct 2012.
Pictures by Sly Masmeijer, Ron van Rutten & Crowe PhotographyWâldrock was a one day metal held from 1988 till 2009 in a small place called Bergum in the Northern part of The Netherlands. It was a great festival because in it’s history it had quite some big names on the bill, yet the vibe of the festival remained small and peacefull and therefore it was an unique festival too.After my first visit to the festival in 2000, I decided I definitely had to go in 2001 for another reason. Deftones where the headliner on the bill that day and played the main stage together with Biohazard, Devin Townsend, Suicidal Tendencies, Saxon, Opeth, Fantomas (featuring the legandary Mike Patton of Faith No More fame) among others. So, I was very psyched to see my favorite band play this nice festival. Me and a few friends drove up to Bergum on June 29th, partied, camped and tried to get ready for the next day, full of bands, fun, beers and Deftones! It looked it was gonna be a good day, weather forecasts where good.I was looking forward seeing Mike Pattons weird avant-garde noise band Fantômas. I’m a big fan of Faith No More plus Fantômas’ line-up consisted of Buzz Osbourne of the Melvins and Dave Lombardo of Slayer, legends as well! In reality it was nice to see and hear them and nothing more than that. Watching Mike Patton is always fun, even in a weird band like Fantômas. While watching them I saw Chino walking onto the side of the stage to watch some of that show. Mike Patton and Chino had met before (I assume) because Patton did some guest vocals on Chinos’ side project Team Sleeps’ song ‘Kool Aid Party’. That song was never officially released but was leaked onto the internet along some other Team Sleep demo songs. Later it became clear Chino had a very good time backstage while doing some serious drinking with Mike Patton. There’s even a story that Mike Patton made Chino very drunk and stayed somewhat sober himself without Chino knowing that. After a great show of Suicidal Tendencies it was time for crossover hardcore band Biohazard, the last band to appear before Deftones would go on.
Fantômas live at Wâldrock (Picture by Sly Masmeijer).
Chino entering the stage to watch Fantômas (Picture by Sly Masmeijer).
Stef and Chi, backstage at Wâldrock with Josh Paul and Mike Clark of Suicidal Tendencies (Picture courtesy of suicidaltendencies.com).As the day went by and the evening fell in we came closer to showtime and I was in front row waiting for the band to come up. For some strange reason I felt something was up but I didn’t know what it was and…. my guess became reality. An announcer walked onto the stage a few minutes after Deftones where supposed to go on telling to crowd to be patience for a bit. Because of ‘circumstances’ the show would be delayed. After about 40 minutes after original show time Chino comes on, assisted by someone of the Deftones crew. With ‘assisted’ I mean ‘guided’ to the middle of the stage with a message like: “Stand here and do the show.” I could see this was not good. Chino could barely stand on his own feet. At that moment I didn’t know what to think, but the word ‘wasted’ came to mind right away. It looked he was very drunk. I could see the rest of the band smile and making eye contact with eachother like saying “We are the ones who have to guide Chino through this.”Chino started some stupid blatter about heavy metal referring to the festival’s origin.I transcribed the quotes from a live recording, made for radio broadcast by Kink FM, an alternative Dutch radio station:Chino Moreno: ”It’s an american heavy metal weekend. It’s an american heavy metal weekeeend…. Y&T, Quiet Riot…”Chi Cheng: ”Ratt”CM: “Twisted Sister, Mötley Crue…”CC: “And don’t forget….”CM: “You remember that song…”CC: “And don’t forget The Nudge”CM: “Ow yeah… hey hey, don’t forget…. The Nuuuudge. No matter what don’t forget… The Nuuudge”CC: “Let’s see those hands! Fucking bring this shit together”CM: “No fuck that! It’s way too quiet, I got my ass kicked and I had a very bad… evening.. Give it…Make some fucking noise for Ted Nudgent right fucking now!”Stef starts ‘Headup’ intro…. A good choice otherwise Chino could go on for ages.
I felt sort of angry right away, I don’t know why. I thought, fuck that; Chino’s so wasted, too wasted to even do this show. I waited all day for this. I even felt ‘proud’ they headlined this big metal festival. I could not believe it. I’ve seen the last couple of shows being a little different because we all know Deftones started partying big time since the release and during the recording of White Pony. But this was too much. So I watched the show go on, in a different way, a mixed way because I still kind of liked it of course.
So when Stef started ‘Headup’ Chino, totally out of control, started walking and falls down from the front of the stage, onto the ground. The stage was pretty high. He kept on singing the song while lying down, face on the ground. He is helped getting up by security and crew members. Then after the first verse the song stops and Chino starts talking again:CM: “Come on… Do you wanna know wh-wh-why we have friends and why we are all here together making heavy metal music? Do you ever think about what the fuck you are doing here. I don’t…I don’t I don’t care… I don’t care… I just like the way my dick feels when I listen to certain types of sounds…. Somtimes I hear a certain sound, and it makes my dick really fucking hard!”Later on in the song during the breakdown:CC: ” All the beautiful people!”
After ‘Headup’ Chino still is down in front of the crowd. Tour manager Steve Kidd is down there somewhere too to assist Chino, and holding him up against the front barrier….CC: “Thank you”CM (to possibly a security guard or someone in the crowd): ”You want me to pull up my pants? Is that what you ..Is that what you said? Say it! Say it, say it in the language”Some guy in mic in Dutch: ”Even een even beetje krap de broek op!” [means: “Your pants are too low”]CM: “Why?”Guy: ”It is too cooold.”CM: “Say that again.”Guy: ”Het is dus too cold.”CM: “Is that they gayest shit you ever fucking heard in your life?”‘My Own Summer (Shove It)’ starts… and after the verse and first chorus Chino starts talking again:CM: “Hey, do you really wanna know why I wear my pants like this? Easy access baby….. Easy access, that’s why I wear my pants like that. It’s for easy access. See, if you are able to put your weenie inside like thsss…. Ahh my brain is ruined…Why don’t we all snap our fingers like… Shhhh be quiet, don’t get loud. Understand you are at a heavy metal concert but it’s okay to collect your thoughts for one minute… collect them… shhh… Quiet. Stop talking shhh… Ouch that hurt [Chino gets hit by boots from someone crowdsurfing the crowd]. You got boots on and your’e fucking jumping on top of crowd, kicking people in the face, how good does that feel. I ask one thing from everyone and that is respect everybody around you. Understand that we are here to have a good time and enjoy music but please look out for one another okay? You down with that? Yeahh I like Mortiss, I like Opeth…. what about you?”
Song continues… and after the bridge something cool happens in all this drama. Chino is singing and holding people’s hands and I am really close to him, still singing along and trying to enjoy the show as much as possible, despite how bad I felt at that moment. I was wearing a self made-drawn-designed Pokemon/Deftones shirt containing ‘Deftones’ as the Pokemon logo plus five Pikachu characters who look like the Deftones’ members. Chino looks at me and sees that shirt. Plus I feel he recognizes me [probably from previous meetings I had with the band] and when the bridge is over and the feeback kicks in for Chino to end the song Chino says:CM: “Let this guy right here up… this is one of the oldest Deftones fans I that I fucking know right here. If anybody knows anything about what the fuck we do…. then you know there is no formula to any of this shit. We just kinda go as we go… Are you ready to go with me? Are you ready?”Pretty cool! Despite his wasted performance so far, he still recognizes me! But he was wrong about the ‘If anybody knows anything about what the fuck we do..’ part, because I did not expect this behaviour at all.At this point some of my friends plus some other people lift me up (as Chino asked) and I’m surfing the crowd towards the front of the stage. Security catch me and just at that point the song had ended and Chino is standing next to me, just before the barrier. By coincidence, I’m wearing a red White Pony windbreaker (I bought at a Deftones show in March that year), just like almost the entire Deftones crew. Their techs were also wearing those jackets! If I wanted I could just climb on there too and watch the show from the stage without anyone noticing. I didn’t though.Steve Kidd and I are both trying to lift Chino back onto the stage and security think I’m with the Deftones crew because of my jacket, so let me just do my thing. I clearly remember Steve Kidd, who was next to me, telling Chino something… like a warning. Let’s face it, Wâldrock booked Deftones and paid for them. If they fuck it up like Chino was doing, they could get in trouble for ruining the entire show. Kidd was talking or warning Chino and saying something like: “You got the whole world watching!! Think what you are doing.” Some other dude was also helping us lifting Chino back onto the stage and Chino says to this 3rd person, while getting back up on the stage:CM: “I love you I love.. I love you. See, I had to give it up to this guy. He is.. He is the singer from Queens Of The Stone Age reincarnated. Come up here come on, come up here. You are the biggest guy in the world. I’ve never seen anyone as big as you and I appreciate you’re helping me. Thank you.”
Stef and Chi are confused (Picture by Sly Masmeijer).
Clearly thinking about what Kidd said to him he continues:CM: ” What should I do? See that? Ow man, I..I’m sorry. I apologize to you, I apologize to you, I apologize to you and I apologize to you… for being on my neck.”Then it gets more painful:CM: “See, last night, I don’t know if you noticed but uhh, uhh…I have no fucking excuse for my life. I have no excuse for it, I can fucking make one up but I can’t. I’m an alcoholholic, and I’m not happy about it so FUCK IT… This is called.. The White… Pony. Eat it… Stick it in your fucking lip fuck it all…”‘Feiticeira’ starts. after that:CM: ”Yeah, and I’ll be your girlfriend if you want me to… I’ll be your girlfriend. Hey, we go downtown together… we go downtown together.”
‘Korea’ starts. Midsong Chino screams:CM: “You wanna be a tough guy, it feels so good to be a tough guy doesn’t it? Come here… come here, bring your ass up here! Bring your… come on fuck off, and I said I’ll stick my dick in your mothers fucking pussy, and I fuck her all that loooong, all night loooooong.”When the song ends, Chino is down in the crowd again and because he started insulting the crowd or certain people, he get’s boo-ed at a lot. I could tell the crowd was pretty much done with Chino and the band as well for fucking up so bad. Most part of the crowd are metal heads who weren’t really into Deftones anyway but this makes it all worse. Also, people started throwing beer, sand and dirt at Chino (if they didn’t already). It’s was a pretty sad moment. I could tell the band wanted to go through the songs fast so Chino wouldn’t wander off with his nonsense talking between and during songs. But he started again:CM: “Yes yes, Deftones, yes yes, heavy metal, yes yes nu metal, yes yes fucking queer, yes yes. Wanna know who listens to fucking Death Angel, how many of you fuckers remember a band called Death Angel. Fuck myeah… fuck you too… pounch me with your fucking dirt. That’s why you fucking pig to come to this fucking concert and sit here and have fun throwing stuff at me, is that fun for you? That’s why you paid?If you know anything about heavy metal, you know that San Francisco, California is the birthplace of a lot of good shit.”
‘Be Quiet And Drive (Far Away)’ starts. During the intro:CM: “This song goes out to Steven Morrissey, if you’re a fucking metal head you know it’s good.”After the song, during Stef’s feedback:CM: “Where is Cyco Miko at? Where’s Mike Muir, Mike Muir, where you at? Come on man, we’re about to show these motherfuckers what happens in Los Angeles, California. When you grow up just loving fucking music, and music refuse your fucking life, this is what happens. This song is called Subliminal.Yeah I know you already heard that motherfucker before, but when two fucking warriors get together…What the fuck is gonna happen? Nothing but positivity. Nothing but ssshh sh.”‘Subliminal’, a Suicidal Tendencies cover starts. Mike Muir, ST’s singer joined the band on stage to sing this classic ST song with them. A special moment, especially when you know that Deftones have been covering this song from very early on in their career. They already played it live in 1992!
During a break in the song:CM: “I wanna see a big circle of motherfuckers moving round, let’s have it happening”.During another break:CM: “Hey hey, now we know who the realy guys are, now we know who the realy guys are”.“Venice California”.After the song:CM: “Yes Mike Muir everyone!CC: “That’s a great honor!CM: “The beginning of West Coast shit. And you know there was no such thing as a band called Papa Roach. And there be no such thing as called as a band like Deftones if it wasn’t for a band like Suicidal Tendencies. Please make some fucking noise for that real shit. Hate me for anything else later, but love that for what it is.”‘Root’ starts. Chino sings this very sloppy like every other song on the setlist. After ‘Root’:CM: “Yeah..thank you all. Thank you very much. And I should not be apologetic, fuck That. Thank you all, yes. Not apologetic like thank you all like thank you, thank you… right? Thank you for making me make this music that I made when I was fucking….. this many. I was this many. That many plus ten, I was this many. Sixteen years old. How many are up there are….”‘Nosebleed’ starts. Chino, again is down in the crowd and with everything he says, the crowd gets more pissed and start to throw more dirt and stuff at him. Chino get’s covered in sand. During the break of the song:CM: “See, I want you to understand something. You can throw whatever you wanna throw at me. You can say what you wanna say to me but I don’t give a fuck. You know why? Cause I’m not fucking no Fred Durst bull shit. I’m not about to sit and complain about every fucking thing and every time somebody is mean to me. I don’t fucking care. You know why? Cause I don’t give a fuck. I don’t give a ffffuck. Let go of me please, let go of me. I’ll be and stand here. I take anything you can fucking throw at me, fuck it, go ahead. Go ahead. Throw fucking dirt at me now! There you go. You’re a fucking man right? Let go of me, let go of me. I’m cool. Let go of me.”Chino gets on stage again. During the second break in Nosebleed:CM: “I wanna dedicate this song to all the fine handsome little [????]. All the Polynesian bitches out there. All the Mexican girls out there with the [????]. [????]. Wake the fuck up remember, it’s saturday. And tomorrow is God’s day. Those of you who believe, all my Catholic brothers and sis…. [????].”I could tell Chino was getting more and more out of his mind and talking more bullshit by every minute. He was so wasted at one point he didn’t know what he was saying or doing anymore, like just after Nosebleed:CM: “Thank you… fucker. You know, so ironic was that. I once made a song that I only put out to only the ehh… the people in the UK. It was called I’ll Throw Rocks At You. And it was only given to ehh [????] in the UK who I would think that they …. would enjoy the irony of it all. That they would understand the sarcasm of it all. So let’s be pussies for one minute. Can you all show your pussy for one minute? I know all you fucking metal maggots have a pussy too like me.”When he said “Can you all show your pussy for one minute? I know all you fucking metal maggots have a pussy too like me.”, the worst happened. He dropped his pants, and right after that his boxers too. He squeezed his legs together, his penis tucked between his legs, transvestite style. Everyone in the crowd was shocked and Stef and Chi were looking at eachother and Chi even laughed in a way which cannot be explained. The band was embarressed but I knew they could see the fun of it all. Not me. At that moment I thought, so this is my favorite band…. People boo-ed.
Stef started the intro of ‘Bored’ right away to keep the train rolling. During the bridge in ‘Bored’ Chino started to sing a part of Gorillaz’ ‘Clint Eastwood’.CM: “Hey I’m happy, Not feeling glad. I got sunshine, in a bag. I’m useless, but not for long. The future is coming on. I’m happy, Not feeling glad. I got sunshine, in a bag. I’m useless, but not for long. The future… God made dirt so dirt won’t hurt. God made dirt so dirt won’t hurt. You can’t.. you can’t fuck with me. See, I’ve been to Chili, Santiago… Motherfuckers will spit on you. But see I’m a fucking man, I’m not a boy. I don’t sit on stage and complain about how fucked up my childhood is. Cause who fucking cares? Are you a fucking man? Are you a fucking man? Yeah, dirt thrower, are you a fucking man? Could you support a motherfucker if it came down to it? And would you take a fucking knife in your fucking stomache for some shit would you? Could you, or could you just throw some fucking dirt and feel cool. Could you do that? See I gotta go. I gotta go back to Amsterdam where… you you have this thing called a hash pipe. You got your problems, I got my hash pipe.” [taken from Weezers song ‘Hash Pipe’]“Yeah I know how it feels to be rubbed on you the wrong way. But don’t be a pussy all your life. Nothing new for trash like you. Nothing new for trash like you. Nothing new for trash like you. Ain’t nothing new for trash like you.”‘Bored’ ends.CM: “Thank you very much, fuck off good night.”End of show. The crowd left dissapointed and angry. The set was cut short to 45 minutes and was originally sceduled to be a 90 minute set.One day after the incident, I posted a review on my fansite called Dutchdeftones. I was still shocked so the review was not nice. I got an e-mail from MTV news who got hold of my story through various fansites who also posted my review. MTV even mentioned me in their article on mtv.com.After only a few days more stories popped up on the internet about what really happened and why Chino acted like he did.Chino was asked about the incident in interviews, even years later. Chino and some fesitval spokesman came with different stories:It’s a fact Chino drank too much and indeed it was confirmed by himself he drank vodka with Mike Patton that afternoon. But also, a festival spokesman told that he was crowd surfing during Suicidal Tendencies set. Because of the ‘no crowd surfing’ rule at the festival he was chased down by security, who obviously did not know who he was. They stopped him backstage and beat him up which let to a slight concusion. This in comination with the booze fucked him up bad…. hence his out of control performance.Chino himself talked about Wâldrock in an 2010 interview and told a little different story:He said that the day started pretty good and although he was a little wasted, he was still in a good mood and ready to go. He said he sliced his finger a few days before while fixing his stereo. So he needed to wrap it before he had to go on, which would be right away. He ran to the first aid tent in the backstage area when security saw Chino running and thought he was just some fan who had jumped over the fence to the backstage area. So he got yelled back by security but because he was in such a good mood and had a blast, he started to run and not let them catch him. But before he knew security was all over him and sort of beating him up. He got up from being beat and kicked and his ‘happy drunk’ went to ‘out of his mind concussion drunk’. According to Frank Delgado, Chino threw up all over himself. Chino said Evan Seinfeld from Biozhazard was helping to get him ready to perform by pooring water on him and slapping him in the face and telling him: “Come on man, come on, you can do it!”. Chino was helped walking up the ramp to the stage and the show was on.Chino also says his then-wife Celeste called him up from home what the hell he was thinking because there was a picture of Chino online of the part right after they played ‘Nosebleed’. It’s the moment when Chino dropped his pants and did the ‘Silence Of The Lambs tuck’, putting his penis between his legs. I took one of those pictures myself but it also could be the one taken by Crowe Photography, who put a few Wâldrock pictures online.Frank also remembers well that Chino was singing and running towards the end of the stage. Stef says he looked over the edge of the stage and saw Chino lying on the ground trying to continue singing. Frank said they hurried the hell out of the Wâldrock festival area afterwards.All in all I had a weird but unique experience. At that moment and days after the show I was shocked by the fact my favorite band played such a bad show, and damaged their reputation to a low. The show was even broadcasted on Dutch national radio. But later I was very happy that I witnessed the Wâldrock show! Looking at pictures from the show and thinking about how it’s already 11 years ago it took place I thought it would be nice to write this review about it. Hope you enjoyed it.Setlist:HeadupMy Own Summer (Shove It)FeiticeiraKoreaBe Quiet And Drive (Far Away)SubliminalRootNosebleedBored
Sly Masmeijer
Rare and unseen Deftones pictures.
Old school pictures.
Deftones collectibles.
