Watching the Deftones concert in Manila last Sunday was as sweet as the first time we saw the band from Sacramento, California, perform here a few years ago.

Opening with “Rocket Skates,” the group’s playing was so loud it virtually tore a hole through the World Trade Center in Pasay.

Lead singer Chino Moreno, sporting a Joy Division tee underneath his black hoodie, twirled the cord of his mic and tossed it up in the air as Sergio Vega plucked his bass in cadence with Abe Cunningham’s sweeping drum thuds.

The three bounced around the stage in sync with the song’s whirring riffs.

Back to their youth

“Diamond Eyes” quickly followed, after which the band transported its fans back to their youth with “Be Quiet,” “Drive,” and probably Deftones’ magnum opus, “My Own Summer.”

Guitarist Stephen Carpenter, who stood still most of the time in one corner, had his shining moment in the textured “Lhabia”—which ended the series of old tracks before the band went on to play songs from its latest album, “Koi No Yokan.”

Moreno took the time to rest his vocals in “Rosemary,” but he was back to his usual dulcet screaming in the dark “Knife Prty.”

Smooching

The melancholic “Entombed” followed, eliciting a sing-along from the crowd, with some couples even smooching while the tune played on.

The digital drumming rhythms on “Poltergeist,” juxtaposed with keyboardist Frank Delgado’s swirling samples, triggered intense moshing led by Queso’s Ian Tayao and Greyhoundz’ Reg Rubio.

Moreno, switching from one Gibson SG to another, cranked out “Tempest” and “Swerve City,” essentially a reminder of how far the band has journeyed as it enters its third decade.

Deftones was part of the nu metal movement in the early 1990s that saw the likes of Limp Bizkit and Korn shoot to fame. But only Deftones had been able to resist altering its melodic signature sound.

The second half of the show was clearly a treat to the band’s “older” fans.

At one point, Moreno asked the band’s roadie for a wireless mic, saying, “I’ve got places to go.” Then he ran to the farthest end of the venue’s back section and played “Around the Fur.”

In a trance

The song segued to “Headup,” “Feiticeira,” and “Elite”—all known for their deliciously assembled structures and laden with ominous growls and screams. It put the crowd into a trance.

The band then paused to remember its late original bassist Chi Cheng, who died on April 13 after a car crash in 2008 left him in a coma.

Moreno strummed the first few bars of “Riviere”—which is about as close to a slow jam the Deftones can get—before dedicating the song to Cheng.

Sustaining the momentum, the band played “Change (In the House of Flies)” before mounting a final barrage of mathematical, auditory assaults with “Nosebleed” and “Engine No. 9.”

Vega was seen throwing his Fender bass onstage just seconds into another song, after realizing he was given the wrong guitar. Moreno laughed off the incident, and again twirled the mic’s cord, entangling the roadie.

In the encore, the band showcased four songs—“Cherry Waves,” “Root,” “Bloody Cape” and “7 Words”—that again looked back into its past.

By the show’s end, and with 25 songs finished, the crowd didn’t seem like it wanted to let go of the Deftones.