DEFTONES UNDER STORM CLOUDS: A NIGHT OF BEAUTIFUL NOISE

LIVE REVIEW | DEFTONES w/ Ecca Vandal, IDLES | SUMMER SESSIONS, EDINBURGH | 27th August 2026 by Courteney Pearson

On Thursday night in Edinburgh, dark grey, gloomy clouds loomed overhead, almost as though the weather had dressed itself for the Deftones. The wind was picking up and the rain clouds threatened to burst at any second. Beneath all of this, thousands packed in for a night of crowd surfing, crushing guitar and the type of live performance you remember for years to come.

The Calm Before The Storm

Opening the night, Ecca Vandal wasted no time bringing some serious punk rock energy to the stage. Blending that punk attitude with a performance of heavy genre-bending sound. It was loud and full of personality, providing a sharp introduction to what would become an increasingly more rowdy night in Edinburgh.

IDLES followed with exactly the type of support set you need: energetic and a little bit unhinged. Throughout the set, they slowly eased the crowd in with a gradual intensity that worked so well; their setlist was very well curated and fun, adding in a quick cheeky cover of ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’ before launching the crowd into a less festive shift of mood, screaming “Fuck the King”. Subtle? Absolutely not. Entertaining? Definitely.

Chaotic, political and playful in equal measures, IDLES didn’t need to overcomplicate things. By the end of their set my head was bobbing, my body moving and I, like the rest of the eager crowd, were more than ready for what was to come next.

Blue Lights and Black Clouds

In perhaps one of the stranger entrances I have witnessed, the band arrived to on stage to the increasingly frantic trumpet music most people will recognise from the ‘trumpets getting louder’ meme. It was ridiculous but the right amount of fun to announce their arrival, allowing the crowd those few moments of hilarity before launching everyone into a night of pure bliss.

Once those first notes of ‘Be Quiet and Drive (Far Away)‘ began to ring out into the atmosphere, blue light washed across the stage. Pairing this with the gloomy environment, there couldn’t have been a better backdrop to kick off the set. At moments, their performance almost felt cinematic, like I was no longer sitting in a field.

From those opening moments, it barely let up.

Crowd surfers seemed to appear everywhere I looked, rising from the depths of the crowd like a phoenix to glide along to the front barrier and repeat. What made this particularly brilliant for me was seeing the sheer range of people taking part; young, old, tall and short, coming from every corner of the crowd. At times I was jealous of how freeing it seemed.

Elsewhere, dotted through the crowd, people popped up on shoulders screaming lyrics back to the band, mosh pits opened, mosh pits closed and at times the crowd appeared to move like one cohesive body, akin to the ocean.

At the centre of all of this was frontman Chino Moreno, who never stood still for a second. His energy was completely infectious, throwing everything into each song. Finally hearing ‘Rosemary’ live was a huge moment for me. There is something really special about hearing his voice live that the polished studio recordings simply can’t reproduce. The roughness around the edges makes it so much better, so much more authentic. You hear the strain, the deep gasp for breath and the imperfections, but because of this, you feel the emotion, you understand what those songs mean, and that can sometimes completely disappear on a finished record.

That rawness is part of what made this such an exciting gig for me. For all the heaviness that surrounds their sound, there is something so hauntingly beautiful about their music and that was certainly heightened in Edinburgh.

Blessing us with a fantastic encore of ‘Change (In the House of Flies)‘, ‘Lotion‘ and ‘7 words‘, I couldn’t have been more satisfied as the rush of fans began the crazy escape out.

A Perfect Ending

Somehow, despite those storm clouds looming above the entire night, the weather held out almost perfectly. Only once the set finished did the heavens finally open, sending everyone running back to buses and cars through absolutely torrential rain.

Crowd surfing, a mesmerising frontman and some of the best live alternative metal music you could ever hope to hear. If the weather was going to turn apocalyptic for anyone, Deftones were certainly the right band for it.

Summer Sessions will return next year, with first announced Heather on The Hill Festival already announced as making its Royal Highland Showground comeback on Saturday 28th August 2027. Early Bird tickets are on sale now.

editors note: approved images from Deftones recent OVO Hydro show in February.