Deftones @ Barrowland, 15 February

Since side-stepping the bad old days of nu-metal with their dignity intact (while former peers turned to Dr Drew and Skrillex for career advice), Deftones have crept into the new millennium as an anomaly: a consistently inventive and forward-thinking alternative rock band that never lost sight of its roots. Last November’s sure-footed resurgence with Koi No Yokan was an unwavering testament that, some 25 years after the Sacramento outfit’s foundation, their visceral energy and incomparable approach to songcraft remains convincingly undiminished. 

And tonight they drop the hammer; with an ambient and uncompromisingly brutal hundred-minute setlist, the quintet’s gaze is as fixed to the stars as the circle-pit, referencing each chapter of their career besides 2006’s tumultuous Saturday Night Wrist . From Diamond Eyes' devastating industrial grind (framed by frontman Chino Moreno's meloncholic melodies) to the measured chaos of Poltergeist (which triggers the unlikeliest of clap-alongs), the opening salvo is enough on its own to demonstrate both Deftones' heightened versatility and synchronicity in 2013. 

With a sold out Barras hanging off every cymbal crash and syllable, songs from Koi No Yokan that are only just given their live premiere tonight (namely Romantic Dreams and Entombed) instantly connect like firm favourites. There's room for poignancy and mischief, too; Dai the Flu is dedicated to ailing bassist Chi Cheng, while a stage-diving Sergio Vega surrenders his bass to the baying crowd during Headup. 

Finishing the night with back-to-back modern metal classics, Moreno's wide smile says it all as they flatten the venue one last time with the stutter-rapped Engine No. 9 and 7 Words' immortal fury. Now pushing 40, he’s spoken candidly in interview about how the band might endure into middle-age; the way it went off in here tonight suggests they needn’t be unduly concerned.