At the Commodore on Tuesday, July 10

It's often been argued that the Deftones are alt-metal's answer to Radiohead, offsetting raucous, down-tuned riffage with dreamy, synth-tinged soundscapes. The 2000 breakthrough White Pon y and last year's Saturday Night Wrist support that argument, but based on the mentality of the Sacramento quintet's fans at the first of three sold-out Commodore shows, it's easy to make the case that the Deftones represent the return of the mook.

Although nobody broke stuff à la Woodstock '99, the atmosphere was testosterone-laden. Shin tattoos, khaki cargo shorts, pasty skin, and bad body odour were all a big part of the show. One sadly unforgettable image came between the opening acts when two jacked-up dudes randomly approached each other and screamed full-force into each other's faces. One, sporting a "Jesus, I'm Drunk" T-shirt, was later hauled away by six security guards.

A lengthy electronic drone, accented by red and blue lights, which fanned over the crowd, kicked off the headliners' show. Then the mosh pit convulsed to the menacing, circling groove of "My Own Summer (Shove It)". For the first of about 99 times, shorts-wearing vocalist Chino Moreno leapt off the front-stage platform, showcasing his fully pulled-up sport socks with this patented nü-metal move.

The 34-year-old was admittedly in fine voice, whether singing or screaming, but it was initially hard to get excited about the material. The first four songs blended together as guitarist Stephen Carpenter and bassist Chi Cheng riffed in lumbering rap-rock style. The large video screen provided some visual relief with images of vampy vixens and abstract designs.

Things improved later with the band's evocative mid-tempo renditions of "Knife Prty" and "Digital Bath." One shorts-wearing fan standing next to the bar earnestly air-drummed along with Abe Cunningham's dark, solid groove on the latter number, and the girls with pierced eyebrows and ripped fishnet stockings seemed to appreciate its moodiness. Still, if you weren't mooking it out in the mosh pit, there was no connection between the band and the audience. Moreno can take part of the blame for that; his banter rarely went beyond thank-yous and song announcements.

During the encore, fans roared out the chorus of "Change (In the House of Flies)" as if they were singing "O Canada" at a suburban sports bar. But the concert-closing choice of "7 Words" was frankly lame. Just as it has since 1995, the "Suck, suck, suck!" refrain came across like Limp Bizkit trying to be Rage Against the Machine. And playing Eminem's "Shake That" over the PA as everyone exited likewise pandered to the backwards-baseball-cap demographic.