Best of the City 2025:
Best Rockers for the Ages

Selling out venues across the country and launching their 10th studio album, this Sacramento-born rock group is keeping the music going, earning them a place among the dozens of people, places and things that have rocked this year. Here's one of our picks for Best of the City 2025.
Sean Timm,
Deftones

Deftones performing a sold-out show at the Golden 1 Center (Photo by Clemente Ruiz, courtesy of the Golden 1 Center)

Some things never change (in the house of flies), and if you get that reference, chances are you’ve been a Deftones fan for decades. And while the Sacramento-born, McClatchy High-raised band never really left the music scene, the rockers’ angsty lyrics and down-tuned guitars are seeing a massive resurgence right now. “Deftones are bigger than they’ve ever been,” the Chicago Tribune  reported in April after the group sold out Chicago’s United Center, the NBA’s largest arena. Deftones also sold out their March concert at the Golden 1 Center too (their first-ever hometown sold-out arena show, pictured above), and buzz is building around their new album Private Music, dropping on Aug. 22. If you missed the Grammy winners earlier this year, you can still catch them headlining the Friday lineup at Sacramento’s Aftershock festival on Oct. 3. Rock on (and on and on), guys. 

READ MORE: Pick up our Fall Issue for the full Best of the City 2025

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This article appears in the Fall 2025 issue of Sactown Magazine.