Who’s Still Filling Arenas? Deftones and the Rare Company of Rock Bands in 2025
Intro / Summary
Deftones’ Private Music dropped into a world where the band is somehow more popular than ever, packing NBA-sized arenas on new material. That got us thinking: how many post-grunge and alt-rock bands from the ’90s and 2000s can still pull that off? The list is surprisingly short. Plenty of legacy acts headline festivals, but actually moving enough tickets to fill a basketball arena is another story.
Andrew’s Take
It’s surreal to see how big Deftones have become. A decade ago, if you told me they’d be filling NBA arenas in 2025, I wouldn’t have believed it. Yet here we are. What’s cool is that half the fans are there for the early albums like Adrenaline and Around the Fur, while the other half came aboard during Diamond Eyes and Koi No Yokan. Fathers and sons at the same show, each with their own entry point. That’s rare.
When we tried to list other post-grunge bands still doing arenas, the list got thin fast. Blink-182 and Green Day, sure. My Chemical Romance is playing reunion shows in stadiums. Queens of the Stone Age probably can. Nine Inch Nails, Foo Fighters. But then you start asking: can Bush? Incubus? Korn? Some of those bands hover in that “minor league hockey arena” tier or lower. Korn might make it work on nostalgia or a package tour, but they’re not consistently selling basketball arenas on their own. Deftones are. And that’s a huge distinction.
Craig’s Take
The wild thing to me is that Deftones are doing it on new material. They’re not just coasting on nostalgia. Yes, they play “Change” and “Be Quiet and Drive,” but their setlists also feature Ohms and Private Music cuts. Compare that to Weezer, who put on incredible festival sets but aren’t culturally relevant in the same way right now.
It reminds me of seeing Rusted Root in an arena back in the ’90s. They had a moment, but it vanished. To even get there for a minute is remarkable. Deftones are thirty years in, and not only are they still there, they might be peaking. There just aren’t many bands you can say that about. They’ve carved out a lane where they’re respected across generations and still creatively thriving. That’s special.