{"id":679562,"date":"2026-11-09T14:10:08","date_gmt":"2026-11-09T14:10:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/679562\/"},"modified":"2026-11-09T14:10:08","modified_gmt":"2026-11-09T14:10:08","slug":"watch-deftones-play-unreleased-eros-rarity-melanie-for-first-time-since-2008-at-dia-de-los-deftones-this-song-doesnt-exist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/679562\/","title":{"rendered":"Watch Deftones play unreleased ‘Eros’ rarity ‘Melanie’ for first time since 2008 at Dia De Los Deftones: “This song doesn’t exist\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

Deftones<\/a> broke out unreleased \u2018Eros\u2019 rarity \u2018Melanie\u2019 for the first time in nearly two decades at this year\u2019s Dia De Los Deftones. Check it out below.<\/p>\n

The alt-metal icons broke out the song this weekend (Saturday November 7) as they headlined their Dia De Los Deftones festival at Petco Park<\/a> in San Diego, California.<\/p>\n

This year marked the seventh instalment of the annual event, which sees them curate two stages with an eclectic mix of genres, as well as host art installations, local vendors and exclusive merch. Over the years, they have lined-up performances from the likes of Turnstile<\/a>, Clipse<\/a>, Doechii<\/a>, Megan Thee Stallion<\/a>, Doja Cat<\/a>, 2Hollis<\/a>, Knocked Loose<\/a>, Gojira<\/a>, IDLES<\/a>, Ecca Vandal<\/a>, Future<\/a> and more.<\/p>\n

Closing the 2026 edition with a 20-song headline set, Chino Moreno and co. broke out the usual fan favourites including \u2018My Own Summer (Shove It)\u2019, \u2018Be Quiet And Drive (Far Away)\u2019 and more, but also surprised fans with a song they haven\u2019t played live since 2008.<\/p>\n

That song was the rarely played \u2018Melanie\u2019, which they wrote for the 2008 album \u2018Eros\u2019 \u2013 an LP that Deftones were recording at the time their late bassist Chi Cheng was involved in a car crash in 2008. He remained in a semi-comatose state for several years, and so the group decided to shelve the album and start fresh with fill-in bassist Sergio Vega, eventually returning with \u2018Diamond Eyes\u2019 in 2010.<\/p>\n

Cheng passed away in 2013 and \u2018Eros\u2019 has remained unreleased. In 2014, on the one-year anniversary of Cheng\u2019s death, Moreno shared a studio version of \u2018Smile\u2019<\/a>, the only track to ever be liberated from the album, and they only played it live in 2019<\/a>.<\/p>\n

At Dia De Los Deftones 2026, they have played \u2018Melanie\u2019 from that record for the first time since 2008, and the frontman told the audience afterwards that \u201cThis song doesn\u2019t exist\u201d.<\/p>\n

The band have yet to say anything more about why they reintroduced the song back into the set after so long, although it does come after outlets including Stereogum<\/a> and The PRP<\/a> reported that a leak of the unreleased album surfaced online earlier this summer, alongside demos of their \u2018Ohms<\/a>\u2019 album.<\/p>\n

View this post on Instagram<\/a><\/p>\n

While the \u2018Eros\u2019 album has remained largely under wraps for years now, Moreno did reveal to NME back in 2020<\/a> that he was open to one day finishing the album as \u201can experiment\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018Eros\u2019 was never finished or released due to Chi\u2019s car accident. It was just put away,\u201d the frontman said<\/a>. \u201cWe needed a change of scenery and a change of everything. I think it really worked for what we needed to do mentally on \u2018Diamond Eyes\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe talked a little about the \u2018Eros\u2019 stuff [with Terry Date]. Once everything shut down, the hard drives were put away. My memory of it is that we were maybe a little over halfway done,\u201d he continued. \u201cThere was still a lot of work to do on it. It was still very fragmented. The question that we\u2019re always asked is, \u2018Are you ever going to put that record out?\u2019 Honestly, it would be like making a whole other record \u2013 except I would be trying to write lyrics to songs that are over 10 years old.\u201d<\/p>\n

He concluded: \u201cTo do that with every song and then write from that place, it\u2019s emotional. There are a lot of things tied to that album. It would be interesting to [finish] at some point, and I\u2019ve never said that we won\u2019t. There are times when I think that it would be an experiment that I can possibly learn from.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other artists who performed at Dia De Los Deftones this year included The Neighbourhood<\/a>, AFI<\/a>, Bktherula<\/a>, Converge<\/a>, Jehnny Beth<\/a>, Ladrones, Lip Critic<\/a>, and LustSickPuppy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Deftones released their 10th studio album \u2018Private Music\u2019 last summer, which NME awarded the full five stars and said<\/a>: \u201cVery much a whole journey through a full-bodied and expansive fever dream, but this time somehow spiritual, intimate and direct, Deftones\u2019 10th album is a gift for fans old, new, and certainly finding them in the very distant future. Their peers can\u2019t touch them.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was later named as one of NME\u2019s albums of 2025<\/a>, while its epic single \u2018Milk Of The Madonna\u2019 also made our Top 50 Songs of 2025 list<\/a>.<\/p>\n