Elite has been bringing Deftones to Texas stages since 2017. In that time they've become the standard for what a Deftones tribute should feel like. Heavy when it needs to be heavy, delicate when the song calls for it, always honest. The Deftones catalog demands that kind of range, and Elite delivers it. From O'Sheas in Hurst to the Granada Theater in Dallas, audiences keep coming back because the show doesn't just sound right. It feels right.
Deftones fans are not casual listeners. They know every dynamic shift, every moment where the song opens up or pulls back. Elite respects that. The shows are built for the people who've listened to White Pony a hundred times and the people who are discovering what the noise is about. What they have in common when they walk out: they want to come back.
Elite launched in February 2017 with a clear purpose: to be the Deftones tribute that Fort Worth and DFW deserved. The Deftones have one of the most devoted fanbases in rock. People who don't just love the band, they feel it. Elite was built by musicians who felt it too, and who understood that doing the music justice meant honoring both its heaviness and its vulnerability.
Early shows at O'Sheas in Hurst established what Elite was about. The room would go heavy and then get quiet in exactly the right places. The atmospheric swings that make Deftones genuinely unlike any other band. Fans spread the word. Invitations from other tribute acts started coming in. By 2023, Elite was getting co-headlining requests from Rise Against the Machine tributes and nu-metal nights, recognized as one of the most consistent draws in the scene.
The pairing of Elite and Jambi (Deftones and TOOL, two bands that share a fanatical fanbase and a philosophy about what rock music can be) became one of the most popular tribute nights in DFW. Their co-headline shows at O'Sheas consistently packed the room. Lubbock's Jake's Sports Cafe brought them out of DFW together in 2025 to a crowd that traveled specifically for the double bill.
Elite stepped into bigger rooms and held them. Granada Theater in Dallas, Nu Metal Fest at the Haltom Theater alongside (SiC), Lost in Hollywood, and Jambi. Shows in Lubbock. The fanbase followed them out of DFW and started growing beyond it. Every new market they play, they leave with fans asking when they're coming back.
Elite plays the full Deftones catalog, from Adrenaline through Ohms, and keeps expanding the setlist as the years add more music worth playing. Eight years in, the band is sharper, the setlists are deeper, and the shows keep drawing the kind of crowd that knows every word of every song they play. Heavy, honest, and entirely Texas.
We work with venues, festivals, and private events across DFW and beyond. Reach out and let's build something great together.
