Concert Review – Queens Of The Stone Age/Biffy Clyro/Black Angels

Went and saw the QOTSA on Sunday night.

Yes. Fucking SUNDAY. Something about an “illness” postponed the original Saturday date. Research has turned up that either Josh was dopesick; his flight back from a wedding was delayed; or he had a 24-hour bug. Regardless, they fucking pwned. Inside, the review:

7:30ish
Me and HFB-D arrived at the venue. Opening act Biffy Clyro were about halfway through their set when we walked in, and I was pleasantly surprised. I’d heard OF them, not actually HEARD them before, so I wasn’t too concerned with missing them. For only being three shirtless longhairs, they tore it up. I decided to buy their latest CD, Puzzle, after the show.

8:00pm
After their set, the crowd (medium-sized due to the move from Saturday to Sunday night) semi-surged forward. I assumed QOTSA was playing, as I thought Biffy would be a bigger draw than Black Angels. To my surprise, about 6-7 people came onstage and started playing the most trite pseudo-psychedelic Doors-wannabe music I’ve ever heard. The lead singer basically moaned the lyrics while shaking the tambourine (never a good sign) while the rest of the band (including a fucking conga drum player) attempted to rock out. The songs meandered off into nowhere for 7+ minutes, so I focused my attention on the Indians/Red Sox game.

Basically, I was trapped between two disappointments: the shitty band and the shitty Indians. Eventually, I just watched people coming in the door for entertainment.

9:00ish
Black Angels FINALLY left the stage. The QOTSA stage props were setup at the beginning of the night, so there was no need for the fucking HOURLONG gap that followed. I used the time to down a couple of giant cups of Amber Bock. Yummy.

10:00ish
The Queens finally take the stage, and launch into their set with no hesitation. I hadn’t seen the band since the Newport (2002 or 2003 with Drewbacca), and this performance blew that one away. There was no time to catch your breath. They just tore through their back catalog and sounded tighter than ever. I’ve read that Josh is incredibly happy with this lineup and wants to record as soon as possible. After seeing them play together, I’d have to agree that this collection is a keeper. They’ve been retooling some songs for performance on the tour, and they all sounded good. “Burn The Witch” will never sound right without Mark Lanegan singing lead, but it still rocked.

Here’s the set list, for the QOTSA fans who peruse this blog:

• Burn The Witch
• Misfit Love
• In My Head
• Into The Hollow
• Run Pig Run
• Leg Of Lamb
• Little Sister
• Battery Acid
• In The Fade
• Turnin’ On The Screw
• Make It Wichu
• Sick, Sick, Sick
• Do It Again
• Avon
• You Can’t Quit Me Baby
• Mexicola
• 3’s + 7’s
• Go With The Flow

The encore was truly a thing of beauty. They played the first 3/4 of “No One Knows”, then jammed around a bit during the bass line before seguing into “Infinity”, after which they segued back to “No One Knows”. The last song was “Song For The Dead” which, while a great song, doesn’t have the sense of closure as “Long Slow Goodbye”.

Highlights
• “You Can’t Quit Me Baby” (from the self-titled album), which I’ve always wanted to hear live.
• The “No One Knows“-“Infinity” mashup. “Infinity” is my second-fave QOTSA song (and a B-side to boot).
• The stage show was very cool, with strobe lights hanging like streetlights above each of the band members that timed with the beats.
• This fucking jagoff in the “box seats” who kept air-drumming. Motherfucker leaned so far over SO many times that I swore he was going to fall to his death. Which would’ve made the show even better.

Disappointments
• No “Era Vulgaris” (the song), “The Fun Machine Took A Shit And Died”, or “Long Slow Goodbye”.
• The t-shirts at the merch booth weren’t the greatest looking, and $25 a pop is pretty fucking ridiculous.
• That Biffy Clyro CD. It sounds NOTHING like the band I saw live (more like a mix-up of Muse and Bush, which isn’t altogether horrible but not what I wanted).
• This fat, short, Danny Devito-looking cunt who did that “fingers in the mouth” eardrum-shattering whistling shit EVERY FUCKING THREE MINUTES. Look, bitch, that’s awesome you can cram your hoof into your mouth and make noise. Now, stop doing it.