R&R CONCERT REVIEW EMOTION CONTROL QOTSA have kept their stage props to a But where Ronson’s star really seems to Intimacy and emotion seem to wash shine is in teasing out QOTSA hallmarks, over Queens of the Stone Age’s minimum, with no background visuals. A characteristic aggression set of illuminated rods segregate the band yet lacing them with the tinsel-fringed, Brit members on stage, lighting up in time to a rock glory. On “Feet Don’t Fail Me,” “The spitfire lightshow from above. The lack of Evil Has Landed” and “Domesticated An- distraction means we submit to the refined imals,” we’re treated to bass-heavy oper- force of the band’s tequila-soaked harmo- atics, foot- stomping chord cascades and nies and Homme’s desert banshee bari- ear-worming progressions. “Head Like a tone. In front of the stage, the sound is like Haunted House” blasts away any doubt your bedroom stereo turned to 11, the drum about the band’s roots in quiff and roost- beats hammering through your ribs. er rock—all California drive-in, and swing- Homme’s voice is bourbon honey on their dancing swagger. latest smash, “Feet Don’t Fail Me,” the band Similar to “…Like Clockwork,” Villains keeping the licks and riffs coming hard, fast sees the band’s Stooges and Black Flag and on point. QOTSA has been enjoying a urges set to simmer, with intimacy and particularly groovy moment in the sun with emotion washing over their characteristic the band’s seventh studio album Villains aggression. Homme’s ‘death’ on a surgeon’s taking the most global number one and two table in 2010, and his foray into marriage spots on the charts (number 3 in the US) in and fatherhood since, seem to have brought the band’s career. In a career spanning 20- forth introspection and balladeering on years, they’ve emerged as the darling am- tracks like “I Appear Missing” and “Villains bassadors of the grungy west coast rock of Circumstance” with the big man croon- and roll sound, affording skin-tight leather ing anaesthetically, “Shock me awake/Tear redemption from beyond the grave in the me apart/Pinned like a note, in a hospital bargain. While the Foos and Pearl Jam as gown…” or cooing like a lovesick puppy, “So some of the last wise men of grunge, nav- close your eyes and dream me home/ For- igate streams approaching the conceptu- ever mine, I’ll be forever yours.” al, QOTSA as lovable outsiders to the title In between tracks, Homme sounds like still grab you by the throat and pinball you another fatalistic poet—Jim Morrison— round a room before caressing you into opi- imploring us to connect with the now be- ate dreams. With Homme having spoken of cause “all we have is this moment.” During influences that range from good ole’ punk the encore, he emerges from the red shad- and swing, to doo-wop, metal, soul and ows on stage, smoke streaming from his funk, QOTSA have come out striding with a mouth off a lit cigarette. “Many years ago, countenance that’s authoritatively snarling, we wrote a song where we were very mus- cular and mostly naked…that song had a line… ‘I want something good to die for…’” Since the recent QOTSA launch into “Go With the Flow” at top speed, gunning into it as Homme flicks deaths of so many the cigarette behind him, his powerful drone navigating the soaring moan of Troy titans of rock, notably Van Leeuwen’s howling guitar wail. When they follow it up with “Feel Good Hit of the two from my teenage Summer,” the crowd exults in full bellow. grunge years, the In an interview with Zane Lowe on Beats 1, Homme comes off more than a little QOTSA gig was a vulnerable when asked why Ronson was brought on to produce Villains. No doubt personal calling to the man and his band are in a dangerous sweet spot as musicians, having bloomed mourn lost idols into a force that blends experimental ar- rangements and the familiar into some- thing polished but not hackneyed. As a live a band that strutted to sunlight in the front of the crowd only moments ago, when yet at points touchy-feely, broodingly the- performer, Homme might not be threaten- Nineties, QOTSA’s pedigree in the rock a shirtless teen threw his arm around atrical, but always at its root, entrancing. ing to “fuck you in the ass” for bad behav- Villainy Most Fine firmament is nigh unrivalled today. Now, me and danced me head-on into a mosh. Consistently, Homme has been unafraid iour any more, but his bite still seems to Ginger Elvis was mere meters away, on Mild panic attack induced, I found myself of embracing his feminine side, wheth- lurk where it counts—at the heart of a fuller Going by their raging show at Wembley SSE Arena as part of the stage, and intoning his head-cocking wail suffocating ever so sweetly. Just breathe. er slathering on lipstick for promos for his sound; a man pushing his artistic sensibil- Villains Tour, Queens of the Stone Age might just be the rock and whoop-baritone: “Heal them with fire “I’d like to say something to our friends Apple Beats 1 radio show, or even shimmy- ities while retaining the hooks he’s carved from above/ Kneeling, my god is the sun”. in security,” says Homme in opening ing his quarterback frame with whimsy on in his prime. In an era where rock fans need messiahs we need today At 45, Homme and the gang pitch into pleasantries. “You let these people here “The Way You Used to Do.” Mark Ronson’s a messiah to hold off a tsunami of factory- their trippy brand of tailfin and drop-top do whatever the fuck they want! Because croon and swoon credentials come through tuned hipsters, millennial folk pabulum, or a second, josh homme is the Stone Age. Since the recent deaths of California freeway sound with distilled tonight—you work for me!” The roars of in spades on several Villains tracks, am- and a rock scene at the point of flaccidity, upside down. “Breathe,” I tell so many titans of rock, notably two from authority. Without a word, they’d opened approval are righteous. Within moments, plifying the sense that Homme might be QOTSA’s Villains is a watershed moment myself as I’m crushed for the my teenage grunge years—Scott Weiland their gig with the throbbing “If I had A the smell of smoky hops meanders perfectly at home haunting a London the- for the band. How QOTSA play their cards second time in a convulsing mosh and Chris Cornell—the QOTSA gig was a Tail” and the stoner-punk track, “Monster through the crowd as joints are sparked atre, Bohemian vampire collars turned all from here on, is a show we will all be watch-

ROGER GARFIELD/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO Fpit only whispers away from the Queens of personal calling to mourn lost idols. For in the Parasol.” I’d fought my way to the with abandon. the way up. ing closely. GOVIND DHAR

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