Queens of the Stone Age
Centennial Hall, London, ON
August 22, 2007

Although I’d seen QOTSA twice before, I was giddy with excitement standing on the floor of the auditorium in London waiting for the guys to hit the stage -- a hall that was only about the size of a high school gymnasium (if gyms had balconies). That’s how good these guys are live. I could hardly stand still, only about 20 feet back from the stage they were about to wander out onto, grab their proverbial positions and launch into an explosive set.

They kicked off the show with “Monsters in the Parasol,� which was unexpected, but a killer opener. After the release of Era Vulgaris only a couple months earlier, I assumed the set list would essentially be the track list with a couple of old hits in the mix. It was entirely refreshing to see that this was not the case, with a brilliant extended version of “Burn the Witch� following “Monsters,� and later in the evening getting to hear “Go With the Flow,� which was delivered raw, hard and fast taking on somewhat of a punk vibe. Naturally, there were quite a few songs off Era, the first of the night being “Misfit Love,� my personal favourite. Queens really built the anticipation up on this one, repeating that first hard guitar riff over and over, front man Josh Homme making the crowd beg for the beginning falsetto lyrics he delivered perfectly.

There is a very sexual air about QOTSA, maybe it’s the music itself, or the way Mr. Homme swivels his hips behind his guitar in an Elvisesque manner, but these guys really embody the classic appeal of sex, drugs and rock & roll. No one in the band talks much, unless it’s Josh explicitly reaming some moronic kid in the audience out, which at one point seemed to be on the brink of happening. He retrieved a flashlight from the side of the stage and started searching through the first few rows of people, but then tossed it aside and blasted into another song. It was definitely somewhat of a relief; when bands get angry it’s always such a buzz kill.

Throughout the rest of the set Queens continued to throw in a few surprises and played several more Era songs that all translated fiercely well live. We heard “You Would Know� and “I Think I Lost My Headache,� which were ace song to throw in the mix, slowing down the pace a bit and focusing on melody more than the other hard rock tracks. But after all, it was a hard rock show, so when they blasted through songs like “In My Head,� “Little Sister,� “3’s & 7’s,� and “Do it Again� the crowd was going wild. They finished up the set with two of their big singles “No One Knows� and the latest release “Sick, Sick, Sick� to get everyone geared up for the encore.

I’m not going to lie, I loathe encores (or at least what everyone calls encores these days, where the band leaves and has more songs scheduled to play but waits for everyone to scream their guts out first) but it was worth the wait. They returned to the stage and played “Song for the Dead,� a phenomenal closer that had the band as well as the fans giving it their all. The energy in the room could have blown the roof off. This song was originally recorded with Dave Grohl on drums and is nothing short of mind blowing, so I wasn’t sure how it would sound live sans Grohl. The doubt in my mind was vanquished very quickly when his successor Joey Castillo took this song and made it his own. It sounded amazing, and watching Castillo throughout this song was insane. His arms flew across the kit at an unreal pace without missing a single beat; he was definitely the grand finale of the show.

Usually when you see a band live your liking for them either wildly increases or falters, and after this show QOTSA has solidified their position as one of my top favourite bands of all time.