Two Decades On, Queens Of The Stone Age Are Still Saving Rock ‘N’ Roll

From The Killers to the Red Hot Chili Peppers, there are a key group of marquee rock bands that — regardless of what you think of them — have made good use of the platform they’ve been given, and share it with a few less-likely contenders.

Queens of the Stone Age are no exception, as the two supports they’ve booked in couldn’t be more different — the Venn diagram of this total bill consists of three circles that are just barely touching. For some, it’s either an endurance test or an excuse to stay at PJ Gallagher’s across the road a little bit longer. That’s fine — let them be.

For those that have committed to arriving early to the Hordern Pavilion this evening, however, it’s an open challenge: See how you go with something new and different.

After going viral towards the end of 2017, Sunshine Coast natives The Chats have blazed the Tarago around the country as both support act for the Cosmic Psychos and as headliners in their own right. While their brand of lo-fi garage rock is often accused of class tourism by indier-than-thous, it doesn’t take long to figure out that The Chats are the real deal.

Some immediately start making fun of C.W. Stoneking’s singing; a bright spark calls for The Chats to come back on.

They’re all about the finer things in life — a schnitty at the pub, scabbing spare change at the bus stop and getting on the pingers. The crowd are indifferent for a minute there at the start, but as soon as they get it they really get it. By the time their aforementioned viral sensation ‘Smoko’ drops, they even have a bit of a sing-along going. Consider the experiment a success.

Although a noted headline act in the blues and roots world, C.W. Stoneking is primarily playing to aliens this evening — and the lion’s share of them, sadly, respond accordingly. Some immediately start making fun of Stoneking’s singing; a bright spark calls for The Chats to come back on. It’s disappointing, sure, but in no way reflective of the ensemble’s performance.

Stoneking is an exceptional performer, thriving on a stomping swell of hokum blues that would feel like a complete anachronism were it not delivered with such vitality. With any luck, he’s brought at least a few converts back to the swamp with him — and if not, oh well. The party procession rolls on.

Two key things happened in the Queens of the Stone Age camp since they last performed in Australia as a part of the Splendour in the Grass festivities in 2017. The first was the release of their Mark Ronson-produced seventh album, Villains, which perhaps didn’t quite get the love it deserved upon reflection. It’s as sharp and energetic as they’ve ever been, even if the desert has long since been replaced by the dancefloor.

It was far from Homme’s first bout of bad behaviour, and he really should have known better at 44 years of age.

The second, however, cast a long shadow over the band that understandably upset many people — frontman Josh Homme inexplicably lashed out at a photographer this past December, kicking their camera during a performance at a music festival. Although an initial press release stated Homme was kicking a light, the frontman quickly dismissed that and went on record in a video to apologise directly to the photographer. He added that it was a time for him to self-reflect, and that rock and roll is “supposed to save and help people, not mess them up.”

For many, this was a matter of being both too little and too late — it’s far from Homme’s first bout of bad behaviour, and he really should have known better at 44 years of age. With nearly nine months separating him from the incident, however, it’s time to see whether Homme had put his words into action and has done better by both himself and his audience.

The show begins unexpectedly with a deep cut: The seven-minute ‘Someone’s in the Wolf’ from 2005’s Lullabies to Paralyze. The slow-burning, groove-oriented number had apparently not been played for the entire tour, which goes to show that there are no rules when it comes to a QOTSA setlist.

‘Avon’, from all the way back on the very first Queens album, slides in between two of the band’s biggest singles, ‘The Way You Used to Do’ and ‘No-One Knows’. The band could have easily taken advantage of having two massive crowd-pleasers go back-to-back, but their executive decision to instead detour into the early days in the interim is a massive credit to their eye for curation.

These shows are for the cross-generational devotees, from those that have seen Nick Oliveri naked to those too young to have that image ingrained in their minds.

Their catalogue is so extensive that most won’t even realise they don’t play ‘Feel Good Hit,’ ‘Millionaire’ or even ‘Sick, Sick, Sick’ until the car-ride home. Not that it matters, of course. You want all the hits? Go listen to the record. These shows are for the cross-generational devotees, from those that have seen Nick Oliveri naked to those too young to have that image ingrained in their minds.

It may seem controversial to note, but the current incarnation of Queens of the Stone Age — the one that has been solid since …Like Clockwork in 2013 — has every right to lay claim to being its strongest formation. Sure, it may lack the wild-card unpredictability that came with the Oliveri era, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a whole world of fun to be had.

Guitarist Troy Van Leeuwen, a mainstay since 2002, is just as comfortable locking into a rolling beat as he is tearing into a downtuned monolithic riff. Up the back, drummer Jon Theodore muscles in on everything the band throws at him — including a stick-flying drum solo during ‘No-One Knows,’ which simultaneously hold the crowd in quiet awe and subsequent eruption. It’s a united front that knows their material like the back of their hands, and it’s the most that QOTSA has felt like a quote-unquote “band” in years.

This leads us to Homme himself. Thankfully, he seems to be far removed from the blade-wielding, boot-swinging man that stood up there in December. Instead, he’s focused on keeping the crowd on-side and involved, striking a necessary balance between not being reckless but also not being stiff or conservative as a performer.

He encourages the crowd to dance, mosh and interact with the music as they please. “We can do whatever the fuck we want,” he gleefully says, though not in a tone that suggests petty defiance or a veiled threat. He praises a woman in the crowd for taking that advice and going topless — very ’80s rock show, no? — while also chiding men nearby attempting to disrespect her.

“She’s got way more balls than you,” he says — and when that’s the closest the night comes to confrontation, that’s surely a positive.

Tonight is all about the music — whether that’s dole-bludging punk, swamp-dwelling blues or leather-jacket rock and roll. It’s all different, it’s all a bit weird and it’s all worthy of merit and discussion.

Homme was right: Rock and roll is supposed to save and help people. Our collective satisfaction as an audience aside, one gets the suspicion that it’s saved and helped Homme himself.

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David James Young is a writer, podcaster and appreciator of a sick riff. When he was leaving this show, a random bloke out the back of the Hordern yelled “You better write a good review of this, dude!” He hopes that guy enjoyed reading this. Oh, he also tweets at @DJYwrites.

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Photo credit: Mikki Gomez for Music Junkee