29 Mar 2024
UsernamePassword

Remember Me? | Join | Recover
Click here to sign in via social networking

Gig Review: Queens Of The Stone Age @ Logan Campbell, Auckland - 13/07/17

15 Jul 2017 // A review by Paul Goddard
It's somewhere back in the late Nineties and I am in Rock City, Nottingham UK. There is a band on in the small bar downstairs I hadn't heard of them but they had a cool name and the singer just had something going on. At one point he grabs the spotlight and shines it on my mate's girlfriend. She has been a Homme girl ever since.

You can't imitate and fake what QOTSA have, it's a swagger, effortless coolness and when that is combined with songwriting skills that most bands can only dream off QOTSA were always destined to be Kings of the underground.

This is the first time I have seen QOTSA since and there is an air of anticipation in a packed out Logan Campbell centre. The crowd is an interesting mix of fans and people who just seem to be here to post selfies to show they managed to get a ticket. Cool bands attract cool people and wannabes.

Unfortunately I missed NZ opener Eyes No Eyes but I did hear that they were handpicked by QOTSA to open which increases QOTSA coolness factor. 

A huge cheer greets the band and we are off with a blazing version of My God Is The Sun. This is the opening night of their world tour and they seem fired up, energetic and happy to be here. There is a danger when you have a frontman as charismatic and recognisable as Josh Homme the rest of the band can seem like hired hands but this isn't the case with Queens. The chemistry in the band is sparking tonight, there isn't much banter between songs but you can see the nods and smiles between Josh and Troy who are clearly enjoying themselves.

The drumming from Jon Theodore is huge. Like Dave Grohl he hits hard and when they play No One Knows which, in my opinion, is the most perfect song ever written by anyone ever I am a very happy man.

The new album Villians is due out soon and we are treated to a tight version of The Way You Used To Do it has that dancier element you can hear in the recording but when played live it fits perfectly with their earlier material. Later in the set we are also given The Evil Has Landed off the new record and whilst it is hard to hook into as the song changes pace and direction frequently, I think it could become an epic and the riff at the end is classic QOTSA.

Josh pulls out his comb and flicks back his hair (I can see what a huge influence Josh had on Alex Turner from Arctic Monkeys) and tells a story about playing Auckland previously and why they chose Auckland as the opening gig of the world tour "You're a big little place like where we come from and no one give's a shit, but together you all give a shit"

The volume level goes up a few notches and as we are at the Logan Campbell Centre the sound gets muddy. A couple of songs are barely recognizable until the chorus kick in but the energy level of the crowd increases with the volume and some classic QOTSA stompers are blowing peoples minds.

After a short break the encore track Song For The Dead is the perfect set closer. The amps and ringing and the crowd give a standing ovation. One of the coolest bands on the planet, delivered one of the coolest shows, on one of the coolest nights in Auckland (literally).
 

Other Reviews By Paul Goddard

Skitch Hiker - Single Review: Slippery Wet Handshake
30 Jun 2023 // by Paul Goddard
Wow.Just when you have given up on music and banging your head against a brick wall wondering why Taylor Swift is more popular than toilet roll during a pandemic something like this comes along.
Read More...
Retro Valley - Single Review: Backseat Lovers
19 May 2023 // by Paul Goddard
Right from the opening bars of Backseat Lovers by Hamilton-based Retro Valley it is clear that this song is pure class.This 3-minute tune is a next-level lesson in how to create, perform and produce a pop/indie classic.
Read More...
Murmur Tooth and Lars Moston - Album Review: No Time To Explain
19 May 2023 // by Paul Goddard
Collaborations can work. Sometimes they do most of the time they don't.
Read More...
Album Review: Sex Dad's Greatest Hits: The Very Best Of Sex Dad
27 Dec 2022 // by Paul Goddard
Feeling bloated and underwhelmed. Listening to mainstream radio in the car as I left my phone at home.
Read More...
Marrow Neck - EP Review: Made Up
23 Nov 2022 // by Paul Goddard
Sitting here in a very wet and cold, rainy UK watching the oldies falling out of the local Wetherspoons where they have been on the piss since 9am (yep the UK is weird it's only the old people who can afford to get pissed all day).I am reflecting on the past as I listen to the latest EP Made Up from Auckland-based Mark Hannington.
Read More...
Amanaki - EP Review: Tempest
03 Nov 2022 // by Paul Goddard
Hardcore.It tends to mean extreme.
Read More...
Big Scout - Album Review: Council Sport
18 Aug 2022 // by Paul Goddard
It’s finally here. The first Long Player from Blenheim noisy buggers Big Scout.
Read More...
Memory Foam - Album Review: Steel Magnolias
28 Jun 2022 // by Paul Goddard
Did you know that Memory Foam creates a matrix of cells through which air can move? Me neither.
Read More...
View All Articles By Paul Goddard

NZ Top 10 Singles

  • WE CAN'T BE FRIENDS (WAIT FOR YOUR LOVE)
    Ariana Grande
  • BEAUTIFUL THINGS
    Benson Boone
  • END OF BEGINNING
    Djo
  • LOSE CONTROL
    Teddy Swims
  • TEXAS HOLD 'EM
    Beyonce
  • STICK SEASON
    Noah Kahan
  • PRAISE JAH IN THE MOONLIGHT
    YG Marley
  • CARNIVAL
    Kanye West And Ty Dolla $ign
  • SATURN
    SZA
  • LOVIN ON ME
    Jack Harlow
View the Full NZ Top 40...
muzic.net.nz Logo
100% New Zealand Music
All content on this website is copyright to muzic.net.nz and other respective rights holders. Redistribution of any material presented here without permission is prohibited.
Report a ProblemReport A Problem