Queens Of The Stone Age, Auckland NZ, 2018

Queens Of The Stone Age

23rd August 2018
Spark Arena, Auckland, New Zealand.

Review by Sarah Kidd. Photography by Doug Peters.

“It’s Saturday Night…”

Well it may not have literally been Saturday night, but as Josh Homme raised his glass and bestowed upon the thousands of fans before him one of his famous lopsided grins, it sure as hell felt like one. Queens of the Stone Age are the quintessential renegades, the kinda guys that you would have caught smoking behind the bike sheds in their early teens, a comb in their back pocket.

Tonight, they were once again storming the stage of Auckland’s Spark Arena, but instead of sharing it with industrial giants Nine Inch Nails as they did back in 2014, it was Australian artist C.W. Stoneking who had the honour of warming up the crowd.

Taking to the stage with his six-piece band that impressively included both a sax and trombone player, Stoneking delivered a rather infectious mix of vaudeville and hokum blues. While on paper he could be written off as just another revivalist act, Stoneking proves to be quite the opposite, the crowd soon eating up the toe-tapping tunes and tall tales. Even a broken guitar string couldn’t bring the set down, Stoneking joking that he was “living the dream” as he quickly changed the string out; the band taking the opportunity to play to the whimsy of the crowd as they first demanded a drum solo and then one from the saxophone player. With the candy shop high falsetto of the backup singers, and the deliciously earthy tones of the double bass, songs such as ‘Jungle Blues’ and ‘We Gon’ Boogaloo’ paved the way for the heady highs of what was to come next in style.

When the Queens arrive, it is with a saunter that only these boys can pull off; looking laid-back Homme took centre spot in a simple black button-down shirt and jeans that had seen better days. Flanking him however guitarist Troy Van Leeuwen appeared as his usual debonair self in a three piece suit the colour of artery fluid, while bassist Michael Shuman had decided on something a little flashier, his bronze highlighted filigree black suit commanding attention. As the charming innocence of Gene Kelly’s ‘Singin’ in the Rain’ gave way to the more ominous title music of A Clockwork Orange the crowd began to coil like a tightly wound spring, Homme obviously feeling it as he raised a hand in acknowledgement. And with that the first notes of ‘Song for the Deaf’ rang out, Leeuwen and Shuman exploding across the stage with high kicks and fancy footwork, the fans soon matching them in sheer energy levels.

Weaving their way through flexible vertical tube lights, the stage was more reminiscent of an Alt-J or Royal Blood show; the constantly strobing spotlights on either side certainly making for harsh but intriguing viewing at times. While Homme appeared to be in a rather genial mood, just beneath the surface the fires were still burning as he called out security early on for ‘parenting’ those in the front row who were just trying to have a good time; pointing out later in the set that security were just there to do a job, but they wouldn’t have much work as the crowd knew how to look after themselves.

‘Sick, Sick, Sick’ threw down the glove as the Californian rattlesnake bite of Homme poured through the mic, the tantalizing darker tones of this and many of their tracks slicing through to the bone. These are the veterans of the alt-rock scene with the nonchalant stare and sultry smiles, a flick knife by their sides; virtuosic and raunchy they lurch from one track to the next with the greatest of ease. Homme is undeniably the kingpin of cool, his repertoire of hellacious hooks and seductive vocals a winning combination, but tonight once again proved that Leeuwen is more than worthy of a crown of his own, from his finger work on a stunning double-neck guitar to his backing vocals that perfectly compliment Homme, he bled rock n roll from his very pores.

While the set leaned heavily on the last two albums, longstanding favourites such as ‘No One Knows’ – featuring a kick ass drum solo courtesy of ex Mars Volta drummer Jon Theodore – saw the fans ferociously rejoice, the crooner side of Homme making a brief appearance later in the evening in the form of ‘Make it wit Chu’ as he slid his tall frame around one of the tube lights. Delivering both ‘Little Sister’ and ‘Go with the Flow’ to finish the set the demi-gods of rock bid the crowd goodnight, the baying for an encore beginning before the last member had even reached the edge of the stage.

Swaggering back to the mic a few minutes later with cigarette in hand (which was then promptly thrown over his shoulder), Homme and the crew made good on the promise to play a fan’s earlier request of ‘Mexicola’ before decimating the stage and several tube lights with an insanely exhilarating version of ‘A Song for the Dead’.

It was gorgeousness and gorgeosity made flesh.

Were you there at Spark Arena for this magnificent desert rock gig? Or have you seen Queens Of The Stone Age live some other time? Tell us about it in the comments below!

Setlist:

1. Song For The Deaf
2. Sick Sick Sick
3. Feet Don’t Fail Me
4. The Way You Used To Do
5. You Think I Ain’t Worth A dollar But I Feel Like A Millionaire
6. No One Knows
7. The Evil Has Landed
8. In The Fade
9. My God Is The Sun
10. Smooth Sailing
11. Head Like A Haunted House
12. Domesticated Animals
13. Make It Wit Chu
14. If I Had A Tail
15. Villains Of Circumstance
16. Little Sister
17. Go With The Flow
18. Mexicola [encore]
19. A Song For The Dead [encore]

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