Mad Clubbin' 1: Queens of the Stone Age, Premier, 4/14/05

I joked with Eric as we waited in line that the two of us probably raised the median age at the show by five years. But a surprising number of folks of our demographic actually represented (though many of them looked like they were bikers). Openers Throw Rag were pretty generic thrash, distinguished by a lead singer who looks like Scott Weiland in a captain's cap, a lead guitarist who used a Gretsch White Falcon for more sonic abuse than I'd heard since Neil Young subjected his to comparable abuse in the 1960s, and a heavily tattooed fellow who doubled on amplified washboard and (sez their Website) "man-tits." They were good sports about being sacrificial lambs for the Gods of Thunder who go under the moniker Queens of the Stone Age. I definitely think Josh Homme is a little too cocky a jock for me to really love his music, but I gotta hand it to him--he knows how to put Gods of Thunder riffs together better than Tom Morello and Omar Rodriguez put together. and he uses guitar leads functionally--they help drive the song, don't show off how many scales he practices. And Josh, being the Coolest Motherfucker On the Planet (go home George Clooney), barely breaks a sweat! Wish I'd seen an incarnation with Mark Lanegan singing and Nick Nutso Oliveri playing bass (and going insane), but this version of the band was, if anything, heavier than the records. And the contrast between how sweet Josh sings and the racket he and his band kick up does hold up nicely over an hour and a half.