Queens of the Stone Age
Brixton Academy, London, UK, 13.06.01
Support: King Adora and Goatsnake

Touring behind last year's Rated R album, Queens of the Stone Age visited London on a warm and lovely June evening. The blistering show they put on at the Brixton Academy made the outside air seem freezing by comparison.

First of the two support bands was Goatsnake, coming all the way from sunny California. The music was in the tradition of those good old stoner rock godfathers, Kyuss, with some southern vibes thrown in with the help of the singer's harmonica. The riffs were very heavy, and very, very slow at times, making for a very good and rocking start to the evening. Possibly the slowest grooves to come out of California these days, reminding the audience of the rock & roll delights we were going to hear later in the evening.

Next on were King Adora, who seemed very concerned with their image, which was somewhere between Sex Pistols and early Manic Street Preachers, with the singer/rhythm guitarist looking like he was either going to break in two or pee in his pants. Perhaps they should concentrate more on their music, because it was quite unremarkable, at times really bad, in fact. And while it does take some courage, calling the audience "cunts" isn't very smart when you're the support band.

Then, after a short wait, the main attraction hit the stage and launched into their latest single, Monsters in Your Parasol, Joshua Homme's voice was in top form, and he is also quite the rock & roll showman, whipping the audience into a frenzy right from the start just by shouting out the name of his band. Bassist Nick Oliveri also did his part, his 10 centimeter goatee and shaved head making him the complete opposite of Homme's clean-cut nice boy look. Oliveri also took his turn singing lead vocals on a couple of songs, screaming like a madman on crack. Lots of fun!

After a few songs, Mark Lanegan of the Screaming Trees strolled in without any sort of introduction or ceremony. The females in the audience responded with much screaming. Lanegan proceeded to sing a few Queens of the Stone Age songs, and his voice suit the material very well. After a few songs he walked off stage just as casually as he had entered, returning for a few more numbers later on.

The setlist just about perfect, including the band's breakthrough hit The Lost Art of Keeping a Secret and Feel Good Hit of the Summer, the latter one turning Brixton Academy into a rock & roll warzone when everybody screamed along with the chorus: "C-C-C-C-C-Cocaiiiiiine!!!" The crowd very notably less familiar with songs from their self-titled debut album, but still the band had no problem with getting people into such gems as Avon and You Would Know.

Towards the end of the show we were treated to an obscure ZZ Top cover, and, just as I thought the show was over, Joshua Homme launched into the opening chord from their debut album's opening track, Regular John. A brilliant close to a brilliant show.

Copyright © 2001 Kentil'zha