To everyone who was surprised by what Queens of the Stone Age did at the Dolby Theatre last Tuesday, Paris Jackson warned you. Just before the modern starlet finished her solo opening set, she said that it's "not gonna be what you expect."
I myself had no idea what to expect. Having done no prior research, I honestly thought the show was going to be a standard (but awesome) rundown of Josh Homme and co's dastardly rock and roll sound. This time in a more historic setting. Turns out I was wrong in the best way possible.
The band played into the grand space by guiding the audience (who were encouraged to dress to the nines for the occasion) through three distinct acts. None of which were standard QOTSA.
Act one took advantage of the amenities by remaining in front of the curtain. The only sound to start was ambient noise as Homme emerged under abyssal blue light, the only point of true illumination being a lantern he brought to his face and the faces of the bandmates that slowly followed him to the stage. Keys, guitar, and strings. All the instruments required to play the five songs of their Alive in the Catacombs EP.
The release is a series of acoustic/orchestral versions of past songs, such as "I Never Came" and "Kalopsia." But seeing Homme perform so intensely — like the lead of an opera about the gradual descent into madness — to such stripped-back renditions made it seem like those songs never needed distortion to begin with.
When the curtain rose for Act Two and the lights switched to QOTSA's classic red, the rest of the orchestral ensemble was revealed to include several horn players on top of the already present strings. A full drum kit was there for Jon Theodore to play instead of just a glockenspiel. And Homme set down the lantern and replaced it with a cleaver.
Was it real? I couldn't tell, but he was definitely enjoying his Michael Myers moment, prancing through the audience, singing similarly composed versions of past works with his serial-killer weapon in hand. It was the perfect presentation for eerie, violent songs like "Mosquito Song."
But once Homme slammed the cleaver into a nearby table, he took his guitar and started act three, a full-band set with orchestral backing and a series of uncommon songs:
"We make strange requests of each other, but I think that's OK. That's why we're playing strange requests tonight. Songs we don't often play," Homme said to the audience.
Rather than finish things off with the classics like "Go With The Flow" and "No One Knows," they went through the epic ballad "The Vampyre of Time and Memory," which was intensely enhanced by the strings and horns. "Easy Street" (or so the fans have been calling the lighthearted acoustic clap-along since the tour began) provided a much-needed moment of release after Homme took us deeper and deeper into the depths of hell throughout the elaborate musical forum.
The encore was even lighter as Homme brought out bassist and backing vocalist Michael Shuman to sing "Long Slow Goodbye" a capella on one mic. Homme started the song by tapping his foot to create a beat, and some well-dressed fans were clapping along until Homme asked them to stop because they were so offbeat.
But the metaphor is clear and beautiful. Queens of the Stone Age fans will stick with them, no matter how unexpected things may become.
