Saw Queens of the Stone Age at Metro City Perth last night, supported by UK (Sunderland) band Futureheads.
Good to experience an excellent gig at Metro City, too. When I first came out to Perth, I had already pre-purchased tickets for George Thorogood and Joe Satriani at Metro City, but it was shut down for six months due to some gangland / pikey shooting mullarky, and bookings re-arranged elsewhere. Great venue, bars and snack-food franchises (!) inside the audirorium, high-stage and the audience packed in around it club-style on several interconnected levels.
Futureheads were manic, black shirts suits and ties, style reminded me of the Ramones or maybe Wilko Johnson, ie fast and furious, everything under 2 minutes, but with complex staccato structures and magic four part harmonies, even a Kate Bush cover. The QOTSA audience like them.
QOTSA pleased the crowd, greatest hits selection to open and close, with the “latest album” stuff in the middle. Seriously heavy sound, dominated by the complex drumming, even with latest replacement drummer since David Grohl moved on, but with strong clean-cut vocals, quite different to your traditional heavy rock screamers. Josh Homme has a strong stage presence too, holding the audience with acapella vocals on Songs for the Dead. No messing, no patronising audience participation gimmicks, just some anthemic lines to sing along to. Emotional last night of the current tour and a return to the scene of previous sell-out gigs. Josh was almost moved to tears by the audience reaction.
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