The magical night Josh Homme wanted to take on Beyoncé: “I wanna play so loud”
As I walked through The Other Stage, to Elton John’s triumphant Glastonbury 2023 headline set, I almost pitied Josh Homme and the imminent set he was about to play.
The Queens Of The Stone Age were given the slot one unfortunate band simply had to have. The one that would clash with the most talked-about show of the year. The show meant that an entire field of tents was removed, just to accommodate the sheer size of the expected crowd.
In the spirit of both “someone’s got to do it” and “sticking it to the man”, Homme and The Queens Of The Stone Age stepped up and delivered a mighty fine performance for their dedicated fans. In fact, even those who weren’t classed as dedicated had their needs met, as the Californian rockers provided a set list that hit all of the riff-crunching notes and provided a perfect antidote to the glitterball explosion that was happening across the tracks at The Pyramid.
In fact, the clash provoked a competitive albeit well spirited quip from Elton, as Homme recalled, “I saw him right before the show, and he very lovingly looked into my eyes and said, [adopts English accent] ‘Josh – enjoy playing to all three of those people’.”
Ultimately, clashing is par for the course when it comes to festivals and Queens Of The Stone Age know that better than anyone. That was their fourth time playing the festival, and are now accustomed to the fact that in an artistic metropolis that size, there is simply no chance that you will be drawing the eyes and ears of everyone.
But, in 2023, they would have surely thought they earned some good grace. Because in 2011, the band headlined The Other Stage, and once again, were staring down the barrel of a graveyard shift that existed in the shadow of an icon. Because as they strutted on stage and played the first note of ‘Feel Good Hit Of The Summer’, Beyoncé was walking out on the Pyramid Stage, to the sound of ‘Crazy In Love’.
The difference on this occasion was that Homme’s setlist provided a more obvious counterpart to Beyoncé’s pop-filled masterclass, and could truly lean into the anti-establishment feelings of rock and roll. Which he did, by boldly proclaiming, “I wanna play so loud that Beyoncé can feel it in her fucking bones.”
When reminded of that line, Homme laughed and said, “The chances are she might have done it. We found out no one wanted to play against Beyoncé. They asked us, and I was like ‘OK, hell yeah.’ It was great. Or maybe I was just on ecstasy and I didn’t know the difference. I walked onstage and was like, ‘Wow! Hey everybody! How you doing?'”
While Beyoncé’s will most likely attest that she did in fact, not feel The Queens Of The Stone Age in her bones, they did put on the sort of set they needed to, to please rock fans at The Other Stage. Watch the band’s performance below, to make your verdict.
