What is it that makes Queens of the Stone Age such an amazing live act?
Rock ‘n’ roll is, at its core, a live medium.
I’m sure there are counter-arguments to that statement. After all, the genre has evolved from a style of music into an entire ecosystem of art, and some of the best examples of the genre came from people who rarely step beyond the recording studio. Let’s be real, though, the kind of rock ‘n’ roll conceptualised by Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Chuck Berry and kept alive today by Amyl and the Sniffers, Letlive, and Queens of the Stone Age is a sentient medium that needs to be experienced live.
This puts one hell of an onus on any rock band to be a good live act, or at the very least a memorable one. The Replacements were one of the most vital live acts of their era, despite playing more godawful shows than brilliant ones. The further up the Rock ‘n’ Roll food chain you go, the more you see bands putting a veritable Broadway show on to make their live shows pop. In no way am I saying this is a bad thing; to be perfectly clear, by this point, it’s part of the grand tapestry of rock ‘n’ roll.
There’s nothing quite like going to a Ghost concert to watch Papa Perpetua rise into the air and fly over his band the way he did on their last arena tour. Nearly 35 years on, the stage set U2 put together for their Zoo TV tour is still genuinely awe-inspiring. Hell, would the likes of Kiss, Gwar and Alice Cooper even have careers if they didn’t do mental things onstage? No disrespect to any of them, but I think each of them would say with pride that they’re a stage act first, and a recording act second. Probably, like, fifth in Gwar’s case.
So why is it that of all the bands to break into the upper echelon of rock stardom in the 21st century, one of the most celebrated live acts belongs to Queens of the Stone Age? Josh Homme’s stoner rock miscreants are the absolute last band to turn up in catsuits, or fly a blimp, or pepper their gigs with enough pyrotechnics to induce ‘Nam flashbacks. Yet no less an authority than Dave bloody Grohl once said on Bill Simmons’ podcast, “When they hit the stage, they’re the best band in the world”.
What makes Queens of the Stone Age one of the best live acts?
He’s not the only one to think so, either. With their 2013 masterpiece …Like Clockwork, Queens of the Stone Age graduated from a respected rock band who could comfortably fill any theatre or club in the world to full-on, arena-slaying megastars. Homme was no longer merely the buddy or bandmate of Alex Turner, John Paul Jones and Grohl, but a genuine rock god on their level. Someone who maintained a degree of mystique and cool that arguably none of them have anymore to boot.
What’s more, the band were able to graduate their live show to arenas and festival headlining slots with ease. In fact, there’s an argument to be made that they barely changed it. Homme merely commissioned some cool art to go on the big screens they now had to play with and added a few more musicians to the backline. In fact, that particular act might just lead us to the reason for the live dominance of Queens of the Stone Age today.
Not because an extra percussionist makes all the difference, but because, at their core, Queens of the Stone Age are made up of genuine, world-class musicians. No matter how many bells, whistles and massive animatronic aliens you add to a live show (Hi, Muse!), it’s nothing without world-class musicianship to back it up. Grohl himself said as much in that same interview, “for musicality and as a musician, you sit and watch Queens of the Stone Age, and you say ‘that’s not fair, what the fuck?'”
The man should know the level of musicianship needed to cut it in Queens, as he’s, y’know, played in the band on and off for over two decades. This is more than just Grohl paying lip service; he’s bang on the money here. Homme’s reputation allows him to bring in exactly the kind of musicians that suit Queens: those whose personalities suit him on a personal level and whose skills bring the raucous rock ‘n’ roll thunder.
It might sound simplistic, I understand that. Stop the presses, “good musicians in ‘playing good music’ shocker”. But it goes deeper than that. It’s a sign that, in a world where rock ‘n’ roll has the same mothballed reputation as jazz, there’s still a global audience for real rock music. I don’t mean copying the bands of 50 years ago, Greta Van Fleet-style, either. I mean rock that takes the lessons from the past and evolves them into the present day.
The wonderful thing is that there seem to be quite a few bands taking this cue from Queens of the Stone Age as well. King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard are becoming arena-filling superstars in a similar fashion. Fontaines DC are one of the biggest bands in the UK and could easily spread their gospel all over the world. These are bands whose relevance comes from a bedrock of razor-sharp musicianship, combined with the vision and inspiration to make rock ‘n’ roll in a daring new way, a new way that comes alive onstage.
You’d take that over an 80-year-old Gene Simmons dribbling fake blood down himself, wouldn’t you?
