REVIEW: QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE @ THE DRIVE

 After a six-year absence, Queens of the Stone Age made a triumphant return to Adelaide with one hell of a rock show.

Words by Tobias Handke | Images by Andreas Heuer

The excitement was palpable as the audience gathered at The Drive in anticipation of seeing modern rock legends Queens of the Stone Age in the flesh. Six years removed from their last tour Down Under, frontman Josh Homme and co were back at their “home away from home” in support of eighth album In Times New Roman…, arguably their best and most consistent effort since 2007s underrated Era Vulgaris.

 But before QOTSA took the stage, Triple J Unearthed favourites Gut Health got the party started with a vibrant opening set. The band’s bio described them as “dance-punk”, but that’s selling the five-piece short. There’s a lot to like about their energetic sound that’s much rawer and fiercer live, with plenty of reverb to boot. Highlights from their set included the Operator Please pop of ‘Uh oh’ and the headbanging ‘Inner Norm’.

Perth’s psych rockers Pond came next. There’s always a feel-good factor to Pond and their psychedelic creations served as an entertaining prelude to the main event. Founding member and lead vocalist Nick Allbrook looked like he’d just stepped off the docks, which is a compliment, as Pond put in a workman-like shift that included the euphoric ‘Daisy’, scuzzy guitar rocker ‘Neon River’ and funky space jam ‘Paint Me Silver’. Mentioning his love for Adelaide after being handed a bag of weed on his first trip to the City of Churches, Allbrook was all smiles as he and his talented cohorts played a solid set that earned great applause. 

The moment had finally arrived. Walking on stage to the strains of Peggy Lee’s ‘Smile’, QOTSA wasted no time getting down to business. But it wasn’t all plain sailing, with the first couple of songs (‘The Evil Has Landed’ and ‘Paper Machete’) being so loud you could barely make heads or tails of what was blasting out of the speakers. It looked like being a long night, but thankfully the issue was resolved by the time the band treated the cheering crowd to ‘I’m Designer’, the first time the song had been heard live since 2017. While still bloody loud, the mix was much better, and Homme’s sultry croon was no longer being drowned out by the rest of the band’s instruments.   

Not that the crowd at the front seemed to notice, with the eclectic mix of young punters, heavy music fans and old rockers jumping around like mad, which brought a smile to Homme’s face. The ginger ninja declared his love for Adelaide, which in his opinion is “the best city in the country’, before the groovy ‘Smooth Sailing’ had the audience clapping along. The standard band introductions were conducted by Homme before a ripping version of ‘I Sat by the Ocean’, with each member of the group getting the spotlight on them as the crowd applauded their efforts.  

This was a memorable night of straight-up, no-nonsense rock and roll, with smash hit ‘No One Knows’ surprisingly dropped mid-set to raucous applause. ‘I Think I Lost My Head’ was turned into a psychedelic jam session provoking several punters to try their hand at crowd surfing while ‘The Way You Used to Do’ had people standing in their seats and fist-pumping the air. ‘Make It Wit Chu’ began with a wild guitar solo, included an inspired crowd singalong and incorporated a snippet of the Rolling Stones ‘Miss You’. The pyramid lighting setup was simple but effective and bathed the band in flashing white light as the thrilling ‘My God Is the Sun’ hit like a tonne of bricks. 

Homme was in fine form throughout the night, with the charming Californian confessing he took mushrooms before the show and regularly urged the crowd to dance and clap along. Even when he chastised the audience for ‘not being the loudest crowd’, he was quick to point out he sees everyone’s faces and knows “everybody’s having a good time’. Homme continued to proclaim Adelaide as his favourite city in Australia several more times, which is always a great way to get the locals on side, even if it’s a standard trope of touring bands. 

Unsurprisingly In New Times Roman… dominated the setlist, with the cock-rock of ‘Paper Machete’ and the droning ‘Carnavoyer’ sounding incredible live. Before an extended rendition of the droning ‘Make to Parade,’ Homme went on a philosophical rant, telling everyone “We’ve been living our whole lives just to be here” and asking them ‘What will you do with the now?’ His suggestion was to steal as much money from your boss as possible and use the cash to buy drugs. Not the smartest advice in the world but it gave everyone a chuckle before a rollicking ‘Little Sister’ sent the crowd into overdrive and QOTSA disappeared into the back.  

Encores are overrated and need to be stopped, but after playing for 100 minutes with barely a breath, it’s hard to fault QOTSA for wanting a short break. Less than five minutes after walking off the quintet slowly ambled back on stage and Homme announced, “This is the first song off our first album,” the band launching into the driving stoner rock of ‘Regular John’. Homme sang the first verse of ‘Go With the Flow’ acapella before the band joined in, transforming the catchy tune into a reverb-fueled wall of sound. The final sonic assault, complete with smoke machine and a Jon Theodore drum solo, found QOTSA rocking out with an extended version of ‘Song for the Dead’ before saying their goodbyes.  

Filing out of The Drive, the crowd still buzzing, a young lad was overheard telling his dad “That was one of the best things I’ve seen”, and it’s hard to argue with the comment. To paraphrase the great Julius Caesar, QOTSA came, they saw, and they bloody well conquered Adelaide, leaving those who attended with a night they won’t soon forget.