Live And In The Flesh
Queens of the Stone Age - March 30, 2005
My very first Queens of the Stone Age experience, where to begin! I had been a fan of the group for a few years now, and was pretty excited to hear that they were making their way up to Canada. Lullabies to Paralyze, the group's fourth studio album, was due to drop just nine days before their headlining show in Toronto. A buddy and I were living in London, ON at the time going to college and decided to make the two hour trek into the city for the concert. Neither of us had yet to see them live, so we were pretty excited to make it out to the gig.
That day in March seemed warmer than usual and we were able to sport just our t-shirts while we were out and about. By the time we made it over to the venue to get in line though, we had wished we were a bit better prepared as it was freezing down by the water. The wind was whipping through and we couldn't wait for the doors to open. Neither of us had attended a show at Kool Haus yet, so we weren't quite sure what to expect when we got inside. We managed to be two of the first ten people in line, so we knew we would be able to secure a pretty decent spot up front on the railing. Since it was our first Queens show, we made sure it was just going to be us and them up at the front of the venue; no worries about trying to see through the back of someone's head. The doors opened up and we rushed the stage! Front and center, we were pumped! I looked over at my buddy and told him he better hang onto the railing good and tight throughout the show, or else we'd be swept away by the pit.
The opening act wasn't long taking the stage to help get the crowd warmed up. Throw Rag, a punk rock band from California was brought along as the support. Their rockabilly vibe had the crowd fired up and anxious for Queens to hit the stage. We managed to fight off the crowd behind us and maintained our front-and-center positioning while plenty other eager fans were trying to elbow their way into a spot on the railing. The openers finished up their twenty minute set and the chaos seemed to die down just long enough for us to regain our composure before Queens of the Stone Age finally hit the stage.
The lights went out and we quickly looked to one another, knowing that the time had come. Our grip on the railing grew tight as we could feel the crowd surge up towards the stage against us as everyone tried to get just a little closer. Joey Castillo made his way behind his drum kit, as Troy Van Leeuwen (formerly of A Perfect Circle and Failure) manned his station to the left of us. Following them up were two new Queens members, Alain Johannes, who had been brought on to replace Nick Oliveri on bass, along with his partner and former Eleven bandmate, Natasha Schneider, who was taking care of keyboards and backing vocals. The ringleader himself, Josh Homme strutted out onto the stage to the cheers of fans. They all took to their instruments and slowly built things up until busting into Someone's in the Wolf, one of their latest tracks at the time. It was a complete jam right from the beginning notes, and being up front so close and personal with the band made the impact that much greater. One song into the set and we couldn't believe what we were experiencing.
Josh surprised us all with a couple of Rated R tracks next, Feel Good Hit of the Summer and The Lost Art of Keeping a Secret, which were both incredible. I don't think it really made a difference what they were playing at this point, we were loving it! They showcased another new track before heading way back to their self titled released for You Would Know, the only song from their debut album that was played that night. QOTSA played more than two-thirds of their Lullabies to Paralyze album throughout their set, while mixing in plenty of Rated R; Leg of Lamb, Monsters in the Parasol. About halfway through the set, they even busted out The Desert Sessions track Covered in Punk's Blood! Josh started it up by tearing open an aluminum can and cutting his arm up a bit to get the blood flowing. I was pretty happy to be hearing anything from Josh's jam sessions out in the desert. Everyone seemed to be on point. Natasha was tearing up the keyboards while Troy was blowing us away with his slide guitar. Queens of the Stone Age were proving to be quite the force live.
The highlight of the night was definitely the special guest appearance made by Mark Lanegan, formerly of The Screaming Trees. Josh had been touring with The Screaming Trees closer to the end of their run, so Mark and Josh had a bit of a history to work with, not to mention Mark's numerous appearances throughout various Queens' albums. The chemistry that Josh and Mark have to work with is amazing, and I couldn't believe he was actually out on tour with them! We weren't sure if we were dreaming or not, as Mark made his way out to center stage directly in front of us and took to the microphone. At first we didn't know who it was, as he had his toque pulled down over his eyes, but we quickly figured it out! The first track that he helped out with was the classic from Songs for the Deaf, Hangin' Tree, which was a Lanegan staple from Queens' 2002 album. I would have to say my favourite track of the evening was The Blood Is Love. Toronto was lucky enough to hear the song's first performance ever on the tour, with Mark on lead vocals no less! Lanegan graced us with his presence for a few more tracks; God Is in the Radio, Burn the Witch, A Song for the Deaf, and A Song for the Dead. We couldn't have asked for a better surprise guest appearance.
Queens of the Stone Age played through another handful of tracks before finishing off their regular set with I Think I Lost My Headache, one of my personal favourites from Rated R. It was nice to see them wind everything down with a sporadic jam like that. The screaming fans encouraging an encore seemed to work, as the band returned to the stage and treated us to a couple more tracks. Alain Johannes highlighted his skill during Long Slow Goodbye, helping slow things down before No One Knows sent us all packing. The twenty two songs and well over an hour and half long set had blown us away. Out of the nine times (and counting) I've seen Queens of the Stone Age live, this was by far the best performance by them that I had ever witnessed, and the only one to ever include Mark. It was a perfect first experience at Kool Haus with Queens of the Stone Age, accompanied by none other than the legendary Lanegan!