Live And In The Flesh
Queens of the Stone Age - October 15, 2007
Only two months after catching Queens of the Stone Age at Centennial Hall in London, Ontario, I was given another opportunity to see these monsters of rock 'n' roll live. This was my first and only time seeing them at the Hummingbird Centre, and fifth time overall. I caught Radiohead and Tool live at this same venue the year before and knew what type of an atmosphere we would be in for. This venue had quickly turned into one of my more favourite ones in the big city of Toronto, simply due to the fact that there wasn't a bad seat in the house. Seeing as how this venue was much more of a theatre-style, the setup was quite different in comparison to the smaller show in London we had just experienced earlier that summer.
Queens of the Stone Age were heading out on the road shortly after the release of their fifth full length album, Era Vulgaris. We simply couldn't get enough of them by this point in time, and did all we could to make it out to as many of their shows as we could. That Monday in October finally rolled around and a handful of us made our way down the 401 to the big city. Since there were so many of us, we decided to make a couple of separate ticket purchases to help ensure we had our seats as close as possible, rather than trying to secure 5-6 all in one single row. Four of us were down in the lower level with some pretty good seats, while a couple more of us, including myself, were up in the balcony, just a few rows back from the edge! The view was amazing for the entire show up there, I couldn't believe I was able to score such great seats to the show.
The Black Angels were brought along for this leg of the Era Vulgaris Tour, an American psychedelic rock band based out of Austin, Texas. The Black Angels were just gearing up to release their debut self-titled EP so we were lucky to catch these guys near the beginning of their journey. We heard the majority of this album live and they were a great opener for the evening. During intermission we decided to head back down to the lobby and check back in with each other to see how we were making out with our seats, along with grabbing a couple of drinks and samosas.
The wait went by quickly with the distractions out in the lobby. By the time we were settling back into our seats the band was gearing up to hit the stage. Queens of the Stone Age came out in full force with Burn the Witch, one of the my favourites off of their Lullabies to Paralyze album. It wasn't long before they started to pump through some of their latest jams, Misfit Love, Run, Pig, Run and River in the Road all came next. This night was also full of plenty of first surprises for me. In the Fade, an early Rated R track was thrown into the mix and I couldn't believe my ears. Turnin' on the Screw, and Into the Hollow, a couple more new tracks were peppered into the set before they dove back into some gems off of their Songs for the Deaf release, The Sky is Fallin', and Do It Again.
We were already about ten songs deep into their set and Josh Homme and the rest of his crew didn't seem to be slowing down one bit. 3's and 7's, one of the singles from Era Vulgaris helped keep the good vibes flowing before they headed way back to their debut self-titled release to dust off If Only, my first time hearing this song live and I was loving every second of it. I wasn't sure how the night could possibly get any better, but I knew it would! A Song for the Deaf was played next, followed up by Sick, Sick, Sick, and yet another classic from their first album, You Can't Quit Me Baby. Queens of the Stone Age were beginning to wind down their regular set with a couple more Rated R tracks, Better Living Through Chemistry (another first for me), and The Lost Art of Keeping a Secret, before wrapping things up with Go With the Flow.
We knew the band would return to the relentless cheers of the crowd for an encore, and they did. Surprising me with yet another first, and undoubtedly the highlight of the night for me, Avon, from their debut album. They finished everything off with their usual finale, A Song for the Dead, a jam which never gets old to experience live! Josh Homme and the rest of the band put us all in our place with their incredible twenty song set. A fantastic mix of old and new tracks, including quite a few jams that I had yet to see them play live, which is always a bonus after seeing a band so many times. As long as they continue to pump out the jams, I will certainly continue making it out to show my love and support!