Queens of the Stone Age at Madison Square Garden

Josh Homme

In 1987, when he was 14 years old, guitarist Josh Homme formed Katzenjammer, a punk rock-influenced heavy metal band, with schoolmates in Palm Desert, California. In due time, they changed the band's name first to Sons of Kyuss, then shortened it to Kyuss. The stoner rock band became known for heavy, down tuned, groove oriented music and garnered a cult following by the early 1990s, often performing isolated locations in the desert at "generator parties." After three albums, Kyuss split in 1995, and Homme joined the Screaming Trees as a touring guitarist. Disliking the band's continual disharmony, Homme left after one year and founded heavy rock band Gamma Ray, which became Queens of the Stone Age in 1997. Queens of the Stone Age presently consists of vocalist/guitarist Homme, who is the sole remaining original member, along with guitarist Troy Van Leeuwen, bassist Michael Shuman, keyboardist Dean Fertita, and drummer Jon Theodore. Queens of the Stone Age's seventh and most recent album, Villains, was released on August 25, 2017.

Queens of the Stone Age's Villains Tour began in September in Port Chester, New York, and closed tonight with the band's first headlining gig at Madison Square Garden; the band previously opened there for Nine Inch Nails in 2005 and the Red Hot Chili Peppers in 2003. Homme said he was "stoked." The stage was littered with tall, thin LED light tubes that flickered and flashed to the music as stage lights strobed into the audience, matching the band's equally electrified riff-oriented, heavy rock. The musicians performed particularly well, but Homme remained the focal point, singing gruffly and sweetly and jamming intense, distorted guitar riffs. The 20-song set drew from all of the band's albums, with Homme introducing "Mexicola" as a song that was more than 20 years old, but leaned more heavily on the last two albums. Homme was especially personable between songs, and spent perhaps too much time on banter, including a long-winded scolding to two men who fought in front of the stage; these rambling, unfiltered stream-of-consciousness digressions more than likely cost the band, as the show went 20 minutes into overtime at the union-staffed venue; one encore song was cut from the set as well. Otherwise, Queens of the Stone Age more than capably matched melodic vocals with ferocious chops for a ripping two-hour hard rock performance.

Visit Queens of the Stone Age at www.qotsa.com.

Setlist:

1. If I Had a Tail
2. Monsters in the Parasol
3. My God Is the Sun
4. Feet Don't Fail Me
5. The Way You Used to Do
6. You Think I Ain't Worth a Dollar, but I Feel Like a Millionaire
7. No One Knows
8. Mexicola
9. The Evil Has Landed
10. I Sat by the Ocean
11. Smooth Sailing
12. Domesticated Animals
13. Make It Wit Chu
14. I Appear Missing
15. Villains of Circumstance
16. Little Sister
17. Sick, Sick, Sick
18. Go With the Flow

Encore:

1. Head Like a Haunted House
2. A Song for the Dead