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> Login to your account > RegisterQueens Of The Stone Age
From page 97 of Classic Rock Magazine June 2011
Cover of June 2011 issue.
Austin, Texas, La Zona Rosa
The desert queens retread their debut disc, and more besides.
Josh Homme’s brush with death during knee surgery in 2010 appears to be ancient history now, for he looks in fine fettle, smoking and drinking onstage tonight. It’s been three years since Queens Of The Stone Age last played the US but absence has clearly made hearts grow fonder as the 1000-strong audience warmly appreciates his laconic humour.
He has cause to be comfortable tonight, though, for the Californians are performing their entire self-titled 1998 debut in preparation for their impending world tour. Homme is the only member featured on the original recording but it’s clear that Joey Castillo’s sucker punch drumming and Troy Van Leeuwen’s carefully measured flamboyance help increase the intensity of the “robot music for girls” tenfold. With their stoner links a variety of cigarettes are smoked in the audience and with every drink that is drunk, the atmosphere hums harder and more expectantly.
While the retelling of QOTSA’s debut will leave an indelible mark on the mind of everyone here, the six-track encore – featuring tracks from all other albums bar 2000’s Rated R – is the clincher. Closing with Go With The Flow gives the crowd a final burst of rapturous, lustful energy, encapsulating everything that this band is about. While there is braying for more, it’s clear that nobody could leave any happier than at this moment. Raziq Rauf
