Them Crooked Vultures Challenge Stadium, Perth, Australia
Them Crooked Vultures review
This review by Ashlee Crabbe is taken from WA Today.com
This week it was Perth’s job to welcome super-group of the noughties Them Crooked Vultures to Australia.
The frantic crowd was cheering as soon as the Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl, Led Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones and Queens of the Stone Age’s Josh Homme stepped foot on stage.
When frontman Homme took the microphone and shouted “are you ready to have a good time?”, the crowd were quick to answer.
Opening the night at Challenge Stadium were local boys The Novocaines, who admitted to the crowd “we haven’t played at anything this big before so it’s pretty exciting”.
The young band played songs from their latest album and went wild on stage. The lead singer got the stiff crowd moving at the end by thrashing around the stage – an amazing feat given how tight his jeans were.
But the crowd were definitely saving themselves for the big guns and couldn’t control their excitement when the time came.
It was so much more than just three mates coming together from separate bands. The fact that they all already have their ‘day jobs’ probably led to the ease and comfort at which they were playing.
Following on from a young punk band really made the juxtaposition obvious. Here were three older guys with a tonne of experience under their belt, with no egos because each member of this newly formed band had more previous experience than the next.
Each band member seemed like they were genuinely having a good time and felt comfortable to let loose.
John Paul Jones strutted around the stage with his bass like the legend that he is. The majority of the crowd would not have had the pleasure of seeing Zepplin live, and this was definitely the next best thing. Jones moves like a true rock god and drew the biggest cheers from the crowd.
Dave Grohl became a household name as front man of the Foo Fighters, but true fans still love him as the drummer for ’90s grunge legends Nirvana. It was sublime to see him back in this role as a drummer, head-banging through the whole set. However one of the main disappointments of the night was that he remained completely mute throughout the show, offering no banter or comments for the audience to play off.
Josh Homme really lends his sound to the band. Chief lyricist when writing the album, Homme’s influence is clear and the majority of the songs have a real QOTSA feel to them. Homme oozed charisma from the front of stage. He is a big guy and if he was your neighbour you’d imagine him to be awkward on the stage. But Homme moved and strutted with real style.
Opening the night with lead album track No One Loves Me & Neither Do I, the band had the audience in a spin. Then Scumbag Blues, the third track took the sound level down a notch and really showcasing Homme’s voice with backing vocals from Jones and Grohl. Radio hits New Fang and Mind Eraser, No Chaser were also favourites and inspired the crowd surfers.
It was clear the majority were there to purely view the three rock legends on the stage, rather than for the new songs that they had produced. Unsurprisingly there were more Nirvana T-shirts spotted in the crowd than Them Crooked Vultures merchandise.
Overall the set was tight. Guitars were swapped after nearly every track – there is no shortage of cash here and the guys took advantage of the legion of instruments at their disposal. Jones was impressive, especially his keyboard solo toward the end of the night. The last 10 minutes of the show was pure instrumental with Homme taking over the stage, perhaps for a little too long, but this didn’t disappoint die-hard fans.
There was a splattering of empty seats through the stadium as the event didn’t sell out. But every person in the crowd desperately wanted to be there, perhaps to witness a part of rock history that may never be repeated.
nice post. thanks.
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