Them Crooked Vultures Festival Hall

By Michael Rae

Set List

No One Loves Me & Neither Do I
Dead End Friends
Scumbag Blues
Elephants
Highway One
New Fang
Gunman
Bandoliers
Mind Eraser, No Chaser
Caligulove
Interlude With Ludes
Spinning In Daffodils
Reptiles
Warsaw or The First Breath You Take After You Give Up

In John Thomson’s post on Friday’s Melbourne show, he said his 16 year-old  son commented “that was truly good as.”   I think my (much younger) boys’ take on the common Australian expression could be applied to last night’s (Saturday) show – “That show was better than as!”
Walking on stage to wild applause, all the band members wore broad smiles which did not leave their faces all night.  Josh Homme greeted the crowd and repeated several times, “This show is going to be great!”  It sure was.
 The band was in top form and good humour from the opener, “No One Loves Me.”, through to a frenetically extended version of “Warsaw.”.
 As other posts have reported, with only one album and the band resisting all temptation to dip into their individual back catalogues, the set list is restricted but the musicianship certainly knows no limits. All four were
 brilliant last night.  The addition of Alain Johannes to augment the band’s sound on stage was inspired.  Alain’s guitars, keyboards and backing vocals add a depth to the sound that would be impossible for TCV to achieve
 as a three piece.
 As John Thomson posted, JPJ is viewed as the band’s secret weapon. Last night he was introduced by Josh Homme with the words, “On bass and every other instrument you could possibly imagine – John Paul Jones.”  I’ve been fortunate to see some of the world’s best bassists perform, including the likes of Jaco Pastorius and Fernando Saunders.  JPJ is certainly in that league.  His performance last night was superb and his masterful interaction with Dave Grohl the undoubted highlight of the night.
Buy, beg, borrow or steal tickets to see TCV perform.  It’s only January but I doubt I will witness a better show in 2010.
Having seen Mr Jones play so well and in such a joyous mood last night and seen Mr Plant having the time of his life performing with Alison Krauss in May, 2008, I fervently hope Mr Page finds similar inspiration and happiness
with new musicians and new music this year.

REVIEW: Them Crooked Vultures Play Festival Hall

by Paul Cashmere – January 23 2010
photo by Ros O’Gorman

When you go to see Them Crooked Vultures you expect to see Rock Gods and they deliver.

10 minutes into watching Them Crooked Vultures you will realize just how much better Dave Grohl is as a drummer than as a frontman and guitarist. His Nirvana job really suited him.

Them Crooked Vultures as a band is quite possibly as good as it can get for a live rock and roll band.

How can it not be? John Paul Jones from Led Zeppelin on bass, Josh Homme from Queens of the Stone Age on guitar and vocals, Dave Grohl of Nirvana/Foo Fighters fame on drums and Eleven’s Alain Johannes rounded off other instruments. Its pretty damn good.

Despite all their combined heritage, Them Crooked Vultures doesn’t fall back on the past. There was no Led Zep, Foo Fighters, Nirvana or Queens of the Stone Age even hinted at. If anything, the closest they come to sounding like any classic rock band is on Scumbag Blues that reminds me of Cream.

This was a 100% Them Crooked Vultures show that included the entire album plus one extra song.

If anything there was a sameness to the songs. Live it is very much focused around Josh Homme and musically they sound most like Queens of the Stone Age.

But hey, you go and you get to see John Paul Fucking Jones, as Homme kept referring to him as.

Josh also made mention of Melbourne as his other home. His wife Brodie Dalle (Spinerette) is from here.

Them Crooked Vultures Festival Hall
Reviewer Patrick Donovan From theage.com.au

IT’S RARE that a band can sell out a show despite never having released any music. But that is what happened with new super group Them Crooked Vultures, such was the track record of its three members.

The CVs of Josh Homme, Dave Grohl and John Paul Jones feature some of the most influential rock bands of the past four decades: Led Zeppelin, Kyuss, Nirvana, Queens of the Stone Age and Foo Fighters.

Homme leads the band, writing and singing all the lyrics and delivering them with loads of strut and swagger.

”Hello Melbourne – you’re practically family,” he said to the rapturous crowd, referring to the local origin of his Australian partner and mother of his child.

It was a joy to see Grohl, who plays guitar and sings for Foo Fighters, behind the drum kit again. He was clearly enjoying playing with the legendary Jones in the most formidable rhythm section in rock today.

The biggest cheers were reserved for Jones. Most of the crowd would not have seen Led Zeppelin when they played Kooyong in 1972, and this was the next best thing. The three played with the dexterity and intuition of a jazz group. Highlights included the album opener No One Loves Me & Neither Do I, the Cream-esque Scumbag Blues, New Fang, Gunman, Bandoliers and Mind Eraser, No Chaser.

With only one album, the set started thinning out by the end. But there was something special about the bonding of these three very successful musicians who, financially at least, didn’t need to start another band, and witnessing them duel and push each other while having the time of their lives.

There was a similar sense of I’m-lucky-to-be-here among the crowd, which knew it may never see this special band again. But just as the parents of those in the audience bragged about being at Kooyong in 1972, they’ll tell their kids about this balmy night.