It may be a little obvious to state that Queens of the Stone Age’s 90-minute set in Columbia last night proceeded like clockwork, but the five-piece band is surprisingly well-oiled considering the six year gap between last year’s critical success and their previous effort, Era Vulgaris. Indeed, had lead guitar sensei Josh Homme not broken his steely persona and offered the audience a decidedly friendly wave during the bass solo of their breakout hit (and second song of the night) “No One Knows,” it would have been easy to assume that the show was running on auto-pilot. The songs sounded almost too perfect, as if the rough edges that had colored their shows in the early 2000s had been smoothed into a deceptively slick and breezy assault.
The most notable change was actually in Homme’s voice. His ability to swing between choral falsetto, powerful belting tenor and low, sleazy intonation has always been an impressive feat on album that was never quite replicated live … until now. This was especially notable on “Smooth Sailing,” where he moved seamlessly between all three. The transitions were equally seamless. But for Homme’s one admonition of a fighting pair in the seats (“If you want to fight, go outside and stick your heads up your asses and fight”), the band perfectly orchestrated the changes between songs. The grinding hits seemed all the more potent for coming after piano ballads wherein a lone spotlight shone on Homme’s guitar and as such, the crowdsurfers came that much quicker.
Although Homme remains an imposing figure, there’s a subtlety in his performances. His hips dropped just enough to be suggestive as he pounded the guitar during “Smooth Sailing.” Whereas opener St. Vincent actually had stiff, choreographed dance routines of sorts with her bandmates, Homme was content to just wave his arm during the verses of “My God Is The Sun” or hint that the audience should participate in during songs like slinky “Make It Witchu” and brutally minimalist drug anthem “Feel Good Hit of the Summer.” Ninety minutes has never evaporated with such speed.
