Anyhoo in more interesting news our budding little rock journalist Toby has given us a little look through his eyes at the recent Queens Of The Stone Age concert, so if your interested, go check it out. Warning not for the faint of heart

Review
Queens Of The Stone Age - Brixton Academy
22nd June 2003

Well, Capdown was last night- but that didn’t stop me. I packed up and went on a jaunt up to London to see desert rock posse Queens of the Stone Age. It was held at the Carling Brixton Academy: in my opinion, one of the best venues in Britain, plus an intriguing support band: Sparta (ex At the Drive In if anyone cares) so another great night looked to be in the cards. I was not wrong.

After hearing the eclectic, downright weird noise of the other half of At The Drive In in the form of the Mars Volta, I was expecting big things from Sparta. And they delivered- big time. They played ambitious, creative and involving music, for nearly an hour (a very lengthy set for a support band) with the bulk of their material coming form their “Wiretap Scars” album. And although they were clearly nervous (You could actually see singer/guitarist Jim Ward shaking) they played very well and got the crowd going.

But, nothing else mattered when the Queens came on. Opening with “First it Giveth” the crowd went crazy, like really crazy. During their set, I counted 4 people who were pulled out unconscious and by the time it was over I could taste blood in my mouth, as well as a bleeding nose. But I am in no way bitching as I’m not a little sissy boy, just trying to create the atmosphere.

Anyway, they played for nearly 2 Hours, playing nearly all of “Songs for the Deaf” and a good chunk or “Rated R” as well as material from their first self titled album. All songs were played confidently, with immense amounts of style and songs like “Feel Good Hit of the Summer”, “The Sky is Falling” and “Song For the Deaf” showed that they could play complex, driving uber-metal which can tear up the place.

But, the addition of ex Screaming Trees man Mark Lanegan made a great gig into an amazing one. He is what a rock singer should be, moody, enigmatic but truly brilliant- like Kurt Cobain, or Maynard James Keenan (Tool) and his voice on “Autopilot”, “In The Fade”, “Hanging Tree” plus many others show that the Queens have not only 2 great singers (Nick Olivieri, Josh Homme) but 3. If anyone who reads this is going to the Reading or Leeds festival check him and his eponymous band out, as he is simply amazing.

All right, now here come the bad parts.

* The crowd were gimps. No one helped each other out, people elbowed and punched and scratched to get to the front. OK, this happens at concerts, but it was particularly bad at this one, people passed out and those around them would just continue to mosh. Also, people had money and phones stolen in the pit, which is just not right.

* The security were a bunch of fucking dumbass townies. They ignored people in the crowd and were not quick enough to help when there were people in trouble. But aside from that, it was great. It was definitely a night of hot rocks (the bands) but steaming cocks (the crowd and security).

There. Furious rant over.