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Nine Inch Nails w/Queens of the Stone Age - Portland OR - Review
OK, so I love Ravnica and I have lots to say about it but I haven't found the time to write up something. Yet. Needless to say my BG deck is going to get a LOT better.
In the meantime I've been going to some concerts and following is my review of Nine Inch Nails and Queens of the Stone Age in Portland on September 24.
I've heard several songs I like by QotSA on the local alternative rock radio station so I was looking forward to an opening band which wasn't openly awful, as most openers are. Well, the actual opener was pretty bad---there was some band that played before QotSA but we only caught their last song. It was a long, drawn out rock opera type song, like a bad mix of the Grateful Dead and Tool. They didn't tell us their name after their last song and we didn't ask.
So back to QotSA. They have several alt-rock hits so I was actually looking forward to an opener for a change. I should have known better. The Queens (My wife called them the Primadonnas of the Stone Age as we sat and waited for them to take the stage 30 to 40 minutes after their instruments were ready) were just off. They rushed through all their songs and totally destroyed the tempo of the songs I recognized. Some of the songs I hadn't heard before were interesting but they played them so badly that I couldn't quite get into them. The lead singer punctuated his songs by sparring with the audience. At beginning of the set he asked if we were all drunk and if we were all going to get laid tonight. Apparently he couldn't wait to get to those groupies. When someone threw a tennis ball on stage he stopped to ask who threw it, then tried to cram it down the front of his jeans. When he couldn't get it in there he made a crass comment which you can probably figure out if you think about it for a minute.
Their big hit, "No One Knows," was of course the last song. They played the beginning too fast, then started playing another song halfway through, then stopped entirely so the lead singer could spar with the audience some more. He finally started up again but by then all interest in the song was lost.
In short, Josh Homme needs to grow up. He admitted toward the end of the set that he was drunk and it showed. QotSA is one of the few bands I've seen live who are actually better in the studio. I didn't realize until today that he was also in Kyuss, who my wife and I saw years ago and who really, really sucked. They were just a prototypical metal band gift-wrapped for every 12 year old boy. If I would have known that I might have adjusted my expectations for them accordingly.
But enough of that depressing lot, let's move on to NIN. Trent started with some old favorites like "Terrible Lie" and some of the new songs off With Teeth like "You Know What You Are?" Trent showed amazing energy throughout and was really belting out the songs as always. He couldn't match the energy level of the other guitarist in the band though. Apparently Trent signed up a new one for this tour and this kid was obviously thrilled to be in the band. He was jumping all over the stage like a water beetle, swinging his guitar and jumping all over the amps. The crowd was obviously enjoying the show and the floor looked like it was swarming with fireflies with the light from a hundred cell phone cameras shining over the concert goers.
Trent inevitably had to slow it down mid-set with three slower numbers, starting with...um, I forgot the name of the song but it could be called The Really Long Depressing Song With No Intelligible Lyrics from The Downward Spiral. It's my least favorite NIN song, made somewhat more interesting by the huge fabric screen which had descended all around the stage before the song began and now sported images of politicians, death and war. Next was "Right Where It Belongs" from With Teeth, with more depressing imagery on the huge screens such as chickens and people viewed through x-rays. Last in the trifecta was "Hurt," which brought out hundreds of lighters from the crowd. Trent was spot-lit behind the moving images on the screen which made him look spookily ghost-like as he wrapped a fantastic version of the song.
After the depressing trio they went back to the mix of old and new including Closer, Sin, Down in It, Only, Starf*ckers, Inc., and others. Interestingly he didn't play "With Teeth," the title song of the tour and the supported album.
They finished with Head Like a Hole, and I really mean finished because after the song ended the guitarist used his instrument (his guitar, sicko) to beat the daylights out of his microphone stand, the stage floor, and the nearby amps. The guitar finally gave up and shattered.
Crowd watching was entertaining too as there was an interesting mix of young goths and older fans like my wife and I who have been listening to NIN since the beginning. Young couples in love, young heavily medicated guys, it was a fun hormone stew.
In the meantime I've been going to some concerts and following is my review of Nine Inch Nails and Queens of the Stone Age in Portland on September 24.
I've heard several songs I like by QotSA on the local alternative rock radio station so I was looking forward to an opening band which wasn't openly awful, as most openers are. Well, the actual opener was pretty bad---there was some band that played before QotSA but we only caught their last song. It was a long, drawn out rock opera type song, like a bad mix of the Grateful Dead and Tool. They didn't tell us their name after their last song and we didn't ask.
So back to QotSA. They have several alt-rock hits so I was actually looking forward to an opener for a change. I should have known better. The Queens (My wife called them the Primadonnas of the Stone Age as we sat and waited for them to take the stage 30 to 40 minutes after their instruments were ready) were just off. They rushed through all their songs and totally destroyed the tempo of the songs I recognized. Some of the songs I hadn't heard before were interesting but they played them so badly that I couldn't quite get into them. The lead singer punctuated his songs by sparring with the audience. At beginning of the set he asked if we were all drunk and if we were all going to get laid tonight. Apparently he couldn't wait to get to those groupies. When someone threw a tennis ball on stage he stopped to ask who threw it, then tried to cram it down the front of his jeans. When he couldn't get it in there he made a crass comment which you can probably figure out if you think about it for a minute.
Their big hit, "No One Knows," was of course the last song. They played the beginning too fast, then started playing another song halfway through, then stopped entirely so the lead singer could spar with the audience some more. He finally started up again but by then all interest in the song was lost.
In short, Josh Homme needs to grow up. He admitted toward the end of the set that he was drunk and it showed. QotSA is one of the few bands I've seen live who are actually better in the studio. I didn't realize until today that he was also in Kyuss, who my wife and I saw years ago and who really, really sucked. They were just a prototypical metal band gift-wrapped for every 12 year old boy. If I would have known that I might have adjusted my expectations for them accordingly.
But enough of that depressing lot, let's move on to NIN. Trent started with some old favorites like "Terrible Lie" and some of the new songs off With Teeth like "You Know What You Are?" Trent showed amazing energy throughout and was really belting out the songs as always. He couldn't match the energy level of the other guitarist in the band though. Apparently Trent signed up a new one for this tour and this kid was obviously thrilled to be in the band. He was jumping all over the stage like a water beetle, swinging his guitar and jumping all over the amps. The crowd was obviously enjoying the show and the floor looked like it was swarming with fireflies with the light from a hundred cell phone cameras shining over the concert goers.
Trent inevitably had to slow it down mid-set with three slower numbers, starting with...um, I forgot the name of the song but it could be called The Really Long Depressing Song With No Intelligible Lyrics from The Downward Spiral. It's my least favorite NIN song, made somewhat more interesting by the huge fabric screen which had descended all around the stage before the song began and now sported images of politicians, death and war. Next was "Right Where It Belongs" from With Teeth, with more depressing imagery on the huge screens such as chickens and people viewed through x-rays. Last in the trifecta was "Hurt," which brought out hundreds of lighters from the crowd. Trent was spot-lit behind the moving images on the screen which made him look spookily ghost-like as he wrapped a fantastic version of the song.
After the depressing trio they went back to the mix of old and new including Closer, Sin, Down in It, Only, Starf*ckers, Inc., and others. Interestingly he didn't play "With Teeth," the title song of the tour and the supported album.
They finished with Head Like a Hole, and I really mean finished because after the song ended the guitarist used his instrument (his guitar, sicko) to beat the daylights out of his microphone stand, the stage floor, and the nearby amps. The guitar finally gave up and shattered.
Crowd watching was entertaining too as there was an interesting mix of young goths and older fans like my wife and I who have been listening to NIN since the beginning. Young couples in love, young heavily medicated guys, it was a fun hormone stew.
