The entrance to the venue was steadily packed with Queens fans, including local rockers from Dallas bands Duell, Van Damme and Royal Sons.
Spiritualized started the night off early with singer-songwriter and former Spacemen 3 member J. Spaceman sitting in a chair throughout the band’s entire performance, playing guitar and singing. He was joined by an ensemble of musicians, each adding a layer of sophistication to Spaceman’s songs. Together, Spiritualized created a sound reminiscent of a 1930s gospel choir, complete with over-the-top, soulful harmonies and acute synchronicity. Although the English band played a great set, the group’s songs are more suited for an intimate venue filled with dark nooks for deep introspection.
The house was packed on Sunday night at Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory for QOTSA.
Vera "Velma" Hernandez
Queens immediately followed up with the hit “No One Knows” from the 2002 hit album Songs For the Deaf. The longtime fan favorite kept the room in a state of rock 'n’ roll bliss as Homme belted out vocals, drummer Jon Theodore ripped through the beat and Van Leeuwen exorcised whatever devil through impromptu guitar solos out of his Fender Telecaster.
Though the band has an eight-album catalog of material, fans seemed pleased with the song selection. “Monsters in the Parasol,” from the band's second album, Rated R, came next.
As Queens continued their brand of stoner boogie, Homme quickly jumped into his signature falsetto for fan-favorite “Smooth Sailing” as Van Leeuwen sang backup. This song saw longtime bassist Michael Shuman lock rhythm in camaraderie with Theodore before the band jumped into “My God Is the Sun” from 2013’s …Like Clockwork. The end of this song transformed the band's energy, aligning perfectly with the crowd's mania before Queens took their first breather of the night nearly 30 minutes in. The band kicked off the next part of their set with a new song off 2023 album In Times New Roman… followed by “If I had a Tail.” The crowd’s attention had yet to falter with every twist and turn the band made from song to song over multiple albums. “Time & Place,” next in the set, had keyboardist and guitarist Dean Fertita pulling double duty, ripping a psychotic guitar solo while perched above the band on a stage riser to the left. The complex rhythm and melody of this song had every musician in the room carefully dissecting each member's contributions. “Into the Hollow” was followed by “Carnavoyeur” from Times New Roman….
It was after this point that large dice appeared as an illustrator board with Queens' song titles, onstage and into Homme’s hands.
“It’s Sunday and I want to have a great time, so I’ll just play a bunch of shit you want to hear,” Homme said. “I’d rather mix it up and have fun. It’s not that I’m not having fun, I just want you to have fun and make tonight special.”
The singer offered to play whatever song title was rolled next, casually tossing the dice, comically disregarding the first song he rolled on. He told to the crowd, with whom he'd built rapport throughout the night, that he was ready to go off the rails, just not with that song. The band then tore into a high-energy rendition of “Avon” from their first album before going full speed into “Sick, Sick, Sick.” This song seemed to be one of Homme’s favorites, considering the amount of energy he exuded off the stage.
Even toward the end of the set, the energy from the band and audience never waned as Queens played “Paper Machete,” followed by “Domesticated Animals.” The band finished off with “Little Sister” before the audience cheered them on to come back out for an encore, firmly standing in their positions and waiting. Within two minutes, and just past 10 p.m., Queens was back on stage again.
“This is how we dance,” Hommes said before diving into the band's last few tunes, which had Theodore and Van Leeuwen back to full-blast solos as audience members screamed and danced. The band then played their 2002 classic, “Go With the Flow” before unleashing their final burst of pure unfiltered rock 'n’ roll goodness on the crowd, tearing through a full throttle performance of “Song for the Dead” to close the night out.
It can be said — and we did, just last week — that Queens of the Stone Age are one of the last great legacy rock bands left, because no matter how fickle the music business, maybe it just doesn’t really matter when you’re that damn good.
