F O U R T H E Y E

Last nights gig seemed like a pretty good pairing on paper - two wortd class bands playing together for effectively the price of one. And for the most part, it lived up to it's promised with two excellent, though not quite spectacular performances.

After finally making it inside to get my pre-sale ticket (a process that wasn't particularly straight forward as the ticket booth for pre-sales was inside the venue) I have a few beers with some mates, and eventually made our way inside to the main arena. The venue chose not to use the alarm system to notify people when the bands were on stage, so I missed the first 30 seconds of NIN, and by the looks of things it caught a few others out as well.

So I guess Nine Inch Nails won the toss, since they came on stage bathed in purple and blue lighting playing a couple of slower numbers. Things picked up when they got into March of the Pigs and Piggy. They spent the night mostly doing electronic numbers more than guitar based stuff, which was quite interesting to watch, with much swapping of instruments. Burn was a definite highlight of the set for me.

Lighting was great, a few effects I hadn't seen used at a show before, but sadly not the level of quality that we saw on the recent Tension tour. It was a great show, probably about an 8/10, though a better setlist could have quite easily made it higher for me (I was a little disappointed with the setlist we got in comparison to other shows on the same tour).

Me, I'm Not
The Beginning of the End
Survivalism
March of the Pigs
Piggy
Sanctified
Disappointed
Copy of A
Vessel
Hand Covers Bruise
Beside You in Time
1,000,000
Letting You
Burn
Wish
The Hand That Feeds
Head Like a Hole
Hurt

After a 30 minute interval, Queens of the Stone age came on stage with a large video screen accompanying them. The video screen seemed a little under utilised to me, especially considering how much video has been created for the new album. The fact that it seemed to be switch on part way through some songs made me wonder if there were some kind of technical problem. Anyway, it didn't make much difference to the show - the members of QOTSA are all quality musicians, so the real joy of watching lies there. Not surprisingly the set was much more upbeat than NIN, with A Song For The Dead being the standout for me. As much as I love Like Clockwork, I felt a few tracks from that album didn't really come across live as well as I'd like.

You Think I Ain't Worth a Dollar, but I Feel Like a Millionaire
No One Knows
My God Is the Sun
Burn the Witch
Smooth Sailing
3's & 7's
Do It Again
…Like Clockwork
If I Had a Tail
In My Head
Fairweather Friends
Little Sister
I Appear Missing
I Sat by the Ocean
Make It Wit Chu
Sick, Sick, Sick
Go With the Flow

The Vampyre of Time and Memory
A Song for the Dead

My main gripe with Queens was that the sound was pretty average for most of the set. Doubly disappointed since the NIN sound was basically flawless. Overall, another good set, just short of being amazing. I think I had a better time during QOTSA than NIN, but only just.

Here's a couple of shitty photo/video grabs:



[BBvideo 612,612]http://distilleryvesper6-6.ak.instagram ... 62_101.mp4[/BBvideo]

[BBvideo 612,612]http://distilleryvesper2-6.ak.instagram ... 72_101.mp4[/BBvideo]

Great!! Looking forward to this on Saturday night....Rod Laver Arena.

I'll probably add my own mini review to this thread......if that's ok.

Any decent merchandise??

Calfium Jay wrote:Great!! Looking forward to this on Saturday night....Rod Laver Arena.

I'll probably add my own mini review to this thread......if that's ok.

Any decent merchandise??

Feel free to add a review. None of the merch looked particularly interesting - just the usual range of black shirts.

The paper translated very well as far as I was concerned. That was a double bill to rival just about any I have seen.

We got their for Brody Dalle but it was a rush. We could hear the first strains as we queued for drinks and I hate to miss anything so in we went which was a good call as it confirmed a reasonably close spot for the rest of the night. I had a friend text me and ask how she was. I replied "enthusiastic." It was nothing special and her voice was self admittedly shot after the Perth gig but she warmed us up and let us know that NIN were to be expected first. I was pleased to hear that, QOTSA were my clear favourites going in and I left that way too.

That being said the NIN set was very good, I'm glad I'm not prone to epilepsy or I might have had issues and the way Reznor moves on stage is commanding and infectious. I agree that perhaps the setlist could have been improved upon and I really did want to sing along to Closer. This is only the second time I have ever seen these guys and I feel like I have missed out really. Some bands are just that cut above - in the masterclass and Trent hits it.

As for QOTSA they are just so good. They got the best response right from the get go and it's no wonder really, that band have always made regular visits to Australia and I've had the opportunity to hear them play many times. Jon Theodore was an excellent addition to the line up, and I'm not sure where you were standing Hellboy, but the sound and the drums were fairly crystal from my vantage point. I loved the new material in fact "I Appear Missing" may just have been the standout for me.

I have always found it difficult to score the best musical experiences. I tend to think that once those real highs are delivered then the band has fulfilled their promise. Both bands gave me some bliss. I'd love to go again tonight . Have fun those of you who are.

Oh and a trivial observation if anyone cares. The crowd featured an unusually large number of TooL T's.

can't wait for tonite, got a poster tube ready just in case, but may well just order it from beyond the pale/rhys cooper directly ... also, I believe nails lost the toss if they went on first. My understanding is that the winner 'headlines' the evening.

looked at the nin set and it was a bit weaker from the others I'd scoped so far ... I'm hoping there are no tonite.

Calfium Jay wrote:Great!! Looking forward to this on Saturday night....Rod Laver Arena.

I'll probably add my own mini review to this thread......if that's ok.

Any decent merchandise??

Rhys Cooper is doing the posters and both adelaide and melbourne (friday night) are pretty rad ... I posted the melbourne poster pic in the nine inch nails thread earlier

OK, I'm checking out QOTSA samples on amazon right now. I have pretty much ZERO knowledge on them as I have never bothered with anything Josh Homme. Can't stand Kyuss for a start. REALLY can't stand them

Anyway, I hear QOTSA are great live so am preparing to leave my expectations wide open.

And I had a look at that NIN setlist. I have never heard of at least half those songs - but I am only a recent NIN convert. Sucks they're playing that ratty HLAH song. And Disappointed is far and wide the worst track off the new album.

So far.....meh.

Big time.

Calfium Jay wrote:So far.....meh.

Big time.

They speak highly of you.

Calfium Jay wrote:OK, I'm checking out QOTSA samples on amazon right now. I have pretty much ZERO knowledge on them as I have never bothered with anything Josh Homme. Can't stand Kyuss for a start. REALLY can't stand them

Anyway, I hear QOTSA are great live so am preparing to leave my expectations wide open.

And I had a look at that NIN setlist. I have never heard of at least half those songs - but I am only a recent NIN convert. Sucks they're playing that ratty HLAH song. And Disappointed is far and wide the worst track off the new album.

He heard one inch man and took it personally.

Not Tyson wrote:He heard one inch man and took it personally.

I can't imagine anyone straight-up hating KYUSS. Homme? Sure. Garcia's vocals? Why not.

Straight-up hating KYUSS? FUCK YOU WITH A PICK-AXE.

I prefer Dragged Into Sunlight..


[youtube][/youtube]


But Jesus H. Hamilton that QOTSA was some bland, ugly shit....

Kyuss are ok, they're a little overrated imo. I prefer QOTSA. Dragged Into Sunlight are cool though.

I'm not sure QOTSA are Califum's thing at all, but if he goes in with an open mind then I'm sure he'll enjoy at least parts of it.

"RATED R" is the money shot. I got sooooo many people into the band once that album came out.

I don't know anyone who doesn't at least like it.

In my opinion, they've been VERY hit and miss after that one.

I'm not sure QOTSA are Califum's thing at all, but if he goes in with an open mind then I'm sure he'll enjoy at least parts of it.

I hope so. I thought very little of (Aussie black metal band...please check them out) Portal until I saw them live. Then they blew my freakin' head off.

Although I'm relatively sure QOTSA won't do to me what Portal did.

The Boss wrote:Straight-up hating KYUSS? FUCK YOU WITH A PICK-AXE.

Yep. Even hated that Desert Sessions thing that everyone was saying was "Kyuss for folks that don't like Kyuss".

I look at Kyuss the same way I approach (post hardcore) Corrosion Of Conformity : bland, generic sounding, blues/stomp garage metal with boring lyrics and vocals.


[youtube][/youtube]


Ya dig?

<shudders>

Fuck em both.

Calfium Jay wrote: I hope so. I thought very little of (Aussie black metal band...please check them out) Portal until I saw them live. Then they blew my freakin' head off..

Live is the great leveller of all bands. I was never a huge NIN fan until I saw them live. I hope to see Portal live one day, even though on record they don't do much for me.

Calfium Jay wrote:with boring lyrics

queens, sir, are not boring from this stand point at all ... one of the things I really, really like about this band is Homme's ability to twist and play with the language as if everything is a sarcatic pun or mockery of what he's saying

full review from last night's melb show coming later on when I get a few minutes and a couple small vid clips uploaded