Live Review: Queens Of The Stone Age, CW Stoneking, The Chats

The Chats kicked it all off with a quick-fire 20-minute set, jumping around the stage and having a great time. Their lo-fi, pub-punk rock IDGAF attitude won a few fans. It makes you want to start drinking and have a big night, even though it’s a school day tomorrow.

CW Stoneking is a real interesting choice for second support. A man drenched in the blues, his band plodded through a 40-minute set without much reaction beyond the odd polite clap. To say he is the odd one out on this bill is an understatement. This is a shame, as in the right setting – without 8,000 punters ready to rock out to QOTSA – they are great performers (all seven of them!).

Time for Queens Of The Stone Age to take it up a notch! The band kick into Someone's In The Wolf, which they stretched to the ten-minute mark. It's an unexpected opener but the band is sounding good; the packed crowd senses they’re in for something special. Sick, Sick, Sick follows quickly before anyone can take a breather. Feet Don’t Fail Me is up next. It was the lead single off the new album Villains and has Mark Ronson's dancefloor touch on record, but receives a rock remix tonight. Three songs in and they have a great groove going on. CW Stoneking is a distant memory and the crowd finally able to get its groove going.

No One Knows receives a huge roar when the riff kicks in. Halfway through all the members retreat side of stage for a drink and cigarette while drummer Jon Theodore pounds out a magical drum solo for a couple minutes. They then return to finish the beast off.

Josh Homme proceeds to praise Australia – he’s married to Brody Dalle from The Distillers after all – and Adelaide in particular as a great city to play in. They then launch into In The Fade from 2000's Rated R, during which each standing member knocks the seven-foot-high vertical strobe lights strategically set up around the stage. Each time the lights are knocked they spring back into position and create an awesome strobing effect. The band members seem to enjoy this and continue to knock them all night.

Homme takes time to discuss the controversial lockout laws and gives us his best Aussie accent, which this reviewer has to say he pulls off quite well, before dedicating Domesticated Animals to the “old men that make these stupid laws”. He then turns the mic around to the audience and invites them to a singalong during Make It Wit Chu, which lifted the roof off. The first set finished with stellar performances of Little Sister and Go With The Flow.

A quick break and there’s enough in the tank for You Think I Ain't Worth A Dollar, But I Feel Like A Millionaire, which concluded the show in one of the most rock'n'roll ways - Homme jumping straight into the drum kit and scattering drum pieces across the stage. Show over!