Re-Viewed: Q101 Block Party Day 1

By Julene McCoy in Arts & Entertainment on Jun 6, 2005 9:39PM

Chicagoist's attempts at a good time at Q101's Block Party this weekend were thwarted by two things we expect to encounter at sporting events, not live shows: homophobia and long beer lines.

We arrive to hear Interpol playing in the distance. We are happy knowing that only 10 people are ahead of us to pick up our will-call tickets, we are close to actually being able to see Interpol play. The line refused to move forward for about 10 minutes causing us to become restless as more and more people queue up to recieve their tickets. Eventually, we get our tickets. We are in!

We decide that refreshments are in order before staking out a prime location for the evening. Interpol continues playing. We continue standing in line for beer. Annoyed that the whole evening so far has been standing in line, we refuse to visit the portapotties because we are here to see music - not for standing in another line. 3 beers in hand, we are finally out of the line. Interpol ends their set.

Queens of the Stone Age begin their set with "No One Knows" from Songs for the Deaf and then go into songs from their latest cd Lullabies to Paralyze. Three songs in and it's time for witty banter. Lead singer Josh Homme believes the crowd looks gay. We assume this means that we aren't into the show enough and that QOTSA will step it up a notch to force us to rock out despite ourselves. Another anti-homosexual comment comes out of Josh's mouth. Okay, that's weird... what's going on? People start leaving the crowded front area of the stage. Then, a third rant about how we look like we should fellate each other.

We decide this is enough and join those leaving the Q101 Block Party. Not only were Josh Homme's comments offensive, they were tiresome to say the least.