Queens Of The Stone Age Run Wild At Aragon

By Casey Moffitt in Arts & Entertainment on May 7, 2014 4:00PM

Photo credit Casey Moffitt

Queens of the Stone Age took the stage at the Aragon Ballroom Monday night and owned the place. When the mayhem ended and the dust had settled, there was no question that this an act that still commands attention whenever they comes to town.

The band's two-hour set leaned heavily on material from their latest release ...Like Clockwork, playing eight of the ten songs from the album. The rest of the set included a fairly good cross section from their other five albums, although their self-titled debut was nearly ignored.

The Aragon is a funky room. Its high ceilings allow the sound to bounce around everywhere. How the band sounded kind of depended on where you were standing. In some spots it was bass-heavy while in others it was tough to hear the low ends.

Either way, frontman and founder Joshua Homme's guitars sounded gnarly no matter where you stood. His insistence on playing oddball models can be a bit of detriment. Yes, his sound is unusual and he has claimed it. Although it is admirable that he refuses to play a Les Paul or a Stratocaster or an SG like everyone else, there is a reason everyone else plays those models. Because they sound great. Homme avoids these guitars like its a professional challenge and as a result he is the worst sounding band member on the stage.

That is not a discredit to his playing, however. He can still shred and his style, like his sound, is distinctly his. It's tough to argue against the results because he rips it up.

Queens of the Stone Age have been criss-crossing the globe for a solid year now behind ...Like Clockwork. One of two things can happen here. Either the band is a highly refined unit nearly incapable of putting on a bad show, or the guys are so sick of each other they barely can stand to be in the same building, which can come across on stage. We're not going to pretend we know what's going on off-stage wit these guys, but it looks like the former more than the latter.

This band Home's assembled really has it firing on all cylinders. The rhythm section of Jon Theodore on drums and Michael Shuman on bass is particularly impressive as they pound away at the foundation that allows the whole thing to work.

Homme mentioned a couple of times that he wasn't feeling well during the set, but it was tough to pick up during the performance. He played well and was even quick on his feet with the audience. One person held a sign reading "Hi Dad" on it, which seemed to distract Homme a bit.

"Put that sign down, you're like 40, so there's no way," he said. "But I did fuck your mom, repeatedly. Only in the ass though."

It's strange, but Monday's show was the fourth Chicago performance for Queens of the Stone Age since last August, yet it feels like the city had been kind of overlooked during the band's intense touring schedule.

They played at Lollapollooza, but few fans are buying tickets to a bloated festival to see them. They played at Metro the night before their Lollapolooza appearance, and tickets were gone in a flash. They were crammed onto a bill for a show sponsored by a local radio station in December at the Allstate Arena, but didn't get top billing.

So it's kind of been a long wait for Chicago fans of the band to get a full-fledged, Queens of the Stone Age show. Turns out it was worth the wait.

Queens of the Stone Age will do it again at Aragon Friday night, but don't bother trying to buy a ticket as it is already sold out.