Queens of the Stone Age

V Stage, 6pm, Sunday

Josh Homme, the lead singer of the QOTSA doesn't "know what the fuck [he's] doing here today". Maybe not, but this uniquely heavy sound he has fashioned just won't quit, it's got a life of its own and the result is truly thrilling. Make no mistake, the sun may burn proudly in the sky but the dark is rising.

A scabrous 'Lost Art of Keeping a Secret' is the first taste of the barely credible savagery that will stalk the arena for the next hour. Nobody rocks like the Queens and no other hard rock band even comes close to matching the force they have at their disposal.



A few songs in they play the mantra – "Feel Good Hit of the Summer" – and at this point the gig goes interstellar. After verse two in all the instrumentals drop clean away leaving just Homme and Oliveri (clad!). The former proceeds to recite the list of prohibited substances in a chilling deadpan, then, out of the silence, the latter whispers the word 'Cocaine' into the night air. Terrifying!



And into this a figure appears; Mark Lanegan, the Dark Lord Narcotic, clad in black, a quite singular man, Life etched large on his face. 'Hangin' Tree' begins and it's just breathtaking. The ex Screaming Trees legends voice is huge, cured above the flames of hell, roasted in the burning heat of Experience. Lanegan is those voices you hear in the night, one can only imagine the things he has seen and the places he's been. But screaming like a banshee into the firestorm of this great noise he takes us all deep, deep down.

Colossal.

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