12/16/2013 Queens of the Stone Age @ The National

Venue: The National
Location: Richmond, VA

Time: Show 7:30pm (doors 6:30 pm)

Tickets: (on sale 11/02/13) 45.00 (+ fees) - SOLD OUT!

Openers: RIBS
Headliner: Queens of the Stone Age


Click here for the QOTSA Set List!

     Queens of the Stone Age and I had one thing in common at Wednesday night’s show: virgin shows. Why the long wait for me to see a QOTSA show? I don’t know, but I can tell you it was a mistake to wait. “… Millionaire” opened the show. Green lights from the front of the stage shown upwards washing Josh Homme and company in the color of money. The Richmond crowd seemed stunned. They watched in quiet admiration, bobbing their heads and swaying, during the first few songs as if taking it all in. Who could blame them? This was Queens’ first visit to Richmond but hopefully not the last.

     By the fourth song, “Burn the Witch”, the crowd woke up and fists pumped with the rhythmic thump, thump. Josh Homme seemed genuinely pleased with the size of the crowd at The National and perhaps the small size of the venue. The National allows for a more intimate setting than large stadiums and I imagine artists feel more connected with the crowd in smaller venues. He repeatedly verbalized his appreciation for everyone coming to the show and how “incredible” and “really cool” the night was. After a comment about shaking hips, hard to tell if he meant ours or his, Queens launched into “Smooth sailing” for which I was fully unprepared. The funky bass and go/stop/go rhythm of this song pulled a guttural “umph” from me before I knew what was going on. This song was easily one of my favorites from the night.

     As Homme reminded us this was the last show this year, he gave the impression of nowhere to be but here with us in this small venue in Richmond. “I Sat by the Ocean” and “Little Sister” brought out the Elvis swing of Homme’s hips and knees. His cool and collected presence came easy. Add the cigarette half way through and I’m putty. Homme dedicated “Make It Wit Chu” to the ladies despite 85% of the crowd was dudes. By now the people on the floor moved in waves, arms pumped in the air, and hips lost in the dark depths of the pit swayed to and fro.

     Homme started into “The Lost Art of Keeping a Secret” with a story about “back door” secrets you cannot share. After referring to the crowd as a bunch of “beautiful motherfuckers” and waiting for the house lights to go down, he told us we were safe with him in the dark, and we could do what people do in the dark. I did feel safe with Josh Homme playing on stage: safe as a fawn with its mother and a pride of lions circling in the high grass.

     The night ended with a three song encore: the smooth wailing of “Vampyre of Time and Memory”, drug induced “Feel Good Hit of the Summer”, and “Song for the Dead” closing out the night.

    
     With our proverbial cherries popped, I walked back to my car. Passing the tour bus and equipment trucks, I couldn’t help but think about the upcoming Queens of the Stone Age shows in Australia with Nine Inch Nails co-headlining. Two musically and intellectually gifted men in one place on the same night? How far is Australia? I'll have to settle for gazing across the Atlantic as I sit by the ocean on the Virginia shore.