The Forum | Los Angeles, CA | February 17, 2018 | Words & Photos: ZB Images |
The newly freshened Forum was packed full on Saturday night for those desert kings, Queens of The Stone Age. The memory of Josh Homme’s slight break in judgement this past winter at the same venue during KROQ’s Acoustic Christmas was – perhaps – still a bit too fresh on everyone’s mind and Homme acknowledged it by saying, “It’s good to be back at the Forum, much better than the last time I was here” and he was not lying. QOTSA blasted through the hits (not kicks) like “No One Knows” and some deep cuts (not self-inflicted) like “Broken Box” to the delight of everyone, although the energy did start to drag a bit towards the end of the set. Those who stayed for the encore saw Queens joined by Mark Ronson (a man who seems to have produced every album in recent years, QOTSA’s
Villains being no exception) on keyboards for four songs including an unexpected, but pretty fantastic tribute to Elton John: “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.”
Closing out the night, the nearly half-hour long encore finished spectacularly with an assault of lights and sounds with “Song for the Dead.”
Opening the show, Mike Kerr (vox/bass) and Ben Thatcher (drums) of the UK duo Royal Blood held their own filling the arena with a thunderous heaviness that bands with double the members might struggle to produce. The two bands have been seen on the same bill for quite a few events this year and it’s no wonder as they are well paired.
Queens of the Stone Age
Royal Blood
