Saw Queens of the Stone Age last night and, uhm...

[Diego]

It was all a bit weird.

QOTSA now has two guitar players + a keyboard guy that does a third guitar on a few songs.
Saw a bulk of weird, old amp heads onstage from Peavey, Musicman I think, Fender and a few combos that looked like old TVs with side controls and everything.

And I'm a sucker for interesting tones like anyone should be, but their live sound as a band is IMO absolutely rotten. Things got so fuzzy and thick in the low end with three guitars, that the sound result was an unbalanced tonewreck.
By the end, Josh Homme's setup sounded more like a noise generator than a guitar with 6 strings on it.

Alain Johannes opened up for them, and he came onstage with a Vox AC30, a couple guitars and a few pedals. Guess who sounded better.

 

[PFDarkside]

Re: Saw Queens of the Stone Age last night and, uhm...

IGuess who sounded better.

...Josh in Kyuss?

 

[BloodRose]

Re: Saw Queens of the Stone Age last night and, uhm...

yes, Josh was in Kyuss

 

[Chistopher]

Re: Saw Queens of the Stone Age last night and, uhm...

And I'm a sucker for interesting tones like anyone should be, but their live sound as a band is IMO absolutely rotten. Things got so fuzzy and thick in the low end with three guitars, that the sound result was an unbalanced tonewreck.

Sounds to me like at least one of them would have been better off with a JB.

 

[PFDarkside]

Re: Saw Queens of the Stone Age last night and, uhm...

yes, Josh was in Kyuss

It was a half hearted attempt at a joke.

 

[Gtrjunior]

Re: Saw Queens of the Stone Age last night and, uhm...

When QOTSA first hit the radio, I wanted to like them. But I really just don’t. I don’t like the guitar tones, and I don’t like the singing. Especially on the newest song that’s currently on the radio...I forget what it’s called but I just don’t like it.

 

[Dave Locher]

Re: Saw Queens of the Stone Age last night and, uhm...

I am sorry to hear that but not surprised. I have never heard any song of theirs and thought "damn, that sounds good!"

 

[Thundermtn]

Re: Saw Queens of the Stone Age last night and, uhm...

That sucks.

I though "Rated R" was one of the best albums of the 2000's decade.

 

[Van Noord]

Re: Saw Queens of the Stone Age last night and, uhm...

Like Clockwork is the best rock album of this decade IMO.

But, I do not want to play like them or cop any of their guitar tones. Never have. A weird paradox, I know.

I'm seeing them in May, but I'm not anticipating too much, because their lastest album Villians is weak.

 

[Plessure]

Re: Saw Queens of the Stone Age last night and, uhm...

QoTSA never appealed to me. "Blues for the red sun" is his peak as far as i'm concerned.

 

[kramersteen]

Re: Saw Queens of the Stone Age last night and, uhm...

I saw them once at a festival before ironmaiden. They sucked so hard it wasn't even funny.

 

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: Saw Queens of the Stone Age last night and, uhm...

Alain Johannes’s band Eleven was pretty good. His late wife was in the band with him.

Am I correct thinking they toured as Chris Cornell’s backing band awhile back?

 

[Diego]

Re: Saw Queens of the Stone Age last night and, uhm...

Alain Johannes’s band Eleven was pretty good. His late wife was in the band with him.

Am I correct thinking they toured as Chris Cornell’s backing band awhile back?

Affirmative.

And Eleven was ****ing mindblowing.

 

[Diego]

Re: Saw Queens of the Stone Age last night and, uhm...

I'll keep plugging Alain Johannes until my fingers fall off. He's crazy good.

 

[CaptainWhizz]

Re: Saw Queens of the Stone Age last night and, uhm...

I saw QOTSA twice at festivals before they were huge, both times I was disappointed, and I really like some of their stuff (and love Kyuss). I would rather see Them Crooked Vultures live, based on footage I've seen.

 

[dystrust]

Re: Saw Queens of the Stone Age last night and, uhm...

longcat and I saw QOTSA back in October. The sound was a gigantic muddy mess; easily in the top 3 worst live sounds I've ever heard.

In a rather cruel twist of fate, she won tickets to Iron & Wine on the same night from a local radio station. We had to pass on those tickets, but in hindsight we wish we'd sold the QOTSA tickets and gone to Iron & Wine instead.

 

[JOLLY]

Re: Saw Queens of the Stone Age last night and, uhm...

Their guitar tone is crap on records, so it doesn't surprise me that it is sucks live too.

 

[Diego]

Re: Saw Queens of the Stone Age last night and, uhm...

Their tones are weird but they work for me in an album setting. They sound kind of broken and odd and that's (was?) uncommon so I like it.

Live was a different story. Just atrocious. Their performance was tremendous though, the setlist was pure gold but damn. Hard to listen to.

 

[Gtrjunior]

Saw Queens of the Stone Age last night and, uhm...

Their tones are weird but they work for me in an album setting. They sound kind of broken and odd and that's (was?) uncommon so I like it.

Live was a different story. Just atrocious. Their performance was tremendous though, the setlist was pure gold but damn. Hard to listen to.

I don’t care for their tone at all. It’s too lo-fi for me.
Kinda like Lenny Kravitz....everyone talks about all the vintage gear and vintage tones on his records. To me the tones on his recordings don’t sound all that great to me. I can name dozens of actual vintage tones that absolutely crush anything on Lenny’s records.
It’s one thing when you have a vintage or lo-fi tone because you’re making the most of the gear you have, it’s a different animal when you go out of your way to reproduce a “vintage” tone that in the end falls short of the authentic tone you’re trying to reproduce ... of course JMO.

 

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: Saw Queens of the Stone Age last night and, uhm...

Queens is one of those bands that I like a handful of tracks (Millionaire, No One Knows, Burn the Witch, Little Sister), but I definitely don't get all the carrying on about them.