Paths of thought

Queens of the Stone Age - Victorious Festival

Queens of the Stone Age come to Southsea Common to headline Friday night of the Victorious Festival

I love live music and going to gigs and I've seen lots of different artists and bands over the years, and Friday, it was my second opportunity to see Queens of the Stone Age at the Victorious Festival on Southsea Common.

They are one of the few bands that I have the entire discography of, so I was looking forward to hearing some songs I'd not previously heard performed live, plus of course, get to hear some of my favourites.

Josh Homme (who I am a huge fan of, both for his performance, but mostly his guitar playing) and the band, were in great form and they did not dissapoint. There seemed to be plenty of other fans in the crowd who like me wanted to see them. It can always be a bit odd at festivals, and some acts don't get the attention they deserve from the festival crowd. I generally got the feeling that most of the people around me were familiar with their back catalogue and were not being introduced to their music for the first time.

I had been keeping an eye on setlist.fm over the last few weeks to see the general shape of the set list and to see what I might get. It was a great mix across their repetoire, and was particularly pleased to hear songs from ...Like Clockwork which remains one of my favorite albums of theirs.

As ever Josh Homme displayed his cool, relaxed mastery of the electric guitar, note perfect in every way. I love guitars so at some point I'll no doubt take a look at the guitars that Josh plays and learn a little about the QOTSA sound.

The particluar highlights of the set for me were (in no particular order) - I sat by the ocean, The vampyre of time and memory, Make it wit chu, Smooth sailing, Paper machete and of course No one knows.

It was a fantastic night and is hopefully not the last time I will get to see them play.

The full setlist

  1. You think I ain't worth a dollar, but I feel like a millionaire
  2. No one knows
  3. Burn the witch
  4. My god is the sun
  5. Paper machete
  6. Smooth sailing
  7. Emotion sickness
  8. If I had a tail
  9. I sat by the ocean
  10. The vampyre of time and memory
  11. Misfit love
  12. Little sister
  13. Carnavoyeur
  14. Make it wit chu
  15. Sick, sick, sick
  16. Go with the flow
  17. A song for the dead