Them Crooked Vultures - Roseland Ballroom - October 15, 2009

For a band with no album, singles and with only a rumored release date of November 23rd, you would think that seeing these guys would be as exciting as seeing an opening band you've never heard of. But this is no ordinary band. As I mentioned a few weeks ago, Them Crooked Vultures is a supergroup consisting of Josh Homme (Queens Of The Stone Age, Kyuss) on guitars and vocals, John Paul Jones on bass and keyboards, and Dave Grohl (Nirvana, Foo Fighters). To say that the show was awesome would be a gross understatement and I actually took the day off today because I am still reeling from the absolute fucking magnificence from last night. Dave Grohl, from where I was standing (which was right in front of JPJ) looked like Neo from the Matrix -- which is to say that he was playing so fast he looked like a blur the whole night. Josh Homme was churning out riff after solo after riff after solo -- and JPJ -- my god man -- he used numerous basses, plunked at them on some songs, picked at them on others, played slide on a special inclined model -- yes he played slide! -- played his portable key-tar, synths, and a beautiful piano outro. Oh, and the mandolin. It was awesome, purely fucking awesome. Mark my words, this is going to be one of the best rock albums to come out in a very long time. While they are technically a supergroup, they don't play like they're out to impress you with their outsized egos (re: Bono, Chris Martin, et al). They're goal was to play some rocking music, have a good time and seem very humbled by any and all applause. Aside from the weird "Interludes With Ludes" and the strangely melodic "Highway One," I can't single out any particularly strong tracks because they were all incredibly meaty boozy sludgy riff-a-fucking-delic rocking monsters. Lies! Ok, "Scumbag Blues" is tops for me. And "Gunman." And the fifteen minute holy shit jam to end the show. I would see them again in a nanosecond. I am starved for more. I pity those who haven't heard them yet. I am going to sleep now. If you love music -- not the media of music, the image of music, the corporate pandering that is currently dominant in music -- you will love this band, I assure you will love this band.

Setlist:

Elephants
Dead End Friends
Scumbag Blues
Gunman
Highway One
New Fang
Caligulove
Bandoliers
Mind Eraser
Daffodils
Interlude With Ludes
Reptiles
No One Loves Me And Neither Do I
Warsaw