By James Garvin
Queens Of The Stone Age came to a sold out Andrew Brady Center in Cincinnati on June 18, 2025 for The End is Nero tour. I’ve been a big fan of QOTSA since their 1998 self titled debut, having followed Josh Homme, the epitome of cool, in my humble opinion, from Kyuss, of which I was also a huge fan. Their 2023 release In Times New Roman finished in my top five that year, and every release is almost like listening to a new band.
Given that health issues led to canceled dates last year, I was excited to finally see them live. They did not disappoint. The crowd was a mixture of older guys, Megadeth and Maiden shirts, early 20-something kids, a healthy amount of females, and a few goth ladies. QOTSA checks a lot of musical boxes.
The Kills opened and were allotted a healthy 11 songs. I was not previously familiar with their music – think sludgy post punk with distorted guitars. And a drum machine. Because the band consists of two musicians – Alison Mosshart on vocals and sometimes guitar and Jamie Hince on backing vocals and all the time guitar, they didn’t require much room on the stage, and the lighting was generally one shade at a time. I enjoyed their performance. Alison Moshart strikes me a bit like a female Jim Morrison in that she seems rather possessed by the music. I didn’t see a lot of people milling around while they played, which is a sign that the opening band is doing a good job.
The changeover seemed to take about half an hour. The band enters in virtual darkness, with Homme the last to appear, dressed in black with a black jacket. Soon, they cut into “A Song For The Deaf,” the title track of the album, and “No One Knows” from the same album, which are more reminiscent of Homme’s work with Kyuss, and rock a little harder. Our third song for photography was “Sick, Sick, Sick” from Era Vulgaris, and the show began to move into a more modern rock direction, but with the band’s distinctive personality and originality.
The lighting was rather limited for the first three songs, but that changed dramatically with “Smooth Sailing” off …Like Clockwork, with hints of David Bowie. The band was now well lit, and a blank screen covered the rear of the stage, changing bright colors depending on the lights hitting it. “Emotion Sickness” was the first tune they played from the latest record, and was the first sing-a-long of the night when the band stopped playing and Homme encouraged the crowd to sing “Baby don’t care for me.”
After “Paper Machete,” things get a little dreamy with “Kalopsia,” then “I Sat By The Ocean” and “My God Is The Sun,” from …Like Clockwork. If you like that record, then you’ll enjoy the song selections – six songs from the record were in the set list, with “If I Had A Tail,” which Homme declared his favorite song, and “I Appear Missing,” which Homme allowed the crowd to vote for the band to play versus “Regular John” from the debut album. The vote must have been close because they played both anyway.
At this point in the show I was beginning to think the selections from the new record were a little light, but then came “Negative Space,” “Carnavoyeur,” and “Time And Space.” The second sing-a-long- of the night was “Make It Wit Chu.” Boys versus girls. Some of the more inebriated guys around me initially had some trouble with this one, but they eventually got the hang of it. I think the guys won.
They ultimately played twenty songs over two hours. The band doesn’t run around the stage. The focus is more on the music, and what I loved about the show is what I love about the records – every song is different musically, and does a different vibe, as though a different band plays the next song. They incorporate so many different styles. I’d like to have heard a tune or two from Rated R, but other than that little gripe, this was a stellar show.
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