Richard BodinLast time I saw Queens of the Stone Age was during the Rock en Seine festival in 2005. That day, most of my friends only had eyes for Arcade Fire — which I never really managed to get excited about — and The Pixies closed the day in style. But you see, twenty years later, the best memory of that day was QOTSA.
When, earlier this year, the band announced a show in Kilmainham Hospital in Dublin, I had to grab that opportunity. And boy, do I not regret it!
So Good!
At 6pm sharp, the London-based all-girl band So Good took the stage. The first opening act was quite surprising. They play a mix of hip-hop and punk rock — which they’ve coined “ignorant brat pop.” Frontwoman Sophie Booker-Ingram and her two bandmates danced and shouted at the crowd in provocative outfits, while a tight backing band rocked at the back in pink sports tracksuits, faces veiled.
I can’t say the first songs of their set won me over — it was more of a WTF situation. But things picked up progressively. The energy of I Hate It Here, with its punkier edge, grabbed my attention. When they played I Rewrote the Fucking Bible, they had me. I love a good girl punk band — the energy and the tension — and I found that with So Good by the end of their set. They finished with their latest single I Will Love You Until, which made for the perfect goodbye.
Cliffords
Amyl & The Sniffers were supposed to be the second opening act, but due to a last-minute scheduling conflict, the band had to pull out. Cliffords — a promising Cork act — were called in to fill the slot. The band consists of frontwoman Iona Lynch (vocals/guitar), Harry Menton (lead guitar), Gavin Dawkins (bass/trumpet), Dan Ryan (drums), and Lorcan O’Toole (keyboards). Winners of the UCC Battle of the Bands in 2022, Cliffords already have two EPs under their belt and are quickly gaining traction.
From the moment they hit the stage, they delivered an energetic show that got the crowd’s attention. Their set featured standout singles Bittersweet, Feels Like a Man, My Favourite Monster, and Sleeping with Ghosts. Iona impressed with her stage presence and her easy rapport with the audience. She opened by apologising to anyone expecting Amyl & The Sniffers, before adding with a smile: “We’re all you’ve got” — far from a let-down. She also shared a message of support for Mo Chara of Kneecap, while the band displayed a Palestinian flag on the keyboard and a keffiyeh on her mic stand. Cliffords left the stage to thunderous applause. Definitely a band to watch.
The Main Event
Moments later, Queens of the Stone Age finally took the stage. They opened with Regular John under the cheers and applause of an ecstatic crowd happy to see the band back in Ireland. The band quickly followed up with No One Knows. As the first notes resonated in the night sky, the crowd instantly started bobbing heads, raising horns, and jumping around while chanting the riff — “pah-pah-la-pah, pah-pah-la-pah.” Already we could tell that the evening would be excellent.
QOTSA, as true professionals, are well known for playing different setlists in their concerts, creating a bespoke experience for the audience. Josh Homme expressed how happy he was to be back in Ireland on this fine and warm evening, concluding with: “Let’s be Irish.” The band then proceeded to play hits from across their albums: Smooth Sailing, My God Is the Sun, Made to Parade, In My Head, Negative Space, I Never Came, Time and Place… Around me, the audience was enjoying every second of the show. People were singing, bodies swaying, lovers loving, feet bouncing… not a frown in sight.
Deano & Mikey’s moments
After Misfit Love, Josh Homme proceeded to introduce the band. Troy Van Leeuwen was acclaimed on guitar. And then something magical, purely Irish, happened to the great surprise of the frontman. As he introduced guitarist Dean Fertita as “Deano,” the Irish crowd immediately started chanting: “DEAN-OOOH… DEAN-OOOH…” — as they would for the national Roy Keane. Homme continued and introduced drummer Jon Theodore, but after a few cheers, the crowd started chanting again: “DEAN-OOOH… DEAN-OOOH…” Homme laughed, and said: “And by the way my name is Joshua,” only for the crowd to reply with “DEAN-OOOH… DEAN-OOOH…” He only managed to get the crowd to sing differently when he announced that bassist Mikey Shuman was celebrating his 40th that night. The crowd then started singing Happy Birthday — but completely out of sync, earning a gentle diss from the singer: “You sound like drunken Irishmen.”
Special moments of communion with the audience
The concert kept going with I Sat by the Ocean, followed by Little Sister and The Vampire of Time and Memory. The mood of the evening couldn’t have been better. Then the frontman announced: “People do what they want in the dark, and that’s all right. In the dark and in the light, I Appear Missing.” The euphoric crowd exulted — some people in the front rows had been holding a sign requesting the song since the beginning of the show.
QOTSA followed up with Make It Wit Chu. As the song played, Josh Homme noticed some lad swaying above the crowd, sitting on the shoulders of his friend, and encouraged other people to follow. Soon enough, many people were sitting on shoulders above our heads. The band kept playing, sometimes mixing their song with the Rolling Stones’ Miss You, to the greatest delight of the audience who sang along with all their heart. This magical moment dragged on for a while.
At the end, Homme asked the crowd what they wanted to hear next. The choice balanced between Tangled Up in Plaid and Straight Jacket Fitting for a while… and the band started to play the latter. A few moments later, the frontman laid down his guitar, grabbed a wireless mic, and came off the stage to meet the front rows of the crowd. As he reached the end of the fence, he went over it and walked among a delighted audience, all while singing and leading them to sing along with him.
A perfect ending
When he came back on stage, Homme seemed to enjoy his evening so much that he suggested the band stay and play for the next six hours… Unfortunately, there are rules, and in respect to the neighbourhood, even the best things have to come to an end. The band proceeded to play an epic rendition of Go With the Flow, which was only topped by the last song of the show, A Song for the Dead, as the crowd started carving out empty spaces only to crash into them moments later in euphoric mosh pits. When the last notes faded, and the band left the stage, the crowd said goodbye in their own way: “DEAN-OOOH… DEAN-OOOH…”
This was the perfect ending to a perfect evening. The band played straight up to the last possible moment — legally speaking — without wasting time leaving the stage to come back for an encore. Back in 2005 at Rock en Seine, QOTSA were the band that left the deepest mark on me. Twenty years later in Dublin, they proved once again why. No gimmicks, no wasted time — just pure energy, generosity, and music that lingers long after the lights go out.
