Them Crooked Vultures

Despite my best intentions, I didn't get time to even listen to the Them Crooked Vultures album, let alone find out much about the band before I went to see them. All the press on them shouted "Josh Homme, Dave Grohl and John Paul Jones" so that's what I knew about them. They had a 4th guy playing guitar, but he was well and truly "the other guy".

We grabbed a seat in the second row of the old people seats. This meant we weren't close up, but we had a clear view. Since I'm a short arse, I wouldn't have been able to see a bloody thing standing anywhere but the first 3 rows on the floor - and since I didn't have 4 hours to stand in a queue to achieve such a spot, it was a seat or a nice view of the backs of tall people's heads.

Since I didn't know the music, I can't tell you much about how this or that song sounded, however I can tell you that pretty much every single pedal ever created for the guitar was used in the set, possible all at once on some occasions. I mean this in a good way. It was a fantastic show - you could hear the influences of all the band members' past lives as well as a good dollop of old school heavy metal.

Musically they are amazing. Josh Homme's voice is incredible, John Paul Jones plays bass and all sorts of other oddities and is as fantastic as his mythical status would suggest and Dave Grohl.... Well I haven't seen Dave Grohl drum for a whole gig before - he does a short stint with the Foo Fighters - and it's definitely an experience. I can't work out whether it's more probable that Jim Henson had a time machine, or that Dave Grohl modelled his style on Animal, but either way the similarity is uncanny. And while watching him was worth the price of admission, listening was even better. I love great drums.

So now to listen to the album a bit.