Josh Homme smokes, drinks and dances at Queens of the Stone Age's awesome Milwaukee show

Piet Levy
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Queens of the Stone Age's Josh Homme was ready to dance.

Seeing the towering 44-year-old rocker shimmying in the shadows Sunday at the Rave's Eagles Ballroom was quite a surprise. But in a way, so was the creative direction that Queens took with its seventh studio album. "Villains," released in August, was produced by Mark Ronson.

Yes, "Uptown Funk" Mark Ronson.

Like the synthesizer-embracing Spoon, ABBA-borrowing Arcade Fire and Jack Antonoff-collaborating St. Vincent, Queens is just the latest veteran indie-rock act to shake things up and embrace pop melodies and dance rhythms this year. But while "Villains" under Ronson's guidance brings out the dance-floor undertones from the group, Queens is still a band that rocks hard, evident at its intense Milwaukee show Sunday for a sold-out crowd of about 3,500. 

"Villains" standout "Feet Don't Fail Me" got to some foot-shuffling guitar-rock grooves, but guitarist Troy Van Leeuwen's dense desert rock riffs Sunday still conjured visions of dread, while Homme summarized the sentiment of the song singing about being caught between "pleasure and agony."

Another album track, "Un-Reborn Again" rode atop Dean Fertita's thick synthesizer waves, absorbing yet slightly detached, reminiscent of Vangelis' Blade Runner score, with Jon Theodore's walloping drum work and Homme's soaring vocals providing the song's heartbeat and soul. 

Homme was working harder compared to his physically stiff display at the Riverside Theater three years back. His domineering rock-star stature had a little assistance during "Sick, Sick, Sick"; the lighting design cast him in stark white interchangeably from left and right, creating a contrasting shadow effect that lent the performance more mystique. 

But Homme deserved most of the credit for his command, his vibrant croon channeling the tone of David Bowie and the snarling swagger of recent collaborator Iggy Pop during "Domesticated Animals," another "Villains" standout. Homme also offered knee bends, leg kicks and visceral spasms during his meatier guitar parts, and a face-off with falsetto-singing bassist Michael Schuman during "Smooth Sailing" was tense enough to be construed as threatening. 

Queens of the Stone Age perform at a sold-out Eagles Ballroom at the Rave Sunday.

Homme's been the lone constant in Queens, and frequently deemed the band's visionary auteur. But his current lineup stepped it up Sunday.

Van Leeuwen had his own pent-up aggression, frequently smacking upright neon poles that doubled as punching bags and wobbled violently from his attacks. Theodore, who used to drum for the Mars Volta, was a menace across Queens' aggressive 21 songs, earning his own dynamic solo that rejuvenated breakout single "No One Knows" Sunday.

Sunday's show was slotted for an hour and 40 minutes, about the length of the 2014 Riverside gig. But the band stretched it out to two hours, culminating perfectly with the devastating finale "A Song for the Dead" — with Van Leeuwen riffing on his guitar from above his head, Theodore taking over with another heart-seizing drum solo, and the simmering crowd finally boiling over and breaking out into multiple mosh pits. And a grinning Homme started dancing again, this time while straddling one of those neon poles.

Opener Royal Blood is technically among hard rock's most restrictive bands, with singer and guitarist Mike Kerr, drummer Ben Thatcher, and that’s it. Basic worked best for the British duo; when Royal Blood tried to get fancy, with Kerr going back and forth between keys and guitar for “Hole in My Heart,” the crowd’s collective pulse dipped.

Royal Blood’s Zeppelin-stained guitar-and-drum assaults definitely did the trick though; I’m hard-pressed to recall an opening rock band that riled up a large crowd so effectively this year. And Kerr and Thatcher threw in a few twists to keep the simplicity from becoming boring, from frequent tempo change-ups during “Figure It Out,” to a pummeling finish with Kerr pounding cymbals with a drumstick in his right hand, and ripping through guitar riffs with his left, all while sporting a fan’s Packers hat.

THE TAKEAWAYS 

  • Homme took in a little smoking during the set, taking drags of a cigarette during “Make It Wit Cha” and ahead of “Un-Reborn Again.”
  • There was some drinking, too. Homme distributed blue Solo cups and poured what looked like vodka before “Again,” toasting his band and the fans while he himself took a swig. There also was a bottle toss to Van Leeuwen during a brief lull for “A Song for the Dead”; Van Leeuwen took a swig and tossed it back to Homme, who playfully swatted it to the ground. (Although Homme made sure to retrieve the bottle and take one last swig before leaving the stage.)
  • Homme recalled being at the venue back in 1993 with his late stoner rock group Kyuss.
  • Interesting soundtrack between sets, a lighter mix spanning from classical chamber music to Dean Martin’s cover of “Mambo Italiano.” 
  • A bombastic drum solo during Royal Blood’s set nearly came undone when Thatcher lost his right drumstick, but pro that he is, he kept the fearsome beat going with one blurred hand while swiftly snatching another drumstick to jump back into a roll with barely a hiccup.
  • Sample stage banter: “Some people sit in their rooms and say to themselves, ‘Who (expletive) let the dogs out?’ … Perhaps it's best to run away and make a new mistake instead of the same old mistake.” — Homme, as part of a bizarre introduction to “Domesticated Animals.”

THE SET LIST 

1. "If I Had a Tail"
2. "Monsters in the Parasol"
3. "My God is the Sun"
4. "Feet Don't Fail Me"
5. "The Way You Used to Do"
6. "You Think I Ain't Worth a Dollar, but I Feel Like a Millionaire"
7. "No One Knows"
8. "3's & 7's"
9. "The Evil Has Landed"
10. "I Sat By The Ocean"
11. "Smooth Sailing"
12. "Domesticated Animals"
13. "Fortress"
14. "Make It Wit Chu"
15. "I Appear Missing"
16. "Villains of Circumstance"
17. "Little Sister"
18. "Sick, Sick, Sick"
19. "Go With The Flow."
Encore
20. "Un-Reborn Again"
21. "A Song for the Dead"

More on Music 

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Editor's Note: An earlier version of this story indicated Sunday's concert was the first at the Rave for Queens of the Stone Age. The band played the venue in 2002 and 2007.