Mitsubishi-Electric-Halle, Düsseldorf, Germany11th November 2023
Queens Of The Stone Age - “The End is Nero Tour" - Support: Deep Tan, The Chats
Three bands in one evening awaited the audience in the sold-out Mitsubishi Electric Hall in Düsseldorf. Naturally, it was the QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE who drew the fans into the arena. The supergroup had just released their latest studio album ‘In Times New Roman...’ in mid-June 2023. With the eighth album in their bags, the accompanying tour in Europe kicked off at the beginning of November 2023. Josh Homme and his band will be on the road until the beginning of March 2024. We were part of the action in Düsseldorf.
Deep Tan
The first 25 minutes of the evening from 7 pm belonged to DEEP TAN. The Post-Punk trio from England introduced their new drummer Marie on social media just a few weeks ago. In Düsseldorf, however, a younger man sat behind the drum kit. I have to admit that I wasn’t particularly impressed by the band’s music. The minimalist, stripped-back sound, the uninspiring songwriting, the weak vocals and the rather apathetic and disinterested performance left me rather clueless.
Rating
Music: 4
Performance: 4
Light: 4
Sound: 8
Total: 5 / 10
The Chats
After a short 15-minute break, THE CHATS provided a wonderful contrast to the evening’s opener. The Australian Punk Rock band was hungry and highly motivated to perform their dirty Punk Rock from the very first song. And because the trio managed to do this quite well in the 35 minutes that the men were allowed to perform on the big stage, they were sure of the audience’s favourable applause. The boys were applauded right up to the last rows of the upper balcony. Only the stage could have been a little smaller for the trio. The three musicians stood (or rather sat) many metres away from each other, but at least they had the freedom to unfold their full energy. The singing bassist in particular was correspondingly dynamic.
Rating
Music: 6
Performance: 8
Light: 6
Sound: 8
Total: 7 / 10
Queens Of The Stone Age
At 8.45 pm, the time had finally come. The QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE entered the stage right on time. And what the band around their bandleader Josh Homme produced for the next two hours was simply magnificent. With the opening track from their debut album, ‘Regular John’, the quintet got off to an enormously strong start, but by the following ‘No One Knows’, the band’s biggest hit, the whole audience was at their feet. As a result of the strong start, an absolutely outstanding concert evening developed in Düsseldorf. The band performed a total of 20 songs that evening, including an epic encore with the final ‘A Song For The Dead’ from the god album ‘Songs For The Deaf’. During the regular set, however, there was a little surprise. After Homme’s announcement “We play whatever the fuck you want!”, the request for ‘Burn The Witch’ was actually expressed again and again, so the band changed their setlist without further ado and actually performed the much-requested song - for the first time in over five years.
A few songs later, Josh Homme announced: “This is the best crowd of the whole fucking tour. By far!” And you could certainly believe the frontman of the QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE. Throughout the evening, Josh Homme seemed very happy with the evening. So happy that he finally put his guitar aside during ‘Straight Jacket Fitting’ from the current album and entered the deserted photo pit with the microphone in his hand, only to devote himself to crowd-surfing a little later and let himself be carried halfway across the venue on the hands of the enthusiastic audience. When Josh Homme had solid ground under his feet again a little later and was back in the photo pit, he directed the left and right halves of the audience to organise a chant from each side. Josh Homme used the time during which the audience kept the song alive by singing to finally rejoin his bandmates on stage, say “Thank you for supporting me for 27 years” into the microphone and ring in the end of the regular set with ‘Make It With Chu’ and ‘Little Sister’.
The tour’s light show certainly has style. Long LED strips characterise the image on the stage across its entire width. There are no video sequences, there are only these LED strips in addition to the normal stage lighting from the ceiling and from the front. On both sides of the stage are large video screens showing the live image that the camera in the photo pit records of the individual band members. In short: an outstanding performance by an incredibly well-rehearsed band. It’s no coincidence that none other than Dave Grohl can be quoted: “There is currently no better live band!”
Setlist
01. Regular John
02. No One Knows
03. Smooth Sailing
04. My God Is the Sun
05. Emotion Sickness
06. If I Had a Tail
07. Time & Place
08. Carnavoyeur
09. The Way You Used to Do
10. Burn the Witch
11. I Think I Lost My Headache
12. The Lost Art of Keeping a Secret
13. Into the Hollow
14. Straight Jacket Fitting (Josh Homme in the crowd & crowd-surfing)
15. Make It Wit Chu
16. Little Sister
17. Obscenery
18. God Is in the Radio
19. Go With the Flow
20. A Song for the Dead
Rating
Music: 10
Performance: 10
Light: 8
Sound: 8
Total: 9 / 10
All Pictures by André Wilms
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