The coin toss put QOTSA on first and despite the early kickoff, the band’s sweat-slathered, sexually charged set reminded everyone of exactly what they came for. Following an all-guns-blazing opening couplet of Millionaire and No One Knows, the five-piece dived into a proud showcase of latest LP …Like Clockwork. The funkadelic Smooth Sailing and Pink Floydian Vampyre of Time and Memory comfortably moved into the canonical tiers of their repertoire and with new drummer Jon Theodore’s rock-solid-yet-curvy grooves it quickly became apparent that Queens has never sounded better.
Although affection was never absent, the crowd were a little reserved early on. The atmosphere certainly amped up with Little Sister and the seal was officially ripped off by salacious slow burner Make It Wit Chu, which featured some dazzling Troy van Leeuwen guitar work. Meanwhile, Better Living Through Chemistry staked its claim as the pinnacle of live rock music for 2014. It’s not a conventionally structured song on record and tonight, thanks to a demonic kraut-lined instrumental journey, the song took everyone to a world of encircling freakishness.
Then, just when it seemed things couldn’t get any more gloriously depraved, the muscular sneer of Song for the Dead brought the house down. Everyone definitely yearned for more, but to say we were deprived would be a gluttonous fallacy. If there’s a rock-nerd’s list of ‘best opening sets ever’, then Queens soared right to the top of it.
As soon as Trent Reznor walked out, amidst programmed beats, loaded bass lines and strobe lighting, he showed he wasn’t approaching Nine Inch Nails’ headlining position tepidly. Opener, Copy of A, was an eardrum-attacking Eurodance scene and Reznor was (reliably) not-impressed. It doesn’t matter how many people in the room are lifelong NIN devotees, he’s not going to put on a polite smile – certainly not when there’s these songs to sing. Survivalism, Terrible Lie and The Wretched (following which Reznor confessed that the song always confronts him with the suicidal desire he felt when it was written) quickly followed, manifesting some of the most bone-rattling, category-shirking live music you’re likely to see.
The onstage elasticity displayed by Treznor and his three band members (and a number of hands behind the scenes) ensured NIN sounded aggressively flawless throughout.
It was hard to imagine any material trumping the set’s mammoth opening and, while things didn’t exactly lull, the next section was a little more indulgent. The best bit of indulgence was two songs featuring vocals from Reznor’s wife and How To Destroy Angels partner Mariqueen Maandig, but things didn’t properly fire up again until the pulverising Wish. This was followed by New Order tribute Hand That Feeds, before closing the set with the industrial rock apotheosis, Head Like a Hole. Many a painstaking prayer was answered when they encored with Hurt; a moment of affecting ugliness and beauty. And that’s what good rock’n’roll is all about, right? – beautiful wretched mess.
BY AUGUSTUS WELBY
LOVED: The sub bass in NIN’s set.
HATED: The lack of subs in the QOTSA set.
DRANK: A potion, baby, to erase you.
