Words by Kieran Webber | Photography by Brian Robinson
Across the years The Eden Project has opened itself up to some of the worlds biggest and most influential artists. We are incredibly lucky to have such a beautiful and unique venue located in our home county and each year I am floored by their bookings. This year saw the likes of Bjork, Ben Howard and Jack Johnson. However, the one band that really took me by surprise was Queens Of The Stone Age. Never in my life did I think I would be able to say I saw Queens Of The Stone Age in Cornwall. I don’t think anyone in attendance thought they’d be saying that.
The gig coincided with the England v Columbia game and I was a awash with ‘Itscominghomefever’ and subsequently missed the support act. I am not proud of this but as some of you may understand it was very contagious.
I left the game at 85 minutes confident England were going to win (they did in the end on bloody penalties) and marched towards the stage. There was a certain silence that filled the arena before they came on stage, a calm wind of excitement.
As the roadies set the stage up with a variety of pole shaped lights and instruments the excitement really started to build, the arena filled up and without a moments hesitation Queens Of The Stone Age swaggered onto stage.
They kicked things off with ‘Songs For The Deaf’, an interesting opener that saw the bands darker tones take the lead. The slow, darker tones soon took a back seat once the ferocious ‘Sick, Sick, Sick’ blew out of the speakers. As always Josh Homme was contagiously cool, swinging his hips and curling his lips. The constant strut around the stage was like watching a demi-God perform for his eager disciples, which we were.
Once Homme had us where he wanted us and had the older fans satisfied it was time to bust out the hip-swinging, riff heavy tracks from the most recent release ‘Villains’. Tracks such as the infectious and anthemic ‘Feet Don’t Fail Me Now’ and ‘The Way You Used To Do’ nearly brought the crowd to it’s knees. Arms flailed and heads banged, it was true rock ‘n’ roll magic.
The onslaught was not over, as they slipped into the incredibly popular ‘No One Knows’ a neck breaking belter that had even those standing at the back creating a ruckus. We even got to see drummer Jon Theodore let loose on an incredible drum solo in the middle of the song, followed by tangents from each member. It was spectacular.
Josh Homme and his band of renegades came to leave an impression on Eden and the Cornish crowd, and that they did. Tracks such as ‘Domesticated Animals’, ‘Little Sister’ and ‘My God Is The Sun’ will be permanently seared into my mind thanks to their stellar performance.
From beginning to end the band treated us to a variety of tracks from their extensive back catalogue. Closing the show with an almighty three track encore that includes tracks ‘Make It With Chu’, ‘Go With The Flow’ and ‘A Song For The Dead’.
To watch the effortlessly cool Josh Homme strut around the stage whilst taking swigs of whiskey from the bottle and flicking cigarettes over his shoulder whilst playing was a dream. To see all of this whilst in Cornwall was a miracle and I am glad to say I was there to witness it.
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