Queens of the Stone Age w/ The Dough Rollers – Manchester Academy 21/05/11

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In the age of instant gratification and hyper-pressure, a band are unlikely to make it to their third album without putting out at least one dud. After the hype machine slows down, the sniping and inevitable backlash begins. This is followed by the unmistakable sound of the Twitter generation finding a new hero to dote on and the music press salivating over the next “band to change the world” – for at least five minutes anyway.

So fourteen years is a long time in music – Queens Of The Stone Age can tell you that. Drugs, violence, drink, paranoia, trust issues, and more drugs: the only other person to endure and overcome all that by the age of 14 was Drew Barrymore. Five albums in and now working on their sixth, they haven’t ran out of steam as much as fired on all cylinders, with their unbrandable, deathly-soundtrack-to-fucking-and-fighting, musical juggernaut stomping on resolutely.

Suffice to say, I am pretty damn excited about seeing Josh Homme and the boys shake Manchester Academy to the core this evening. The show comes as part of their tour to celebrate the remastered release of their début album, which they’ll play in full.

But first there’s a support band to deal with: they’re called The Dough Rollers so I’m not holding my breath. They walk out wearing suits and sporting matching undercuts and quiffs, looking like the suavest band I’ve ever seen. The singer may or may not own a riverboat.

I heard that Josh Homme likes music you can wear denim shorts, drink beer and sport a mullet to. The tie pin on guy in front of me says this is not that music. Yet they’re charming an entire room of (mostly) burly, bearded men after five minutes. I’m won over too by their sweet patter and throwback riffs from the Fifties school of Rock n Roll and an outstanding vocal that is part Lux Interior, part blues-veteran-propping-up-the-bar.

In the end, there can’t be a single person who isn’t impressed by their musicianship – these boys are tight, probably from all that practice playing Arnold’s Drive-In.

After a tense 40 minutes of jostling and chanting, the lights go down once again. Josh Homme and his brooding troupe stride onto the stage to a hero’s welcome. The opening chords of ‘Regular John’ fill the room and the heaving, pushing throng let their palpable excitement be known, as QOTSA chug through their debut, without missing a beat or catching a breath.

Then something curious begins to happen. While there is undoubtedly a buzz and tangible anticipation at the start of each song, the crowd’s enthusiasm soon peters off mid-way through. I realise I’m standing in a completely static sea of fellow hardcore QOTSA fans and it begins to dawn on us that the first album is actually a whole heap of mid-paced.

While the record could never be called anything other than outstanding, it falls a little flat live. The room only comes truly alive – and the anticipation is justified and met with real magic – when the first album tracks are wrapped up and the band have chance to run through songs from Rated R, Songs for the Deaf (‘Sky is Fallin’ sounding particularly dark and beautiful) and Era Vulgaris.

Homme is charisma personified, commenting on “the beautiful ladies in the room” and dedicating ‘Make it Wit Chu’ to them as a thousand wombs quiver. Despite the lull in the middle of the set, he has us in the palm of his hand. They close on ‘Little Sister’, with the crowd left insatiable. I love them even more for it. Maybe it’s a self esteem thing.

The line-up changes and narcotics are all but a distant memory (well, nearly; there’s still a few bottles of Stoli knocking around). They’re now family men but the power to excite, inspire and electrify an audience is retained. Live, they are sheer force – an truly faultless, absolute beast driven by the mind-blowing beats of Joey Castillo.

While the visceral wildness and frenetic energy of Songs For The Deaf would have been a more natural choice for a live playback, it’s still a rare treat to hear their début and be reminded that no other band can match it. With such an accomplished back catalogue of variety and fierce unpredictability, we are assured that whatever lies ahead for them will be spectacular – no matter what direction they take.

Here’s to another fourteen years.