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Concert reviews Music

Queens dwell in Kyuss past

Rating: NNNNN


It happened with Jane’s Addiction and with Sunny Day Real Estate, and now it’s happening with Kyuss. Er, make that Queens of the Stone Age.

Upon busting up, all three bands assumed a mythic lustre and then conveniently reformed only to find themselves playing to a whole new crowd stoked on legend.

While it’s true that Queens of the Stone Age are a different band than Kyuss, they do have two things that make them an excellent facsimile — the same grinding, brutish, sun-scorched sound and former Kyuss guitarist Josh Homme doing the scorching and grinding.

There was little doubt that’s what people came to hear at a sweltering and jammed Lee’s Palace Tuesday, rather than the more twee stylings of the group’s recent Rated R disc.

The combo happily obliged, coming on hard and slashing through the material like coked-up loggers on a clear-cutting mission. Live at least, Queens of the Stone Age are really just a thinking feller’s speed metal group with dual status as stoner faves.

Of course, Homme would have been vexed to know that the most overheard comment of the night wasn’t “Righteous” or “Heavy, man” but, rather, “Dude, they sound just like Kyuss!” — presumably from people who’d seen that band in their halcyon days.

Then again, Homme knows ticket sales are ticket sales, no matter where you find them. Bring on the fury and thunder, and grab a T-shirt on your way out the door.


QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE, at Lee’s Palace, August 1. Tickets: $5-$18. Attendance: 400 (sold out). Rating: NNN

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