Having just released their new album In Times New Roman, Queens of the Stone Age brought their headlining tour to Queens on Saturday (8/12) for a show at Forest Hills Stadium. According to Setlist.fm, they’ve been taking the stage around 9 PM at most stops of this tour, but they had an 8 PM set time at this show because of the outdoor venue’s strict 10 PM curfew, and the first of three bands, The Armed, took the stage at the bright and early hour of 6 PM.
The early set time, the sun being out, and the fact that your average QOTSA fan probably hasn’t heard of The Armed didn’t stop this band from going as hard as ever. With eight members on stage playing a totally warped version of heavy punk rock, you couldn’t take your eyes off of them. Multiple members ended up in the audience at various points throughout the set, and the crowd was visibly and audibly cheering them on. They played the three singles off their anticipated new album Perfect Saviors, four from the ULTRAPOP era, and a couple others, and they sounded great the whole time. After The Armed it was Phantogram, who played a set of their airy, moody synth rock (new song included) that found Sarah Barthel offsetting the chiller vibes by running around the stage from start to finish.
After the sun went down, Queens of the Stone Age took the stage, opening with their 2002 hit “No One Knows.” Starting a set with your biggest song gets the crowd fired up right away but also risks going all downhill from there, but Queens of the Stone Age never fell into that trap. They just gave us banger after banger, and the energy on stage and off never lulled. It’s been a long time since Queens have had a hit as big as the ones from their early/mid 2000s peak popularity era, but they’ve maintained a diehard fanbase and a strong sense of quality control that made for a consistently great career-spanning set. Songs from 2013’s Like Clockwork are starting to feel as classic as Songs for the Deaf felt when that album came out, and all the songs from the new album stood tall next to the long-established fan faves. Josh Homme’s drunken stage banter could distract from the music as the show went on, but the band’s sheer tightness usually made up for it. Even when they jammed out songs like “Make It Wit Chu” (crowd interaction singalong and a tease of The Rolling Stones’ “Miss You” included) and the new album’s nine-minute closer “Straight Jacket Fitting”), they didn’t miss a beat. Those lengthier excursions came near the end, and then they finished off strong, with two more of their biggest hits (“Little Sister” and “Go With the Flow”), and an explosive performance of the set-ending “A Song for the Dead” that resulted in the first and only circle pit I saw all night.
See pictures of QOTSA’s Saturday night set by P Squared below.
The Armed @ Forest Hills Stadium – 8/12/23 Setlist (via)
AT THE MOMENT OF BEING HEARD
Night City Aliens
ALL FUTURES
Everything’s Glitter
Sport of Form
AN ITERATION
Liar 2
Fortune’s Daughter
BIG SHELL
Phantogram @ Forest Hills Stadium – 8/12/23 Setlist (via)
Mister Impossible
Black Out Days
Run Run Blood
Bad Dreams
I’m Still Yours
Fall in Love
Howling at the Moon
You Don’t Get Me High Anymore
When I’m Small
Queens of the Stone Age @ Forest Hills Stadium – 8/12/23 Setlist (via)
No One Knows
The Lost Art of Keeping a Secret
Smooth Sailing
My God Is the Sun
Emotion Sickness
If I Had a Tail
I Sat by the Ocean
Carnavoyeur
The Way You Used to Do
Made to Parade
Better Living Through Chemistry
Paper Machete
Make It Wit Chu (with Rolling Stones “Miss You” tag)
Straight Jacket Fitting
Little Sister
Go With the Flow
A Song for the Dead