Queens Of The Stone Age & Chelsea Wolfe @ The Joint/ Hard Rock Hotel, Las Vegas. 2-13-14.

A brief family visit out of town quickly turned into a full blown rock 'n' roll expedition thanks to this well placed billboard in the middle of the desert.

QOSTA and Chelsea Wolfe? Together...on the same day we were in town. It was a sign (literally) that this show could not be missed. I'd never been to The Joint before, but heard good things about the venue. This totally made up for their sold out show at the Gibson (R.I.P.) that I missed last fall.

I was curious how Chelsea Wolfe's dark and ominous music/vibe would fit such a huge venue (approx 4000 seat capacity), but Ms. Wolfe and co.'s stellar musicianship and total atmospheric assault on the senses made the large concert hall feel like a intimately dank cave of despair...and it was bloody awesome. New tracks off Pain Is Beauty such as "We Hit a Wall" and "House of Metal" sounded so much more hypnotic live and blended in perfectly alongside the brooding jams we all know and love from Apokalypsis ("Mer" "Demons" "Pale on Pale").



After this, only my second time seeing Chelsea Wolfe live, I'm ready to declare her voice a national treasure. It's an ethereal, haunting, and amazingly powerful tool in Ms.Wolfe's arsenal; along with her remarkable songwriting skills and the talented musicians she surrounds herself with, you simply can'y go wrong catching Chelsea Wolfe in concert. Aside from a handful of frat boys dying to start a mosh pit, I'd say most everyone inside The Joint was squarely under Chelsea's spell.

Queens of The Stone Age: Round 5.

A giant screen counted down the moments before QOSTA took the stage. The band's new superhuman drummer, Jon Theodore pummeled his floor tom as he counted off the intro to "...Millionaire," and the crowd inside the venue went nuts. With the opening salvo of "Millionaire" "No One Knows" "Avon" and "My God Is the Sun," Josh Homme and his merry men certainly made the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino live up to it's namesake. The monstrous guitar riffs and the subsequent wall of sound that followed during "Avon" was awe inspiring and sparked memories from my very first Queens show back in 2003.

Josh Homme- Stone Age King

 The band took things down a notch, devoting the mid portion of their set primarily to tracks off their latest album, ...Like Clockwork. These are largely medium to slow paced songs, which found heads bobbing in unison and offered a respite from the frat boy moshing that opened, and would bookend the band's set. I'm not the biggest fan of QOTSA's last record (it's good, but I was hoping for something epic) but I'll be damned if songs like "If I Had a Tail" and "I Sat by the Ocean" don't sound groovy as hell live. The band sprinkled in fan favorites like "Little Sister" and "Make It Wit Chu" in between the ...Like Clockwork section which was fine with me. Something about hearing "Make It Wit Chu" in Vegas/Sin City made the sultry song sound even sexier. "Better Living Though Chemistry" was the biggest surprise of the night. I've never head the song live before and it was great to see Josh shredding his guitar again, especially after spending a good portion of the set crooning/smoking on stage.



The night's ending is a little blurry for me, I was busy deflecting elbows from the raucous mosh pit that erupted during the encore. Playing "Feel Good Hit of the Summer" and "Song for the Dead" back to back just has that effect on people. When I wasn't dodging staggeringly drunk bros at every turn, I tried my best to watch Jon Theodore slay his kit during the final song. As much as I loved Joey Castillo's playing (re: bashing) in QOTSA, I think Theodore brings the perfect blend of power and finesse to the table and is the perfect dude, who isn't Dave Grohl, to sit on the throne. This was probably the best Queens of the Stone Age lineup I've seen since Nick Oliveri left ages ago. Looks like I started the year off right, my first concert of 2014 was a doozy. Thanks random billboard on the I-15fwy, I owe you one.

Chelsea Wolfe @ First Unitarian Church, Los Angeles. 2/8/13.

 Chelsea Wolfe. The name alone sounds ominous right? Then there's her music. It's dark and brooding stuff. The type of music you'd want to crank as you enjoy your final glass of wine before heading off to the guillotine. This (currently) Los Angeles based singer-songwriter has made big waves in both the indie and metal scenes over the past two years. Everyone from my favorite misanthropes in Gaza and the "Extremely Extreme" folks at American metal rag Decibel Magazine have been singing her praises, it was only a matter of time before I fell under her spell. Her music has been described as "doom-folk" or even  "indie-black metal." I just think it's rad.

Touring in support of her latest album, 2012's Unknown Rooms: A Collection of Acoustic Songs, Chelsea played a stripped down set of, you guessed it, acoustic songs. Her music is pretty low key anyways but she usually has a full band backing her during live shows (or so YouTube has informed me). Not this night however. No, tonight it was just Chelsea, her trusty acoustic guitar and gnarly voice, and a pair of homies on cello and keys/synth. Oh and it was in a dark and drafty old church. Oh yeah.

I knew nothing of the opening acts beforehand but was glad they didn't suck. In fact they were the opposite of suck. Sarah Jaffe and Deradoorian, both low key female singer-songwriter types, served as the perfect opening acts for Ms. Wolfe. Jaffe brought the catchy songs and Deradoorian (and her two back up singers) brought the vocal acrobatics. I was officially warmed up...not really though it was cold as shit inside that church.

friends don't let friends take subpar cellphone pics

When Chelsea Wolfe and co. took the stage, shit got real...real dark. But only for a few minutes. The dude who ran the lights had no idea what he was doing. The sound guy either for that matter. There was a string of technical problems that led to a false start or two, and caused the house lights to flash on and off several times during the first few minutes of her set. The dramatic mood that the candles, animal skulls and crimson red lights had conjured might have been squashed by the technical flubs but none of that bullshit mattered. Chelsea Wolfe's voice and damn fine songs are strong enough to stand on their own. Holy fuck she was amazing. If I could describe this show in one word it would be this: spellbound.

That's right. I didn't bother trying to take many photos or record any video for a change. I was in the moment, spellbound. Chelsea's voice was awe inspiring. She did the haunting little whisper thing she does on her albums, but unleashed her powerful set of pipes as well. Ms. Wolfe could huff and puff and blow some damn houses down if she were so inclined. Her all encompassing voice, the dramatic atmosphere of the church, and the fact that Chelsea towered over her seated audience, made this show feel more like theater than a traditional concert...and I loved it.

more photos HERE at grimygoods.com

I'll leave you with this haunting version of "Halfsleeper" some lucky soul in the front row of the church recorded. The sound quality is great so ignore the dude in the hat (he's Chelsea's homeboy....I creeped them on Instagram =p ) and enjoy the Wolfe in action.