1998/11/13 - Manchseter Hop & Grape: Manchester, UK
Review by:
blackbonejazz
I was so excited at seeing the Queens play for the first time together in
England, having only seen Kyuss once in London 1994. I turned up early to
chat to fans and as visited the toilets I was fucking stoked to bump into
Alfredo and chat for 5 minutes. Other people didn't realise who the big
fucker was. I told him his drumming rocks and the new Queens material rocks,
and got talking about the Desert Sessions which Alfredo played on vol3&4.
We were talking about eccentric man, and he said it was an English song or
something. I told him he'd put on weight since I last watched them play 1994
and he just shrugged his shoulders and said 'Yeah'. Anyway the guy was
fucking cool and told me off for swearing too much, then he started eyeing
up the ladies.
The support bands were Radiator who I didn't catch cause they sucked too
much, but Orange Goblin kicked like fuck. I've seen them and Queens 3 times
since. The gig was really low key and intimate with Dave Catching just joining the
band. They came on looking high, and I remember seeing Hutch stood there
looking real scary with no one taking notice as to who he was. I was so near
the front and remember Josh looking down at me as they kicked into Regular
John with a glazed look. The guy stared into space the whole evening which
is pretty Josh all over. The set list was mainly all songs from the debut
with the Bronze and Born to Hula, both personal favourites of mine.
The highlights that I can remember were 'Walkin on the Sidewalks' which
they played the riff for ages at the end, which totally buzzed you out.
'Quit me Baby' was also amazing with Nick in his Earthlings t-shirt rotating
his head as he played all night. Alfs drumming was fucking tight and
robotically loose, he cracks those skins to pieces. Dave on keys mystified
the crowd with hawaiian shirt and hat. One thing that I like and always like
about Queens is theie lack of communication with each other and the crowd
yet they still remain the tightest of outfits. They're all musically
telepathic. Josh was the daddy of the night and all time and ignored the
crowd completely when they kept asking for Kyuss songs to be played. I
didn't realise that his style of playing was so smooth and simple but marks
his own territory totally.
The main thing which stands out now is that this was a gig before they hit
the big time with Rated R and all the crowd where genuine Kyuss worshipers
here to Queens paly for the firs time. Nowadays the larger venues they play
are packed with Slipknot kids on for the big media hype ride, but hey its
cool that the Queens started to appeal to a larger audience.
My favourite Queens moment this, it won't match Kyuss but its not supposed
to. Heres to 'Songs for the Deaf'.
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