Them Crooked Vultures Live At TSB Arena, Wellington Friday 29th January 2010 With Special Guests Cairo Knife Fight by Nick Heslop

When you hear that 3 talented musicians who have already forged hugely successful careers are uniting to form a new musical project, it can only generate hype.
When the 3 talented musicans previous bands are Led Zeppelin, Nirvana, and Queens of the Stone Age that hype is enormous.
And when that same band announces that they will play 2 New Zealand shows when they are barely 6 months old we should count ourselves lucky.

From the starting drum groove in opening track 'No One Loves Me & Neither Do I' it was clear that the nearly capacity crowd at TSB Arena was in for a no nonsense rock show delivered with determination and grit.
When the snaking guitar lines entered it was only natural for them to pulsate in time - and pulsate they did.
Them Crooked Vultures treated Wellington music fans to over an hour and a half of dedicated rock that was played from deep within.

Josh Homme seemed at home in Wellington, much like his last visit in March 2007 with his other band Queens of the Stone Age. Often joking with the crowd with phrases like "I've been thrown out of the best places in the world" and "We're gonna play this song extra hard...as hard as we can", and at one stage allowing two girls to stand inside the front barricade commenting "We don't wanna crush the ladies. We wanna be good to the ladies, right boys?.." before launching into a grooving version of Scumbag Blues.

The push-pull tempo changes into solid groove of Elephants and almost country lick inspired as yet unreleased Highway One only excited the crowd more, and when it was time for Josh to do band introductions before New Fang he couldn't even get to the microphone before the crowd erupted into a roar for John Paul Jones.

Dave Grohl was on a mission to destroy his baby blue DW drum kit. Hitting harder than almost any current drummer, it was hard to see his constant smile behind the constant flying hair and beads of sweat. But when he did stop between songs, it was easy to see that he is happier than ever back behind the kit. More ferocious than in his Nirvana days, its almost like he's drumming like its his last gig ever.

Touring guitarist Alain Johannes showed his brilliance with a short solo mid set before the laid back 'Bandoliers'. An upbeat 'Mind Eraser, No Chaser' with its catchy sing-a-long chorus worked its magic on the audience and proved that their album is even better live.
Josh's vocals were haunting in 'Caligulove' and John Paul Jones's extended keyboard solos during 'Spinning In Daffodils' were really something special and showed why these guys sold out shows before they even had an album released. 

'Interlude With Ludes' gave Josh the chance to roam the stage romantically with mic and cigarette in hand, and us the chance to see John Paul Jones play a Keytar - one of the many fantastic instruments that his tech Hugh Manson was on hand to supply. Some fans will know Hugh not only as John's long running instrument technician but also as the man behind Matthew Bellamy from Muse's crazy customised guitars.

A hilarious false start to 'Warsaw Or The First Breath You Take After You Give Up' prompted Josh to apologise "..even professionals like us make a mistake now and again.." before Dave screamed "1, 2, 3, 4!" into his mic and they launched into an epic extended version which closed the gig without an encore. The roar from the audience at the end was a sure sign of their appreciation of what had just occurred, and by the body language of the band and the smiles on their faces I'm sure it won't be too long before we see Them again.


Setlist:
No One Loves Me & Neither Do I
Dead End Friends
Scumbag Blues
Elephants
Highway One
New Fang
Gunman Blues
Guitar solo from Alain
Bandoliers
Mind Eraser, No Chaser
Caligulove
Interlude With Ludes
Spinning In Daffodils
Reptiles
Warsaw or The First Breath You Take After You Give Up

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