them crooked vultures
got to catch their show in town last night. all i can say is holy shit! what a great performance. it was definately a different kind of experience seeing them and knowing that no one had a true expectation of what was coming. sure there are clips and short videos out on youtube, but they didn’t really give me a full understanding of what i was about to see.
in the times that we live, it is a rare thing to go into a concert and not have any idea what you are in for. maybe if the band is new and just starting out or local and can’t afford any recordings, then you would have no idea what you are in for. but for a band of this calibur, with 3 huge rock stars in it, to have heard basically nothing before you see them is pretty much incomprehensible. i have to say it was a great experience and was not disappointing at all!
let me just come right out and say that john paul jones was the member that surprised me the most. dave grohl was a total monster on the drums, as i expected, and josh homme was his usual stoner rocking self. but john paul jones! holy shit. he played a different instrument on about every song. i saw him play 4 string bass, 6 string bass, 8 string bass, keyboards, a fucking keytar (!), and then one on of the last songs, an instrument that i didn’t even know existed; a slide bass (!!). i guess i knew he had to be a pretty amazing musician, given the output of led zepplin, but i had no idea that i’d be in for that kind of virtuosic performance.
the one horrible thing about seeing a band like that and then not having any recorded music to listen to is the fact that as soon as it was over i wanted to listen again. i’m settling for some bootlegs i found online to tide me over until the new album comes out.
i would tell everyone i knew to see them if they get the chance but i have no idea how much more or extensive touring they will actually do. it will definitely be an album to keep your eye out for though!
them crooked vultures official site is here
found the bootlegs here (in the downloads section)
[edit 11.18.2009] looks like the site i got the bootleg from is gone, but the album is out now so you should be able to find it (legally or otherwise)
I was at this show, and I disagree that no one knew what to expect. Everyone knew, via their numerous social networdk updates and bootleg videos.
I love Josh Homme immensely, but I was really disappointed in this show. I drove 3 hours each way to show my support and they couldn’t pul together an encore? I think this band was formed to sell merchandise, end of story. The only reason I went is to see Josh Homme and Alain Johannes and I left disappointed.
it’s not like i expected them to come out and play classical music, and given the personalities involved (especially homme, as all his projects have a similar sound to them) it’s not like it was completely unexpected tone/quality/phrasing-wise. but more that you wouldn’t know what to really expect specifically… jammy songs? heavy songs? slower more stoner/doom/sludgy songs? it was definitely more uptempo than i expected, and had a lot more catchy riffs and stuff than i thought it would.
as for your comment about encores, i have to totally disagree. for a band with no publicly available recorded output, a 90+ minute set isn’t too bad. i can see how driving for 3 hours for a 90 minute show would be pretty shitty, but what did you expect honestly? if there was one more song tacked on at the end, would you have felt any differently?
the main problem i think is that encores have come to be expected from a lot of music fans. i don’t see how they should be guaranteed at all. encores used to be a special thing that not everyone did on every show. i kind of wish it went back to that, so that if you did happen to see one you felt like you got to be a part of something special.
and yeah, i’d give you that the band might just be a vehicle to sell merch if they actually had any to sell. they were out of L and XL tshirts in one of the designs, and the other two designs weren’t that great. i mean a 3/4 sleeve baseball style shirt? meh
thanks for sharing your opinion though! always glad to have another viewpoint other than my own on here.
Chickenfoot is still better!