Stag And Hunter Hotel, Newcastle
Friday 5 July 2019
Every now and again, an international touring act with no reason to go regional has added an unexpected Newcastle date, saving many fans the red eyed train trip home from Sydney. A chance to see a key member of both Kyuss and Queens of the Stone Age, two of the finest purveyors of heavy rock (at least before Queens disappeared into their own retro gazing navel) live and intimate in the front room of the Stag wasn’t one I could pass up.
I arrived for the tail end of Nick Oliveri’s “death acoustic” set, walking into a packed room full of punters mostly in the 35 and over age bracket, as the headlining talent yelled over a handful of roughly strummed punk tunes. It’s cool seeing him in troubadour mode but the thrill soon wears off as the songs almost uniformly cry for a cheap, distorted guitar and a raucous backing band to live up to what potential they do have.
If I sound harsh, I’m over stepping. It’s just plain boring more than offensively bad, like a bloke with too much drink in him and a guitar at a backyard party who insists on playing his own tunes that you’ve never heard. A butchered medley of Kyuss and Queens tunes at the end is still greeted with cheers, speaking more to the legacy of those bands and the sheer aura of cool awesomeness Oliveri exudes than to the quality of his performance.
The Svetlana’s get lost in a feedback laced, wall of punk noise cacophony from mid-way back in the Stag, but the cock eyed, confrontational intensity of frontwoman Olga burns brightly even from the furthest recesses of the room. When you brave the sweaty writhing bodies and get front stage, the sound opens up and drummer Diste becomes the star of show with his powerful playing wood-chipping his drum sticks in short order. The songs are short and sharp, the amps are adorned with posters of Vladimir Putin in Gene Simmons make up, and Nick Oliveri’s rough hewn roar (joining in on a number of songs to add shouted vocals) gets the raucous backing it needs. There’s no doubt they are a proficient unit, the crowd is way into it in the front quarter of the room and I’d see them again live, but I can’t see a purchase of any of their albums in my immediate future.
Backed by Black Armada, Oliveri rounds out his third set of the night playing bass on a set of stone cold Kyuss and Queens classics. Black Armada more than bring their A game, providing all the muscular, groove laden power these songs demand. The set list draws heavily on the Blues For The Red Sun album, which was always expected given it was the last Kyuss album Nick played on and considered by many to be their high water mark (not me, this little black duck spends all his Kyuss time in Sky Valley). Openers ‘Thumb’ and ‘50 Million Year Trip (Downside Up)’ are greeted rapturously and delivered in fine style, instantly dispelling any doubts as to the Gold Coast based band’s ability to deliver on the legacy of two adored bands. Drummer Jack Parkes in particular kills it, filling two pairs of sizeable shoes in Brant Bjork and Dave Grohl, nailing down the momentous fills topping and tailing ‘Song For The Dead’ with sublime aplomb. ‘Allen’s Wrench’ is monumentally good, ‘Green Machine’ is taut and powerful, there’s really nothing to fault here and everything to enjoy if you have even the most casual of interests in Kyuss (sure there are Queens tunes, and they are fine and bitchin’, but Kyuss is why I’m here).
It’s all over too soon, the man himself is universally praised as a down to earth champion and stand up member of the rock and roll fraternity. If you like 90’s stoner music, and you weren’t here, for the last set alone you made a mistake of epic proportions.
Reviewer : Roger Killjoy