Queens Of The Stone Age played Auckland’s Spark Arena last night, the latest stop on their The End Is Nero tour to promote latest album In Times New Roman, and it was clear the group are at the top of their game.
Taking the stage to a cover of Nat King Cole’s “Smile” (‘Smile though your heart is achin’ …’) the group didn’t say a word, instead driving an enthusiastic crowd wild by launching straight into hits “No One Knows” and “The Lost Art Of Keeping A Secret”.
It would be fair to say that I have not been the most committed or loyal Incubus fan.
Actually, it would be accurate to say that they were not my favourite act in the nu-metal movement of the late nineties; I much preferred their peers the Deftones, KoRn and Limp Bizkit, and later Linkin Park. It was all noisy, chunky guitars and a fairly straight-forward drum beat for me.
The rain. Oh, lord, the rain.
We arrived at Mt Smart Stadium around 6.15pm and quickly joined the crowd lined up at Gate S, a small gate giving access to the South Stand, an uncovered, seating-only area at the opposite end of the stadium from the large stage set up to house the Foo Fighters and opening act Weezer.
A new batch of CD Reviews – this month I take a look at the the latest effort from pop-punksters Paramore; chill out and try not be disappointed by the latest from David Gray; and re-visit the debut by grunge rockers Nirvana. Enjoy!
ARTIST: Paramore
ALBUM: BRAND NEW EYES
RATING: 3.5 out of 5
I’m going to be honest – to start with, I didn’t know if I liked Paramore or not.
ARTIST: Alice in Chains
ALBUM: BLACK GIVES WAY TO BLUE
RATING: 4 out of 5
Generation X readers of this magazine may recall Alice in Chains, the often forgotten or overlooked Seattle-based metal group who emerged around the same time as grunge spearheads Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden, though established themselves as different by shunning some of grunges shall-we-say less appealing aspects, and embracing vocal and guitar harmonics as one of the cores of their songwriting.
ARTIST: La Roux
ALBUM: LA ROUX
RATING: 3.5 out of 5
You could be forgiven for thinking that the synth-pop sound had died an honourable death in the early 1990s, following the virtual demise of Neil Tennants’ the Pet Shop Boys and Annie Lennox going into more rock-centric territory with the Eurythmics.
Like everyone, I’ve been following the news of pop star Michael Jackson’s death closely, trying to figure out exactly what happened to one of the most talented, most gifted musicians to ever walk the earth.
ARTIST: Grizzly Bear
ALBUM: VECKATIMEST
RATING: 4 out of 5
Back with their third full length album, Brooklyn-based indie act Grizzly Bear have released one of the most critically acclaimed albums of the year with Veckatimest.
ARTIST: Eskimo Joe
ALBUM: INSHALLA
RATING: 2 out of 5
From the distant shores of Western Australia comes the latest from critically-acclaimed, award-winning rockers Eskimo Joe.
ARTIST: Midnight Youth
ALBUM: THE BRAVE DON’T RUN
RATING: 4 out of 5
When it comes to over-played pop music you can hear on every station from Kaitaia to Invercargill, the general rule of thumb is that it isn’t usually lifted from a great album.
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