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Review: Them Crooked Vultures at Stubb’s
Can we maybe think about retiring the term “supergroup”? It’s such a slippery superlative, one that clumsily and inadvertently confers greatness onto any group of previously unaligned but accomplished musicians.
Take the new and buzzy as hell Them Crooked Vultures, for example. Throw Foo Fighter/drum god Dave Grohl, Queens of the Stone Age honcho Josh Homme and John Paul Jones (no intro needed) onto a stage and you’ve instantly got one of the coolest and most interesting groups out there rocking faces off. But super? Not yet.
Not that such hair splitting mattered much Thursday night when the three principals and utility musician/QotSA bassist Alain Johannes took the stage at Stubb’s, one night after taping an episode of Austin City Limits and 20 or so hours before playing in Zilker Park for Pt. III of their ACL ‘09 hat trick. Just the sheer star power under the lights was enough to draw cheers as TCV kicked off with a full-speed guitar assault before easing back into a seven-minute, five-movement workout that approximated Homme’s primary group with bluesy, fuzzier accents in most of the right places.
Throughout the 75 minute performance there were continual glimpses of the fun each member was having; Grohl as the perfectly evolved hard rock drummer in his ideal environment, Homme as the frontman of a muscular group that can push him stylistically (even if it doesn’t as much as it should) and Jones as the old timer hero once again playing in a group that matters.
Those ancillary attractions made up for the fact that the first hour or so lacked for engaging, distinct songs, which is one of the eternal drawbacks of these kinds of side projects.
Things took a turn, however, after Jones broke out a keytar as the primary accompaniment to Homme on an ultra-weird, funeral home lounge number called “Interlude With ‘Ludes.” Essentially saying, “We’re just following our whimsy up here and having fun,” it let the band get to the heart of what TCV is all about and unlocked a groove that gave the show’s final 15 minutes an undeniable upswing.
With band and audience in sync and seemingly having a grand time, there’s reason to hope the day this supergroup lives up to its billing isn’t too far off.
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By Erik
October 2, 2009 9:06 AM | Link to this
Good show, not great. Really disappointed they only played 1 hour 15 mins, with no encore. They seemed in a hurry to get out of there. While they probably don’t have a ton of content yet to play, maybe throw a couple of covers in if they need to, but I cannot say show was worth the price.
By bobke
October 2, 2009 9:28 AM | Link to this
Hopefully some of these folks get paid enough to shower and perhaps visit the barbershop….
By Reader
October 2, 2009 9:38 AM | Link to this
I love how you and Joe have conflicting reviews, y’all need to get your chit together over there at the Statesman.
By bite**me
October 2, 2009 11:29 AM | Link to this
i saw them tape acl. completely awful. in my ten years of attending these shows i have never once left before it was over. we left this one three songs in. i am certain that dave and paul can hold their own in any situation, but it baffles me as to why they chose the front-man that they did. what a train wreck.