A day of rest was turned into a dedicated night of rock and roll at the Palace on Sunday night. The old theatre was holding tight to its roof as The Eagles of Death Metal shook its foundations. Jesse Hughes is never one to disappoint, and yet another tour with Josh Homme’s absence would hardly deter the packed crowd. It rarely ever does with Hughes.

In appropriate form, Sydney four-piece The Protectors slammed through their half-hour to aptly warm the stage for the Californian rockers. Long hair, skinny jeans, plenty of falsetto and just the right amount of posing was the formula to The Protector’s set. They appeared to be Sydney’s very own Darkness, only without the excess flamboyancy and they flung their hair with pride as they belted out some great, straight up rock numbers. The band’s hefty touring showed in their energetic performance, which was short and sweet and highly entertaining, even if a fair chunk of the crowd didn’t seem overly enthused.

With the same short slot allocated for his set, Spiderbait’s now solo Kram would have been pleased with the big crowd now paying attention to the stage. The man was as casual as can be as he meandered about on stage amongst his band to take the front and centre mic instead of his usual drumming position. Arms up and airborne kicks were Kram’s – œthing’ for the evening, but his casual approach to the whole rock star image seemed really strange. Jumping from kit to guitar to nothing at all, it’s easy to see why Kram’s debut is titled Mixtape. The rockier Good Love and Silk Suits were highlights, though, as the acoustic selection seemed to send the crowd to the bars.

There’s no doubt about it – Jesse Hughes loves us. Appearing amidst an introduction of Can’t Get You Out Of My Head (Yes, try to imagine for a moment several hundred Eagles of Death Metal fans belting out a bit of Kylie), Hughes strutted over every inch of the stage to get a view of those who’d come to the show. In true rock star form, he couldn’t help but tell everyone how much he loved them before kick starting the show with the heavy favourite I Only Want You. The crowd closer to the front were like an unleashed pack of ferals in their packed, ‘mosh if you can’ mosh. Two songs later and Bad Dream made all of that look tame – with the crowd going mental for Hughes and co.

Queens of the Stone Age drummer, Joey Castillo was brutal up back on the kit; his arms alone making the kit look miniature. Hughes had most of the attention, though, slicking his hair, chatting to the ladies and just generally playing up his bad boy attitude. There were, of course, the odd pair of knickers thrown at the man, but the best bit of audience gift-giving was a blow up doll with Hughes’ killer mo. That, he responded, was the type of present he’d get from his ex-wife – with a blatant message ‘to go fuck yourself’.

Hughes was full of the dance moves, too, and made sure he thanked all the ladies for their own dancing. Given songs like Just 19, Anything Cept and the set closing Boys Bad News, it was hard not to dance along. At only 50 minutes, the main set seemed too short to be true, though, and it took several (very loud) chanting frenzies before the boys returned – with a five song encore in tow to make up for the not so timely set.

Oldie, Midnight Creeper got things rolling again alongside Brown Sugar, before Hughes paid further homage to Australia, thanking us for buying the greatest car in the world (the ute) and giving High Voltage a crack, despite admitting he only knew the chorus. Cherry Cola was delivered as a gift to one of the girls in the front row and Wanna Be In LA and Speaking In Tongues then gave the crowd a final few minutes to go crazy. Hughes told everyone he didn’t really want to be in LA, though – he was having too much fun in Melbourne.

The Eagles of Death Metal know how to have a good time and it’s evident that their fans do too. Catchy and jump-worthy hooks, cheeky lyrics and one hell of a personality up front made for a great rock show, far from the usual Sunday night relaxing.

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