You could tell that something big was about to occur as I neared The Palace in St Kilda with black clothing dominated the scene. As I entered the room, it was already jam packed with booze swilling punters, which took me a little by surprise for this Monday evening. I was already excited as The Palace seemed a relatively intimate space to be seeing Queens of The Stone Age.

Unfortunately, we missed locals Wolf & Cub but as The Futureheads took to the stage, it appeared that either the crowd were here to see them or were just plain up for anything as there was a definite buzz in the room. Either way, the band delivered a solid set. I am new to the band and I definitely liked what I saw, they played with complete enthusiasm and seemed to be old hands at performing and engaging the punters.

With funky basslines, they delivered their radio hits Hounds of Love and Meantime. These guys sound typically British cranking out pop/rock and adding an almost acapella slant to create a very vocally driven, uplifting sound. Ending on a Kate Bush number Wolf, the Futureheads left the stage to a very warm fond farewell.

The crowd thickened, a red glow infiltrated the room and Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf, the childrens’ song, played and Queens of The Stone Age took to the stage.

On first thoughts my gig accomplice was concerned that we had positioned ourselves right in the thick of it, however even though the punters were very excited, they were so much more vocal than physical.

The band launched into Feel Good Hit of the Summer which sent the room into a frenzy and really shook things up. They seemed on a mission to crank out some tunes, playing a substantial amount of their older material such as The Lost Art of Keeping a Secret before entering banter with the punters. Josh Homme seemed to be a little out of whack, however, with their track First it Giveth failing to keep in tune. I can only gather that this could be the case due to them having just stepped off the Splendour bus! I had been warned about the guitar solos Josh seems to love so much, and it wasn’t long into their set that we were treated to some. I just don’t understand the solos, but the crowd seemed appreciative.

One of my favourite tracks of the night In My Head was up next, off their latest album Lullabies to Paralyze, the whole band seemed right in their element.

Josh had a little fun with the audience, particularly one person who he dubbed ‘nut man’ telling him ‘to bring your tiny nuts forward’ and then dedicating Blood is Love to his ‘new best friend’. Seeing the band chat with the crowd is what live music is all about.

I was in a special sort of heaven once they played Little Sister - a beautiful version it was. Leading up into a Munsters-type-creep with Tangled Up In Plaid, a very Kyuss sounding number.

After much noise was made, the Queens of The Stone Age returned for an encore pulling out No One Knows which Josh mentioned was his favourite song, and play it well they did! After some deconstructing of some of their tracks and a healthy mix of material the band left the stage and to everyone’s disappointment the house lights came on.