Them Crooked Vultures at the Hammersmith Apollo was one of my favourite gigs of 2009, so I had high expectations from this gig.

This charity gig was for the Teenage Cancer Trust, a charity who support teenagers suffering from cancer. The gigs at the Royal Albert Hall were the brainchild of Roger Daltrey, a patron of the charity, and these charity gigs are now into their 10th year. TCV were the first of 10 nights at the Royal Albert Hall. What a way to wake the hall from it’s slumber after a long Proms season. I’m sure the old lady’s still in shock.

The evening started with the support act,Little Fish an Oxford based three-piece rock act.  Although they had no basist, their sound was very conventional rock. The lead singer, wearing her Led Zeppelin t-shirt, no doubt in reverence of John Paul Jones, commanded the stage. Her style was reminiscence of the ‘4 Non Blondes’ lead singer, powerful with a wide range, though a times, touch much range. Little Fish managed to fill the immense space of the Royal Albert Hall holding the audience throughout their performance.

This was the first gig I’ve been to at the Royal Albert Hall. I love the Albert Hall. It’s one of the most impressive venues in the UK. It’s not as big as say the O2, but it always seems vast. Although it may not have the best sound, it’s still an awesome venue.

It’s not the first time I’ve been to RAH. I’ve attended numerous Proms. The crowds at these events are often very small but despite this, the hall can at times get extremely hot. Last night with an almost capacity crowd, it was uncomfortably hot.

Them Crooked Vultures came on the stage about 9pm. Kicking off 90 minutes of thundering rock music. (My ears are still ringing 24 hours later).

The first thing that was clear to me is that they’re now more relaxed with each other. On some of the early songs such as ‘Dead End Friends’ there was a looseness that only comes from a band who understand each other and last night they were on fire from the very first minute. Some of the comments on TCV’s own forums felt that TCV were on autopilot last night, I think that was unfair. I thought they genuinely were more relaxed then when I saw them in December.

Last night TCV were loud. It’s probably the loudest the hall’s been since Zep played their famous 1970 gig. Like December, the set list was basically the songs from the first album. Like December the songs benefited from the freedom of playing them live, allowing four talented musicians to display their virtuosity through a number of solos.

One disappointing aspect for me was that there was no encore. Collectively, the band can draw on possibly the most awesome material. Just because this is their ‘new thing’ doesn’t mean they shouldn’t call upon QOTSA, Nirvana, Foo Fighters, or Zep’s immense work. Robert Plant for example still uses Zep stuff at his gigs moulding the songs to suit the band’s style. Hopefully, by the time the next tour they have more content.

Photos

Them Crooked Vultures @ RAH on Flickr

For the first time this year, I was unable to get a ticket through legitimate means – so I had to hit ebay. Luckily the prices weren’t too bad, but hopefully next time there’s a big gig, people like me who managed to get through to the payment screens, have their payments taken.

The Vultures had decided to close their UK leg at the Hammersmith Apollo in the middle of December, at a time that happened to coincide with snow in London. The night before the gig was my work’s Christmas party and I was unluckily enough to be snowed in at work, spending the night in a sleeping bag in my office. But I had planned ahead and made sure I brought my ticket with me so that I could head off to the gig on the Friday morning.

The support act were Sweethead, the side project of fellow Queens of the Stone Age’s member, Troy Van Leeuwen. I’d seen Sweethead earlier in the year when they supported ‘The Eagles of Death Metal’. They’re one of the best support acts I’ve seen this year and I suspect they converted quite a few people in the audience who seemed to receive them warmly. The lead singer Serrina Sims, did a great job not only of carrying the vocals but also covering the numerous technical problems the experienced.

‘Them Crooked Vultures’ came on the stage around 9 and then the aural assault started.

I’ve not seen QOTSA or the Foo Fighters live. Although I have a few of the Foo’s albums, I’ve never really ‘got’ them. So haven’t seen Dave Grohl drum since Nirvana and boy does he drum. It’s a long time since I’ve seem somebody pound the drums like him. Swirling around this aural assault (and I made the mistake of standing too close to the sound stacks), is the irrepressible John Paul Jones, Alain Johannes on guitar and Josh Homme.

The Vultures, started off with the ‘Nobody Loves Me & Neither Do I’ which just seemed to slide us all into the mood. It’s an excellent choice for an opening song. With it’s numerous changes of pace helping to get the crowd going.

From their on in, it was 90 minutes of non stop rock. Concentrating mainly on their debut album, they did manage to introduce one new song that had John Paul Jones on mandolin. It seemed that all of the band, but especially JPJ, were enjoying themselves. I think JPJ is really enjoying being out on the road again playing in front receptive crowds and it appeared there were lots of Zep fans in the audience who agreed. It was great to see.

The set finished up with the neverending (in a very good way) and the night’s highlight, ‘Warsaw or The First Breath You Take After You Give Up’. Which allowed the group to jam away and take the song in several different directions building up to end a great night’s music

And that was it. No encores, just 90 minutes of aural delight. It wasn’t quite the best gig of the year, that honour went to the Dead Weather. But it was a close run thing. If they play the UK again. I’ll be there. But I suspect next time they tour the UK, they’ll be playing bigger venues than Hammersmith.

Photos from the evening on Flickr