Report/Photos:Them Crooked Vultures Live

The Higgs Boson of rock descends upon the Bay Area, Oakland's Fox Theater, Nov. 19

By David Downs

Led Zeppelin, Foo Fighters, Queens of the Stone Age combo Them Crooked Vultures tore up their second California date in history Thursday night. Like rapacious raptors, they swept into the Fox Theater in Oakland with a mind to shred, masterfully combining about 100 years of experience in the best rock and roll bands on Earth. Even their roadies looked cooler than normal roadies. Like hand-picked, MVP roadies.

"Fuck it. Let's Dance."

That was the band's status update on Facebook when they began streaming their entire, self-titled debut LP for free this November, and "Dance" was the only mandate to the sold-out crowd. Foo Fighter Dave Grohl and Zep's John Paul Jones warmed up opener "Nobody Loves Me and Neither Do I" to wild cheering, but right off the bat, lead singer Josh Homme's guitar refused to work.

Homme stood back unflustered and swigged a beer for a few bars while the guitar tech did his job, but the rest of the band didn't miss a beat. They didn't stop, or get confused or flustered. Grohl just began brutalizing his modest drum kit in an impromptu intro jam with Jones. The rhythmic duel of rock deities didn't feel forced or lost, and when Homme finally came in, they launched as though nothing had happened. Such gleeful, relaxed improvisation set the tone for the whole night, conveying the message that "We are the pro-est of the pros and we are having a damn good time."

The entire phenomenon of Them Crooked Vultures has Christmas coming early in 2009: the first whiff of a project in August; tantalizing video clips of Grohl, Homme, and Jones jamming in some dark, dank studio. Then October radio single "New Fang" - straight from the QOTSA factory, buttressed with a beefier new rhythm section. Call it Vultures of Death Metal. The free iTunes single "Mind Eraser, No Chaser" in late October - a Mondo Generator Classic of robot-rock that set the stage for the big November leak. TCV's people have played the Internet like a keytar, streaming the entire album online after it leaked, and turning "New Fang" into a Rock Band level.

As such, the audience was right there with the new band Thursday, knowing a fair amount of words and going apeshit for the singles. Mosh pits: check. Crowd surfing: check. John Paul Jones switched between about five instruments including bass, keyboards, and mandolin. At one point, Homme played slide guitar with a Corona and he ended the night drinking Ketel One straight from the bottle. Dave Grohl remains a smiling, animalistic blur, a walking rock god.

With a repertoire of thirteen published songs, the show clocked in at just over an hour with no encore and none really expected or needed. Nothing TCV has done or will do threatens to overshadow or undermine what they've already contributed to the rock canon. Instead, they masterfully complement it, as well as deliver that rare feeling of scarcity in an age of abundance.

It was like witnessing an evanescent element, a primitive reordering of elementary particles likely to vanish from existence as fast as it appeared - a super-heavy Higgs Boson of Rock.

[Photos Credit: David Downs]