When you purchase a ticket to see Eagles Of Death Metal,
you know you’re in store for a great night. They made their way onto the stage
to the sounds of ‘Ladies Night’ by Kool & The Gang. Jesse Hughes represents
everything you could ever want in a front-man — he’s eccentric, energetic and charismatic.
They opened their set with ‘I Only Want You’, which was the band’s first single almost twelve
years ago. From the beginning of the show, Hughes pronounced that they were ‘loaded’
(probably explains why they were late to the stage). The crowd could feel their
energy and this translated into a sea of moshing and awkward dancing.
Next
up was ‘Don’t Speak (I Came to Make a Bang)’. It was clear from this point that
the excitement levels weren’t a fluke and that the energy from their opener was
going to be around all night — I mean, once the EODM train is in full force,
don’t expect it to slow down anytime soon. ‘Complexity’ provided a chance for
them to show off material from their new album Zipper Down.
Hughes
made it clear that the show was for the ladies. Which is to be expected as much
of their tunes are about sex and their love for females. Hughes also took to
the microphone to share words on a much more serious issue — the
tragedy of the Paris massacre at their show at The Bataclan last November. The
one thing that stood out during the show was their genuine happiness they were feeling due to
performing to such a supporting crowd. Gratitude was written all over their
faces and I’m sure that there won’t be a moment on tour where they will take
for granted, and if anything, their negative experience has made them much more
thankful for what they do. After a brief moment of silence, Hughes made a statement
about the tragedy in true EODM fashion:
“The only way you stop the bad guys from winning is if we shake our dicks and have a good time”
Though
it’s hard to select which song was a ‘crowd favourite’ as the audience were in
their element for the entire night. Older favourites received the most love — this
included the ever so sexy ‘Cherry Cola’, ‘Stuck in the Metal’ and ‘I Want You
So Hard’. They also managed to squeeze in a few covers, including renditions of
‘Save A Prayer’ by Duran Duran and ‘Brown Sugar’ by the Rolling Stones.
Despite
the fact they played approximately fifteen tracks before they left the stage,
fans weren’t prepared to move a single step. They returned for their encore,
which went for another thirty minutes. Their encore consisted of Hughes going into
acoustic mode during ‘Midnight Creeper’, as well as a solo break by guitarist
Dave Catching. Though their encore seemed a tad too long, the crowd refused to
become restless and enjoyed every moment of it. The final track of the night
was ‘Speaking in Tongues’.
Every
EODM fan left the venue even more in love with everything the band stands for.
Not only did their stage presence impress, it was their attitude and perseverance
after everything they have endured that stood out the most. They seem like a new and improved version of EODM and nothing will ever stop them from
doing what they love. Rock on lads.
Words by Amy Smolcic
Photographs by Kristy Smolcic
...
