Queens of the Stone Age, Finsbury Park review: Josh Homme's band conquers a difficult venue

Sign up to Roisin O’Connor’s free weekly newsletter Now Hear This for the inside track on all things music Get our Now Hear This email for free Get our Now Hear This email for free SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy “I wanna suck, I wanna lick/ I want to grind and I want to spit,” spews out the laconic, 6ft 4 frontman Josh Homme on highlight “If I Had a Tail”, from Queens of the Stone Age’s deliriously successful 2013 album.Like Clockwork. From the “right” angle QOTSA are a giddy experience, but it doesn't pay to stray too far to the sides at this fiendishly challenging venue where the beers queues are monstrously long, the site hugely congested, and security heavy handed. The typically topless septuagenarian tears through his brief, 12-song set, which kicks off with the lascivious “I Wanna Be Your Dog” and ends with “Gene Genie”, his old pal David Bowie's glam-rock stomper. QOTSA enter the fray an hour later and while the sound quality is a little washed-out the Californian sextet are a well-drilled proposition, with drummer Jon Theodore impressive, the riffs beefy and Homme's vocals robust.