Them Crooked rock stars
by Sarah Feldberg

Up on the second balcony of The Joint during Saturday night's Them Crooked Vultures show, a woman was getting into it. Dressed in jeans and a cropped shirt she whipped her hair around her and danced in a style reminiscent of a 1970s rock-doc. It was hypnotizing.

And she wasn't the only one rocking out. Opposite the anonymous fan, Them Crooked Vultures also were feeling it, albeit with a bit less hair action, except for drummer Dave Grohl, whose furious head swinging might have given a lesser man whiplash. But this was not a night of weak-necked men or half-hearted rock. Them Crooked Vultures are what media folk love (and musicians loathe) to call a supergroup — singer Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age, Nirvana drummer and Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl, and Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones. In case you're wondering where in that list you should scream the loudest, it's when we get to Mr. Jones. Ready? Woot! Woot!

Indeed, despite his talented band mates — and the addition of none-too-shabby utility man Alain Johannes on guitar — the Vultures' two-hour Joint performance likely could have been called The John Paul Jones Show and drawn the same crowd. If we'd had one of those hokey noise-o-meters the mere mention of John Paul Jones' name would have cracked the red zone, and not without reason. Jones easily was the star of the Joint's one-year anniversary show, taking turns on at least half a dozen instruments, including keyboard, keytar, something fiddle-ish and more varieties of bass than I previously knew existed. The man's got chops to spare and an instrument closet befitting his decades in the music business.

As the foursome played through songs off their self-titled first album like "Dead End Friend," "No One Loves Me & Neither Do I" and "Bandolier," each band member added their own ingredient to a solid rock stew that ricocheted between blues, psychedelic and hard rock without ever sounding unnatural. The Vultures don't genre hop so much as they slip into each style like they're putting on a well-made coat. Somehow, they all fit.

And they play the role of rock stars just as easily. Josh Homme in particular performs with so much swagger he practically could style his hair with it. Without coming off like a total jerk, the man smoked cigarettes mid-set and swigged vodka straight from the bottle. When he said he'd been kicked out of nearly every bar and club in town, I was inclined to believe it wasn't all talk.

http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2010/apr/19/them-crooked-rock-stars/

Weekend in Vegas: Them Crooked Vultures rock The Joint
by John Katsilometes

Notes on a Monday: The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel put on a general-admission, hard-rock show Saturday night starring Them Crooked Vultures. For those of us who have jostled for a suitable standing location for these types of concerts, including those at the old Joint, this sold-out show was not uncomfortable. The metal rails separating sections, and the slightly tiered raking, of the floor of the hall keeps the masses in good order.

It could have been, too, that many fans of the musicians onstage would rather stand stoically and enjoy the show than push toward the stage. If there isn't a concert T-shirt reading, "Too Old To Mosh," there should be (I did see one, "Middle-Class Act," that was pretty funny).

Members of the arbitrarily named Them Crooked Vultures span generations, dating to the 60s and 1960s. John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin — how is it that he is 64? Sprightly, youthful in his stage manner, amazing musician; he even makes the keytar (the good-idea-at-the-time synthesizer fashioned with a guitar strap and played as such) look dignified. Edgar Winter might be the only other musician who can carry around that hybrid instrument and not look sadly dated.

Former Nirvanan and Foo Fighter Dave Grohl never disappoints. As someone tweeted during the show, behind the drum set the flailing Grohl looks like "Animal" from "The Muppet Show." Except for Animal's red hair, this is true. And front man Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age, most famously) is a happily dangerous individual who boasted that he'd been thrown out of every club in Las Vegas. Or maybe he said he'd been thrown out of 100 clubs. Whichever, he seems that sort, the type of guy likely to hurl a shot glass into the Chihuly ceiling sculpture at Bellagio.

The band played everything off its first album, a blend of rock influenced (not coincidentally) by Led Zep and Nirvana, and members have said they are working on a second release for this year. I hope they'll be back. They're worth standing for.

http://www.lasvegassun.com/photos/galleries/2010/apr/19/joint-them-crooked-vultures/