It was my first time seeing the Eagles of Death Metal perform live, and I went into the evening of Aug. 22 anticipating an over-the-top spectacle on the First Avenue stage. I also was ready for some high-energy, perhaps slightly unhinged antics courtesy of frontman Jesse Hughes. In the end, I got what I expected. And more. But it turns out, more isn’t always more.
EODM’s second album, “Death By Sexy,” turned 20 in April, and at the start of this month the band began marking the milestone by playing the record in its entirety at stops across the United States. They’ll hit 23 cities here before heading to Europe in November for a second leg.
Mountain Head opened for EODM on Saturday for their final time on this tour. The Toronto, Ontario–based band, which was started by brothers Ben Hannah and Kyle Hannah, have spent the last several years intriguing audiences with their jangly, electro-tinged, pop-rock sound.
Both brothers sport long hair and beards, wide-brimmed hats, denim from head to toe, and gold-grilled teeth. They’re joined by bearded, gilded-toothed drummer Kevin Farmer, who also rocks a wide-brimmed hat atop his flowing, frizzy hair. (I actually could not stop picturing him as a costumed James Austin Johnson in an SNL skit.)
The siblings have created a mythology about their formation—something about a mountaintop shaman and a pair brothers who came down changed—but most of the schtick works because they have the musical talent to back it up.
During the first two songs of Mountain Head’s set, I noticed that I was intrigued and smiling. But after that, the repetitiveness of the lyrics, their frequently synchronized movements, and the length of each track all left me dazed. They definitely have a unique sound and vibe. But I think if they tweaked their performance even just a little by sprinkling in moments of quirky choreography rather than continuing it throughout each song, and not repeating their verses so often, their live performances would be more engaging and would feel less put-on.
Mountain Head was the perfect pairing with EODM, though, because neither band takes itself too seriously, and I’m fully on board with that. But there is such a thing as laying it on too thick.
Like I said, I knew going in that an EODM show would be a bit ridiculous. I mean, the band itself started as a joke. As the story goes, back in 1998 in Palm Desert, California, Hughes and his friend Josh Homme (who is also the lead vocalist of Queens of the Stone Age) began creating songs based off what they thought the Eagles would sound like if crossed with a death metal band. The punchline? That EODM doesn’t really sound like either of those things.
While Homme has remained a co-founding member even as his other band’s profile has dwarfed this one, he’s never really toured with them. In fact, while EODM was playing First Ave., Homme was with QOTSA, the opening act for a run of shows headlined by the Foo Fighters.
Hughes has been EODM’s constant on stage since Day One, and he’s also the band’s chief showman. The touring lineup these days rounds out with Leah Bluestein on drums, Scott Shiflett on guitar, and Dustin Douglas on bass. Additionally present Saturday night, off and on, was backing vocalist Phoenix Hughes, aka the newly minted wife of Jesse Hughes.
The couple’s dynamic is actually where I’ll start with my grievances with this show. To address the elephant in the room, Phoenix is about 30 years younger than her almost-54-year-old husband. But regardless of how I may or may not feel about their age gap, it was Hughes’ persistent comments to or about his wife, along with his hugging and kissing her again and again, that got my eyeballs rolling to the back of my head. I get that they’re newlyweds, but it was…a lot. It felt more like a teenager who pulls his girlfriend on stage during his band’s set at the high school talent show rather than a big-time rock band performing at a historic venue in front of a paying crowd.
My second and biggest complaint were the continuous, repetitive declarations of love for the fans in attendance. That sounds weird to say, but if you were there then you’ll know what I mean. At first the gushing words were heart-warming and appreciated. But after a while, especially when combined with the continuous asking if we were having a good time, they felt tiresome. I heard others in the audience grumbling about it, too.
I do understand where this showering of affection likely stems from, because Hughes has been through something most musicians (thankfully) never have or will. In November 2015, EODM was on stage at the Bataclan in Paris when the venue was besieged by one of several coordinated terrorist attacks across the city. At least 90 people died inside the theater.
Hughes and the band spent the next several years working through their trauma in public, in ways that were sometimes graceful and other times messy. EODM’s return to regular touring wasn’t a given for a while, and he addressed these feelings in front of the First Avenue crowd.
“About 11 years ago, we had a little trouble in France and I didn’t know if I was ever gonna get on the stage again,” he shared. “I wondered if I could get on the stage again. I felt like I was surrounded by darkness…not knowing how I was gonna ever be able to do something again that I love so much….
“And I looked into the sky and I said, ‘Lord! Help me! I need the light, Lord! Send me the light!’ And he sent me each and every one of you motherf—ers here tonight,” he continued. “And you may think that’s corny but it’s the God’s honest truth: I love you motherf—ers. You’re the reason I’m able to get up here and shake my d—k and have a good time. You’re the reason I’m able to get up here and love shaking my d—k and having a good time. You’re the reason I get to say ‘shaking my d—k and having a good time’ three times in a row! Can you dig it? Ladies and gentlemen, I love you! I love you, can you dig it?”
Alongside these banter breaks, the show had other moments of pause. There was a brief 60th birthday celebration for guitarist Shiflett that included a silky sash, cake, and quick sing-along of “Happy Birthday,” which was admittedly pretty adorable. There were also repeated pauses for the guitar tech to fix apparent issues with Hughes’ guitars.
Finally, we waited through a very extended interlude during what ended up being EODM’s last song, “Speaking in Tongues.” Here, Hughes worked his way through the crowd—for the second time that night—to climb on the railing of the mezzanine and partake in a shred-off with both of his guitarists as well as the brothers of Mountain Head. Was it entertaining? Sure. Was it too long and unnecessary? Definitely.
I’m grateful I got to see EODM perform, especially this album because it’s got some of their best songs, in my opinion. And in a time in the world when I feel we need to lift each other up more and express how much the people in our lives mean to us, I’m surprised to find I wanted less of it. But that’s because after hearing it over and over and over again, the words all but lost their meaning.
Setting that aside, though, there were plenty of positives about the event. The band sounded extremely tight and well rehearsed, and the vocals were top-notch. At one point, Hughes shouted out Will, “the greatest sound man on earth,” and I agree that he and his crew knocked the acoustics out of the park.
What’s kept Eagles of Death Metal durable through years of lineup turnover and all of the other noise is that the songs are rollicking good fun. To me, the band’s style of thick riffs, playful lyrics, and shouty-croony vocals are made for nights spent dancing with—but not smothering—the people we love.
Setlist
I Want You So Hard (Boy’s Bad News)
I Got a Feelin (Just Nineteen)
Cherry Cola
I Like to Move in the Night
Solid Gold
Don’t Speak (I Came to Make a Bang!)
Keep Your Head Up
The Ballad of Queen Bee and Baby Duck
Poor Doggie
Chase the Devil
Eagles Goth
Shasta Beast
Bag O’ Miracles
I Only Want You
Miss Alissa
Complexity
Heroes (David Bowie cover)
Speaking in Tongues
