Them Crooked Vultures

The stage is set, the amps are stacked, lonely guitars lay await and we sit in front of the bar in a joint called 'The Highline' waiting to hear a band called 'Them Crooked Vultures.' Rumors have flown for some time as to the origins and the unreal aura of a band this type. Their venues have all been small and intimate to keep the testimonies unique and true. The air smells of stale beer and the carpet is stained like that of a fifties movie theatre. The balcony in which I sit looms out over the crowd below and like the antique it is, creaks with each foot entering the my space.

Dave Grohl takes the stage first, and then the legend John Paul Jones strolls on followed by Josh Homme. The crowd breaks out, my face goes white and the show goes on. In this title moment I'm speechless and bewildered. Can he still play? Will they be able to keep up? What's it going to sound like?" The questions ran through my mind like Page's voice yelling through me the first time I heard 'Stairway'. The ancient chants were soon broken when Grohl hit the beat and Homme screamed into the microphone "We're unwanted strangers, Exploited & dangerous Unable to hide Or even dream of it," within the rights of they're new hit 'Elephants.' The venue hits a high and the band keeps ripping through them.

The fact that they chose to play in such a small venue impressed me in the fact that most rock starts live for the big stage. Here is a "Super Group" that's playing for a crowd no larger than three grand. They have the tenacity of the devil and the choice of a human. Their birth is one often not caught on tape, or witnessed " only heard about in the fairy tales of old. Call it greatness, or lessons learned, but 'Them Crooked Vultures' seem to have the Mojo it takes to pull off whatever they want; when they want.

The vultures are rock and roll at its finest, at an hour when most don't realize how much they need it. Bringing the old days in with the new, Jones instills much of the same rhetoric he did with Zeppelin. The need to be pushed to work harder, try that much more and not let a failing economy tighten you belt around your neck is what he fought for then, as much as now. The band exudes excellence and rightly so. Grohl and Homme have been around as long as any other wanting to be what Led was. They took their paths and amazingly ended up where they are today.

This Kerouacian dream ended with my feet drifting through Times Square. Advertising lights blinding the sky, tourists blocking my path, and a tired subway map guiding my way to the wormhole that will inevitably take me home. My ears ring with peace and my soul weeps in a bass that wept its wants directly to my soul. With a memory of Grohl's masterpiece easing my mind and a solemn voice inside whispering, "never miss them again."

Photo taken from amazon.com