Josh Homme Lights Up Onstage in Detroit, Defying $10,000 Fine Threat
Queens Of The Stone Age frontman Josh Homme used his band's August 6 opening slot for Foo Fighters at Ford Field in Detroit to publicly blast the venue's no-smoking rules — then lit a cigarette onstage before the set ended. According to NME, Homme told the crowd the band could face a $10,000 (roughly £7,410) fine for smoking backstage. Detroit Metro Times reported he was specifically frustrated that the venue had no designated smoking area at all. As of reporting, it remains unclear whether the fine was actually issued.
What happened onstage
QOTSA closed their set with "Song For The Dead," during which Homme addressed the crowd directly, telling them not to let "corporate assholes" dictate their behavior and urging fans to "do what you want to do." He went on to note that fans had already paid for parking, faced marked-up drink prices inside the venue, and dealt with inflated scalper ticket prices.
He capped the speech with "fuck Flock cameras too" — a jab at license-plate recognition surveillance systems — before lighting his cigarette.
The Detroit date marked QOTSA's first North American appearance since wrapping their orchestral "Catacombs" tour in April and May. The band played an 11-song set that night, including "In My Head," "I Sat By The Ocean," "Go With The Flow," and "No One Knows"; NME did not publish the full setlist.
The Take Cover tour and the Grohl-Homme connection
Foo Fighters' "Take Cover" stadium tour kicked off August 4 in Toronto, with QOTSA supporting for the full run through September. Ahead of the tour, Dave Grohl said bringing QOTSA along was a way of honoring their "lifelong bond." He recalled first seeing Kyuss at Seattle's Off Ramp club in 1992, where he met Homme, with Kyuss's album Blues for the Red Sun becoming the soundtrack of that summer. Thirty-three years later, Grohl called sharing the stage with Homme one of the most rewarding moments of his career.
Separately, QOTSA has recently launched its own "complaints hotline," promoted with the tagline "No bitching too big."