Concert Review: Eagles of Death Metal at the Henry Fonda

If you were at a concert in L.A., and you spotted four beautiful women at the bar, each of them with a full handlebar Yosemite Sam moustache and a pair of aviators, would that seem odd to you? Under normal circumstances, you might begin to question your current level of inebriation. But at the Eagles of Death Metal show at the Henry Fonda on Feb. 4, it was perfectly normal to spot clusters of guys and gals wearing realistic stick-on moustaches in tribute to Eagles frontman Jesse “Boots Electric” Hughes (above).

Boots Electric and the rest of the Eagles, with the help of Queens of the Stone Age drummer Joey “The Sexy-Mexy” Castillo, shook the stage with an hour and a half set that sampled heavily from the band’s second album, “Death By Sexy,” which, based on throngs of dancing fan, was a crowd favorite.

The band began by busting through a few songs off their new album, “Heart On,” including their latest single, “Wannabe in L.A.,” but one question loomed large in the packed theater: Where is the band’s other founding member, Josh Homme?

Halfway through set, the crowd got their answer. Hughes began to call for “Baby Duck,” Homme’s EODM nickname. Drunk as a skunk, in true badass rock star form, Homme swept onto the stage and (sans instrument, unless a beer bottle counts) powered through three fuzz-filled rock ballads, including a raucous rendition of Stealers Wheel‘s “Stuck in the Middle With You.”

Interestingly enough, the other standout track on the setlist was a cover of The Rolling Stones‘ “Brown Sugar” with Homme on lead vocals. “Just so ya’ll know, basically half the songs from Eagles of Death Metal are based on that song,” Hughes said, after leading Homme off stage in a brotherly embrace.

Other Highlights of the show included the thundering “I Want You So Hard” and the dance-inspiring “Cherry Cola,” both featuring Homme on drums in place of Castillo.  After the onslaught of rock subsided and the band took their final bow, one thing was clear: With their in-your-face riffs and catchy All-American (sex-driven) lyrics, The Eagles of Death Metal have advanced far beyond what was once called a Queens of the Stone Age side project.

It may not be exactly death metal, but it fuckin’ rocks!