Queens Of The Stone Age tonight (July 14) interrupted their mid-set performance of ‘No One Knows’ at Madrid’s Mad Cool festival to protest against the fenced-off VIP area at the foot of the stage.

During the refrain in the track, frontman Josh Homme demanded that security let everyone in to the exclusive pit – and they relented.

“Security, you’d better let those people in,” he said. “I’m not playing until you let them in… you’d better let them in because you work for me tonight.”


Relenting to his demands, security eventually did let the massed crowd into the VIP area, while Homme started a chant of “Let them in! Let them in!” When the crowds started flooding in, he said, “That’s right, come on in… It’s a Queens Of The Stone Age concert and you can do whatever you want to do… Let them in. Look at my face. Let them in or I will walk down there and let them all in.”

When satisfied, Homme said, gnomically: “Yesterday is gone, tomorrow never comes, right now is all you’ve got.”

Later in the set, Homme continued to take issue with the festival’s security, saying “Security go, easy on these kids here… I’ll kick all the security out and the whole place will run wild. Be nice or be gone.”

Later still, he said: “The reason I told them to let people in there with you guys is I’m getting sick of everyone telling everyone what to do. I’m sick of everyone being offended. We travelled thousands of miles to play your party, to give you a night to remember. And we won’t leave until you’re fucked up, high, dancing, making out with somebody and having the best night of your life. Otherwise, you’re just a bunch of domesticated animals.”

After ‘Go With The Flow’, Homme smashed a set of their own light stacks against the stage, calling for more madness as they closed out the set. He later kicked it into the pit.


Queens Of The Stone Age are one of a handful of huge acts bringing Mad Cool to a close tonight; also on the bill are Nine Inch Nails, Dua Lipa and Depeche Mode, to whom QOTSA dedicated ‘Make It Wit Chu’. The weekend has already seen sets from Kasabian, Arctic Monkeys, Jack White, Tame Impala and many more.