A record you should run out and buy: Too Young To Be In Love by Hunx and His Punx. Based out of Oakland, CA and fronted by flamboyant hairstylist Seth Bogart, Hunx and His Punx are quite legitimately squared up as homoerotic pop derived from the Shangri-Las and the Ronnettes. With an all-female backing band that includes Shannon Shaw of Shannon and The Clams, Bogart has assembled a genuine girl group to match his effeminate punk rock ‘n’ roll stature. The first single, “Lover’s Lane,” is a perfect example of the Hunx’s gritty pop dynamism, with Bogart’s sexual sneer deftly mingling amid Shaw’s luscious and booming womanly yowls. Signed to Hardly Art, Too Young To Be In Love was recorded in New York by Ivan Julian—a founding member of Richard Hell and the Voidoids—in a studio once graced by Ronnie Spector, an admitted influence of Bogart. Hunx and His Punx are currently on a North American tour with Shannon and The Clams, the remaining dates listed below.

04/26 – Montreal, QC – La Sala Rossa
04/27 – Toronto, ONT – The Legendary Horseshoe Tavern
04/28 – Detroit, MI – The Old Miami
04/29 – Chicago, IL – Empty Bottle
04/30 – Milwaukee, WI – Cactus Club
05/01 – Minneapolis, MN – 7th St. Entry
05/03 – Fargo, ND – The Aquarium
05/04 – Omaha, NE – Slowdown Jr.
05/05 – Kansas City, MO – The Record Bar
05/07 – Denver, Co – Hi Dive

Queens Of The Stone Age rolled into Oakland’s Fox Theater last night, touring off the reissue of their classic 1998 debut/self-titled LP. The show—highly anticipated by Queens fans in the Bay Area—had been sold out since the day after tickets went on sale, and, as you might expect, the crowd was into it, to say the least. Here’s the set list from the near two-hour performance:

Regular John
Avon
If Only
Walkin’ On The Sidewalks
You Would Know
How To Handle A Rope
The Bronze
Mexicola
Hispanic Impressions
I Was A Teenage Hand Model
You Can’t Quit Me Baby
(first encore)
Monsters In The Parasol
Burn The Witch
I Wanna Make It Witchu
Little Sister
(second encore)
Better Living Through Chemistry
Go With The Flow
Song For The Dead

True to their word, Queens indeed played the full self-titled album, and included “The Bronze,” which would have been a crying shame to leave out. The only disappointment was the omission of  “These Aren’t The Droids You’re Looking For,” a b-side and personal favorite of the era.

All things considered, this was as strong a Queens show as you’re going to get, as they barely dabbled in their lesser material of recent years, “I Wanna Make It Witchu” being the only cheeseball stinker on the list. While Joey Castillo is built for speed behind the kit, and at times blasted through some of Alfredo Hernandez‘s pocket grooves, he pretty much owned it back there, and stayed true to the dynamics of Queens Of The Stone Age. Even Josh Homme turned back the clock a little bit, rolling his rock star antics back to perhaps 2005. That is to say he didn’t make a complete ass of himself, which has become customary in recent years. His stage banter was not worth one single goddamn, but hey—it coulda been a whole lot worse.

This was the type of show that every old QOTSA fan has been waiting for. They’ll never release anything close to Queens Of The Stone Age ever again—if they release anything at all—but last night that simply didn’t matter. Long live Queens.