Josh Homme + Friends Benefit for Sweet Stuff Foundation w/ Dave Grohl, Beck, Chad Smith + More

 

Ever find yourself watching half of Queens of the Stone Age performing a classic 70s slow jam with Beck and tennis legend John McEnroe, and wonder to yourself, “What in the fuck IS this and how am I lucky enough to be here for it?!” That was just one of the thoughts racing through my mind at the Josh Homme + Friends Sweet Stuff Foundation Benefit Concert on Wednesday night, March 20, 2024 at the Belasco in Los Angeles, CA.

The all-star concert was to raise money and awareness for the Queens of the Stone Age frontman’s nonprofit, Sweet Stuff Foundation, which aims to provide financial assistance for musicians and recording engineers who are suffering from an illness or a disability and need a bit of help.

The event was hosted and emceed by a fancily dressed Homme, who went through two tuxedo changes each more sparkly than the next, and promised us a night of surprises. He entertained the crowd with his comedic banter throughout the night as a slew of his famous friends showed up to perform. The eclectic lineup included Dave Grohl, Beck, Bill Burr, The Kills, Sarah Silverman, Arctic Monkeys’ Matt Helders, Eagles of Death Metal’s Jesse Hughes, Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Chad Smith, John McEnroe and Patty Smyth, plus many more.

The house band, aptly titled the Sweet Stuffers, included fellow Queens of the Stone Age members Michael Shuman on bass and Troy Van Leeuwen on guitar, tennis legend John McEnroe on guitar, and a rotating list of drummers that included Homme himself, Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl, Red Hot Chilli Peppers’ Chad Smith, Arctic Monkeys’ drummer Matt Helders, and comedian Bill Burr.

The song choices of the evening were equally as eclectic as the lineup, and most, if not all, were completely unexpected.

In a unique twist, a magician – Justin Willman, creator of the Netflix series “Magic For Humans” – opened the show and was followed by the hard rock band, Vivant, which consisted of 11 and 12 year-olds that included Homme’s son Ryder on drums. They performed solid and impressive covers of Led Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song” and Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs” as a tin bucket labeled “college fund” was passed around.

Watch Vivant perform “Immigrant Song” below:

Next up, Homme brought out Jesse Hughes, a friend of his since their high school days in Palm Desert, and his cofounder in Eagles of Death Metal.

Hughes and Homme dished out two EoDM classics, “Stuck in the Metal” (based off of the Stealers Wheel “Stuck In The Middle”), followed by “So Easy,” during which Homme played drums ON Hughes and his guitar.

Watch the full Eagles of Death Metal performances below:

The Kills’ Allison Mosshart and Jamie Hince didn’t disappoint with the impressive performance of two of their songs, “New York” and “Baby Says.”

 

Beck showed up to perform a duo of rare songs, “Fume,” which he said he’d not played since 1994, and a solo acoustic version of “Hollow Log,” before Homme and the Sweet Stuffers house band joined him to cover Seals & Crofts’ “Summer Breeze.”

Watch their performance of “Summer Breeze” below:

Watch their performance of “Fume” below:

Comedian Sarah Silverman stopped by to dish out 7 minutes of awesomely crude jokes, one was so delightfully distasteful that it shocked even me…and I don’t shock easily.

Annie Clark, the singer-guitarist known as St. Vincent, gave us a beautiful  reimagining of the Patsy Cline classic, “Crazy.”

When Homme attempted to introduce comedian Bill Burr, he got upstaged by Dave Grohl and Chad Smith who argued over who was actually Homme’s biggest and best friend. This, of course, resulted in a comedic drum battle.

Watch the Grohl-Smith drum battle below:

Burr played drums with singer Patty Smyth, who sang a pair of Go-Go’s hits – “Our Lips Are Sealed” and “We Got The Beat.”  Ava McEnroe, Smyth’s daughter with husband John McEnroe, also had singing duties on “Our Lips Are Sealed.”

Watch the videos for “Our Lips Are Sealed” and “We Got the Beat” below:

To overpowering cheers from the crowd, Grohl took the stage and made Homme cry with an original platonic love song he wrote about him and their decades-long friendship.

Watch Dave Grohl perform his original song for Josh Homme below:

Chad Smith joined the Sweet Stuffers for a cover of the Zombies’ “Time of the Season,” which included Smith interrupting the vibe of the song with a hard rock drum solo, and Homme telling him, “That was a sexy tune and you just took it to Fresno.”

Watch the full clip of them performing “Time of the Season” below:

For the show’s finale, all of the friends, family, and guests were invited back onstage to sing the ending of the Beatles’ “Hey Jude.”

As Homme explained, Sweet Stuff is a family-started, family-run foundation that’s close to his heart, and .98 cents of every dollar raised goes directly to those who need it. Tickets for this benefit sold out in 5 minutes and raised over $250,000. I’ve seen some people complaining online that the Belasco was too small to hold such a show, that they were too far back to see, and that future benefit shows should be held in larger venues. Please don’t…an intimate venue like the Belasco was perfect for this and a larger venue would destroy the entire vibe. Homme promised another benefit show next year, so I guess we will see what happens!

To donate or for more information visit www.thesweetstuff.org.

Check out the complete photo gallery from the Sweet Stuff Foundation benefit show below:

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