Eagles Of Death Metal play quiet gig

Josh Homme's side project Eagles Of Death Metal played a unique ‘quiet' concert in front of Mick Fleetwood last night (April 11).

The band, in which Homme plays drums, played at the Rock'n'Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio at an event supported by the Fleetwood Mac drummer.

They played two songs without amplification to an audience of 100 people through miniature radio receivers, reports the BBC.

Fleetwood, who suffers from partial hearing loss, said he hoped the experiment would alert people to the hazards of loud music. 'I hope this makes the point that you can wear ear protection and still enjoy the concert,' he said.

'Who's to say? Could you see 18,000 people someday listening to Pink Floyd on headphones? Maybe, with a weird magic wand.'

The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association measured the unamplified sound at 62 decibels compared to 124 decibels for the same set with amplification â€" equal to that of a jet engine.

Meanwhile, Queens Of The Stone Age's own tour was last week interrupted once again due to a sick frontman. Posting on qotsa.com, Homme wrote: 'I would just like to say I'm really sorry for cancelling last night's Minneapolis show. I have been trying to sweat out this flu that has kept me in bed w/ a 101+ fever for four days now. After doing my best to make it through the Vic Theatre show in Chicago, things took a turn for the worse. It's as if I haven't fully recovered from the illness that stopped me cold in Europe.'

'I know that some of you drove great distances for the Minneapolis show only to find it was cancelled & I know how pissed I would be… I will play the rest of the dates no matter what mental or physical state I'm in.'

However, he also hit out at posters on the message board who questioned the band's motives for missing shows.

'But then, I did an unfortunate thing... for the first time I read some of your posts. I will be responding to some of you directly. My name will be JOSHUA. I say this so that you know who it is that you are listening to when I respond to what you have written.'

'Please try to remember that we (the Queens) have worked hard to make this site as cool a place as possible for the community we've built together (all of you & the Queens) to hang and shoot the breeze. Whenever I meet people from the site on the streets, I treat you w/ respect and I ask that you treat my loved ones with that same respect. This isn't another piece in a conspiracy puzzle. It's fuckin Rock n Roll...Thanks for listening, Joshua Homme.'document.write(unescape("