You could smell SEMA Fest before you even saw it. The sweet cocktail of burnt rubber, high-octane exhaust, and desert dust hung thick in the neon-glow air outside the Las Vegas Convention Center, where thousands of gearheads, headbangers, and adrenaline junkies poured in to see Queens of the Stone Age, The Black Crowes, and Neon Trees perform at what’s fast becoming Sin City’s most combustible collision of speed and sound.

This wasn’t your average music festival. It was horsepower meets power chords, a place where turbos and tube amps shared the same decibel level. It’s SEMA Fest, the thundering afterburner to the annual SEMA Show, that mecca of chrome and custom everything. If the engines didn’t rattle your bones, the music sure did.

Between sets, the grounds became a wild carnival of combustion. Tricked-out Optima Unleashed muscle cars drifted across dirt courses, spitting up clouds that glowed orange in the stage lights. The Urias Globe of Death saw motorcycle daredevils from Brazil and Russia crisscrossing inside a 16-foot steel sphere, defying physics with every rev.

Then the amps buzzed to life.

The sound of Neon Trees cutting through the chaos was like firing up a V12 after idling too long. Tyler Glenn, decked out in a cheetah print shirt, led the Utah quartet through a turbo-charged opening set that felt built for this scene. There was “Animal” with a synth-pop snarl that got the pit jumping, followed by the fiery “El Diablo”. The Trees are no strangers to bright lights, but under Vegas’ electric sky, they felt supercharged. When they busted out “Everybody Talks” to close, Glenn turned the crowd into a revving engine of its own, with call-and-response choruses firing like pistons at redline.

Neon Trees – SEMA Fest – Convention Center – Las Vegas, NV – 11/7/25
[Video: Jeff Nash]

As the drifting smoke settled, The Black Crowes strode out like seasoned mechanics about to rebuild the soul. Chris Robinson, rocking a shirt featuring Keith Richards’ smirking face, took one look at the scene and marveled at the mix of rock ‘n’ roll and burning tires that had come together.

The band tore into “No Speak No Slave” like they were driving in the devil’s own drag race, guitars snarling and cymbals hitting like crowbars on sheet metal. “Rats and Clowns” and “Sting Me” followed with greasy, soulful swagger, while Chris spun the mic stand like a wrench in motion.

By the time they hit “My Morning Song” and “Hard to Handle”, the whole festival was in full Southern-fried swing, a sea of fists pumping in rhythm. Between songs, Chris got reflective about “dark days,” but hit a hopeful note about the approaching dawn.

He wasn’t kidding. “She Talks to Angels” shimmered under the Nevada night, a rare moment of peace before the hammer came back down with “Remedy”. Robinson’s harmonica tore through “Thorn in My Pride”, and the set closed in a blues-rock explosion that felt like peeling out on an empty highway at 3 a.m.

The Black Crowes – SEMA Fest – Convention Center – Las Vegas, NV – 11/7/25
[Video: Jeff Nash]

Then it was time for Queens of the Stone Age, the undisputed kings of modern desert rock. Josh Homme walked out under blood-red lights, at times with a cigarette dangling from his lip, looking like he’d just rolled straight out of a muscle car and onto the stage.

He and his bandmates lit the fuse with “You Think I Ain’t Worth a Dollar, but I Feel Like a Millionaire”, then tore into “No One Knows” like pistons firing off pure chaos: tight, snarling, and unrelenting. Homme prowled the stage, alternately smirking, shredding, and sneering through the haze.

In true Vegas fashion, the theatrics were just as sharp as the riffs. Before busting into “Carnavoyeur”, Homme spotted the sign language interpreter offstage and dedicated the song to him, with a bit of his signature snark in tow.

QOTSA cruised through “Paper Machete”, “Smooth Sailing”, and “If I Had a Tail”, before careening into “The Lost Art of Keeping a Secret” and a slinky, sultry “Make It Wit Chu”, with Homme teasing the crowd with bits of The Rolling Stones’ “Miss You”.

When the band closed with “Go With the Flow” and a monstrous “A Song for the Dead”, it felt less like an ending and more like a burnout that just wouldn’t quit. Every drum fill, every feedback scream, every cloud of exhaust and echo merged into one perfect, primal roar.

Queens Of The Stone Age – SEMA Fest – Convention Center – Las Vegas, NV – 11/7/25
[Video: Jeff Nash]

By the end of the night, SEMA Fest had transformed the Las Vegas Convention Center parking lot into a loud, glorious gathering. Neon Trees kept things bright, The Black Crowes brought the grease and grit, and Queens of the Stone Age turned it all into molten metal. Between the drifting cars, the death-defying bikes, and the thundering amps, SEMA Fest proved again that rock and machines speak the same language: power.

Next up: Neon Trees hit Denver on December 6th, The Black Crowes rest up before heading to Japan in April 2026, and QOTSA keep their Catacombs Tour rolling through San Francisco (November 10), Los Angeles (November 11th), and beyond.

As for SEMA Fest 2026? Buckle up. If this year was any indication, it’s only getting louder.