Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme defies a $10,000 smoking fine in Detroit

Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme defied a threatened $10,000 fine for smoking backstage during the band's set at Detroit's Ford Field on August 6, lighting a cigarette onstage as he closed the show. The rock band are opening for Foo Fighters on their North American stadium tour.

Earlier in the set, Homme had complained to the crowd about the venue's no-smoking policy and the fine the band risked for breaking it. Closing with "Song for the Dead," he told the audience not to let "corporate assholes" dictate their behavior, pointing to the cost of parking and "overpriced drinks" from what he called scalpers, before lighting up. It is not known whether the band was ultimately fined.

The Foo Fighters' "Take Cover" tour began August 4 in Toronto and runs through September. Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl said he brought QOTSA along to honor a friendship dating back to 1992, when he first saw Homme's earlier band Kyuss play Seattle's Off Ramp club. "A lifelong bond that goes far beyond the sound we've made together," Grohl said of the pairing.

The Detroit show was QOTSA's first North American outing since their orchestral "Catacombs" tour in April and May, and the band played an 11-track, hits-heavy set including "In My Head," "I Sat By The Ocean," "Go With The Flow" and "No One Knows."

The band recently launched its own fan complaints hotline, described as taking "no bitching too big" and "no whiny too tiny," continuing Homme's running theme of pushing back against friction around the tour.