Latest news with #QOTSA
Perth Now
15-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Perth Now
Queens Of The Stone Age announce intimate UK and European gigs
Queens Of The Stone Age have announced intimate UK and European shows on The Catacombs Tour. The rockers will be performing at carefully curated venues in Britain and on the continent in October – kicking off in Milan and taking in Berlin and Amsterdam before the concluding show at London's Royal Albert Hall. The UK and European leg will be sandwiched between the No One Knows band's gigs in North America across October and November. The Catacombs Tour was inspired by the band's experience of playing in the Parisian underground burial network – in a performance that was later released as a concert film. The gig was the first of its kind and consisted of brand new arrangements of Queens Of The Stone Age's work, including the addition of a string section and creative alternatives to a drum kit. The rockers said in a statement: "The Catacombs Tour will see QOTSA draw upon the spirit of those sublime subterranean renditions and infuse it into reimagined versions that promise to twist the volume knob in both directions. "Enhanced by assembled ensembles, the end result will be a precious few unique and intimate performances unlike any previous QOTSA tour." Fans should expect to hear classic tracks as frontman Josh Homme previously hit out at artists who do not perform their popular hits live. The 52-year-old musician told the Tuna on Toast With Stryker podcast in 2023: "I understand that I'm always going to play No One Knows because I still like playing that song and that's something that it's an agreement with the audience. I assume that this is a part of coming here to see us, and here you go. "When there's bands that don't want to play their big song or their big songs, I always think it's a little c**** to do that. Acting like a song that a lot of people like is a burden is just a strange reaction to the gift that your fans have given you. Seems like an odd reaction." Queens Of The Stone Age UK and Europe The Catacombs Tour 2025 dates: October 18 – Milan, Italy – Teatro Lirico Giorgio Gaber October 23 – Berlin, Germany – Theater des Westens October 24 – Copenhagen, Denmark – Koncerthuset, Koncertsalen October 26 – Amsterdam, Netherlands – Royal Theater Carre October 27 – Antwerp, Belgium – Queen Elisabeth Hall October 29 – London, UK – Royal Albert Hall
ABC News
19-06-2025
- Entertainment
- ABC News
How Josh Homme overcame a health crisis for Queens of the Stone Age's Alive in the Catacombs
Josh Homme has held a life-long fascination with the Paris Catacombs, the world-famous ossuary sprawling across a 320km maze of tunnels and chambers 20 metres beneath the streets of the French capital. "I heard about the catacombs as a boy in history class," he tells Double J's Dylan Lewis. Consecrated as the Paris Municipal Ossuary in 1786, the remains of an estimated 6 million people lie there, their skulls and bones lining the walls. What could be cooler to a kid intrigued by the taboo of death? "I think the fascination with death, trying to live your life in a way that makes dying seem like you understand it by the time you're there, has always been there since I was a little boy." As the 52-year-old frontman of world-renowned rock band Queens of the Stone Age (QOTSA), Homme is now celebrating Alive in the Catacombs, a short film and accompanying five-track album documenting the group's subterranean performance. Released (fittingly) on Friday, the 13th of June, the project's inspiration came to Homme "on a day off in Paris around 18 or 19 years ago. I tried to go to the catacombs and the line was like three-and-a-half hours long. "So, it's got an even more entitled beginning," he jokes. "How can I skip the line!?" It took a lot of patience and "conversations over many years" with French authoroties to secure the necessary permissions, says Homme. "It's a shame the French don't have a word for bureaucracy," he deadpans. "[Also] they thought our intention was … to take advantage, maybe. But quickly, we were able to dispel that." With a little help from local producers to grease the wheels, QOTSA were able to convince the powers that be, becoming the first band to gain legal access to the catacombs. "But definitely not the first people to play there," Homme points out. From orchestral concerts in the late 1800s to rumoured underground raves, the Catacombs have a long music history. Cataphiles, the community of urban explorers who illegally tour the underground networks, even established a clandestine cinema. "The police went in [2004] and there was a movie projector and all these seats. Other times, there was a full dinner table. They'd go back the next day and it's all gone, a note saying: 'Don't try to find us.'" That long history is "part of the charm", Homme continues. "It's a very intense place to be." Rather than bring their signature heavy rock show, QOTSA radically reworked material from their back catalogue to suit the new setting. Pared-back versions of 'Kalopsia' and 'Suture Up Your Future' feature a small string section, acoustic guitars, chains for percussion, and an electric piano hooked up to a car battery. Homme imagined, "What if I was writing these songs now, again, for this space? The first time I ever went in there was the night before. So, we're walking with the director and sort of improvising and listening to what the Catacombs is telling you what you could do." Uncharacteristically tender for a band famed for its grit and swagger, the lean arrangements expose and underscore Homme's lyrics and the velvety croon that's seen the musician hailed as 'the ginger Elvis'. "I imagined it would be cathedral-like, with endless reverb. But the ceiling is dripping, the floor is gravel, and the air is thick with humidity," he explains. That haunting ambience leaked into the recordings, while stark lighting and performances augment the intimacy of the concert film. "I will say playing there felt like getting on our knees and putting your head down. It had a very religious connotation to it. We were there to respectfully do our best." Working with La Blogothèque, a Paris-based production company best-known for their intimate, cinéma-vérité-style Take Away Shows, QOTSA shot each song in just a few takes. "There were more than a few times where it felt, 'Yeah, OK … we're not doing it again,'" remarks Homme. "There's no edits or fixing. It is what it is, playing down there and that's it. "We could've done eight [songs] but were just like, 'No, man, never leave them wanting less. It's OK to stop.'" The feeling, Homme believes for him and the millions of spirits listening along, was satisfaction. "You're talking about an audience that doesn't get a lot of performances," he adds with a smirk. Adding a layer of unexpected significance was the fact Homme felt like he was at death's door during filming. "My temperature was not the same as everyone else's," he confesses. "So, my experience was much different." That's an understatement. Homme was battling mounting illness related to surgery for his 2022 cancer diagnosis. In the lead-up to the Catacombs shoot on July 8, 2024, QOTSA cancelled several European tour dates for Homme to undergo emergency treatment in Venice. "I'd been asked to stop playing for days by then, and I knew the tour was over," he admits. But despite doctor's orders, he wasn't going to let a health crisis ruin a passion project decades in the making. "I just wanted it so bad, you know? … I broke out of the emergency room. "I went, 'Where's the rest room?' And I was in my gown, I grabbed the rest of my shit [and] I split." Homme's travel agent was waiting at the back door with a getaway car and a rational question. "She was like, 'Why are you doing this?!' "Because you never get the chance to show what you're really made of. I revel in [and] romanticise these moments. It felt like: 'You're here, so what are you going to do? Are you going to do it or not?'" Homme soldiered on through the Catacombs shoot while battling a 40°C fever. Peak rock'n'roll behaviour? Or purely irresponsible? Either way, Homme is clearly a man who lives by the words he sings in 'Suture Up Your Future': "I don't care if it hurts/Just so long as it's real.' The day after the catacombs, "I was on an emergency flight. I was in surgery within three hours of landing." Queens of the Stone Age ended up cancelling the remainder of their 2024 shows. The cover of Alive at the Catacombs is lifted from the film's opening shot of Homme lying dead still on an altar before rising for opening track 'Running Joke/Paper Machete'. The sequence was a matter of necessity as much as artistry. "It was more out of mere exhaustion," explains Homme, who just needed somewhere to lie down. He remembers director Thomas Rames exclaiming, "Don't move!" "And I was like, 'Good because I can't,'" he chuckles. The frontman upgraded to resting on a cot between takes. When the crew broke for lunch, Homme was unable to face the claustrophobic spiral staircase back up to the surface and instead lay down and took advantage of the deathly quiet. "I thought, 'If there was ever a moment to be haunted, this is that moment,'" he remembers. "In all honesty, I felt so held close, held fast. It felt like, 'Don't just play here. Stay here.' And I slept like a baby." His cot situated out of sight in a poorly lit hallway, Homme rose upon hearing "two young French interns … crunching on the gravel, speaking in French. "I just sat up and said, 'What time is it?' They both went: 'Arrrggghhh!' I was like, 'Pardon mois!'" Alive at the Catacombs takes pride of place on a bucket list that includes starting a supergroup with Dave Grohl and Led Zeppelin's John Paul Jones, and his idol Iggy Pop for 2016 album Post Pop Depression. "It was always a dream to do this. For now, I'm just going to sit in the proverbial Jacuzzi of this and just bubble. I'm not going to look forward right now, I'm just going to look straight down."
Scoop
09-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Scoop
Queens Of The Stone Age: Alive In The Catacombs - Audio Release Set For June 13
By popular demand, Queens of the Stone Age are releasing the audio of their spellbinding Alive in the Catacombs performance. Appropriately, the music arrives this Friday the 13th across all digital platforms via Matador Records. The band has also announced a limited vinyl edition of the AITC audio. Only 5,000 copies will be pressed of this special one-sided vinyl edition. Housed in a gatefold jacket with foil print inside and out, the AITC vinyl edition contains an exclusive 24-page booklet of behind the scenes photos taken by long-time collaborator Andreas Neumann. Each copy will be individually stamped and numbered. Pre-orders are available now at for a release date of August 22nd. The AITC film and subsequent audio release is QOTSA distilled down to their most elemental form — Joshua Homme, Troy Van Leeuwen, Michael Shuman, Dean Fertita and Jon Theodore augmented by a three-piece string section, employing chains and chopsticks as makeshift percussion instruments. Entirely unfiltered, as every song was recorded live in a complete take with no overdubs or edits. The audio was recorded by Mark Rankin, François-Xavier Delaby, Henri d'Armancourt and Alban Lejeune, and was produced by Mark Rankin. Final mixes by Mark Rankin, Joshua Homme and Michael Shuman. The tracklisting is as follows: Running Joke/Paper Machete Kalopsia Villans of Circumstance Suture Up Your Future I Never Came Queens of the Stone Age have released Alive in the Catacombs, the film, and an accompanying behind the scenes documentary, Alive in Paris and Before. Both films are available now to purchase or rent via Queens of the Stone Age: Alive in the Catacombs was produced by La Blogothèque and directed by Thomas Rames, and was filmed and recorded in July 2024 in Paris, France.
Scoop
06-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Scoop
Queens Of The Stone Age: Alive In The Catacombs
Queens of the Stone Age have released Alive in the Catacombs and an accompanying behind the scenes documentary, Alive in Paris and Before. Both films are available now to purchase or rent via For the next 48 hours, fans who purchase Alive In the Catacombs for download or stream will also receive Alive in Paris and Before: an exclusive behind the scenes chronicle of the tumultuous days leading up to the Catacombs performance. An unflinching document of an emotionally charged period that included the agonizing decision to postpone the remaining The End is Nero tour dates due to Joshua Homme's medical emergency, Alive in Paris and Before is essential viewing that gives deeper context to the triumph that is Alive in the Catacombs. Queens of the Stone Age: Alive in the Catacombs is the cinematic realisation of a dream 18 years in the making, an audiovisual document of the band's long- rumored performance in the tunnels of the famed Catacombs of Paris. Filmed and recorded in July 2024, Queens of the Stone Age: Alive in the Catacombs captures QOTSA as you've never seen or heard them before. This utterly unique, once in a lifetime experience features a carefully selected setlist spanning the QOTSA catalog, each song chosen and epically reimagined for the Catacombs. The result is an unprecedented incarnation of QOTSA at their most intimate, yet surrounded by literally millions of human remains - 'the biggest audience we've ever played for,' says Joshua Homme. Queens of the Stone Age: Alive in Paris and Before and Queens of the Stone Age: Alive in the Catacombs combine to form a distinct arc: The documentary finds the band at its most vulnerable, while the performance captures one of the most triumphant moments in QOTSA's storied history.
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
These Rock Icons Just Made History Playing a Concert Surrounded by ‘Dead People'
Rock isn't dead, but the audience for Queens of the Stone Age's new concert film was. The modern rock legends—behind songs 'No One Knows,' 'Go With The Flow,' and 'I Sat By The Ocean'—announced their new concert film on May 13, one that shows them playing deep below the ground in the famed Catacombs of Paris. Queens of the Stone Age: Alive in the Catacombs features the band playing a career-spanning setlist while utterly surrounded by human remains. The Catacombs of Paris are a 200-mile ossuary, with several million bodies buried within it in the 1700s. Skeletal remains are largely exposed, and many walls are built of skulls and bones. Due to the nature of the catacombs—there are no outlets to plug into—the band plays acoustically for the most part, with makeshift percussion instruments and a three-piece string section. 'We're so stripped down because that place is so stripped down, which makes the music so stripped down, which makes the words so stripped down… It would be ridiculous to try to rock there,' said frontman Josh Homme in a press release. 'All those decisions were made by that space. That space dictates everything, it's in charge. You do what you're told when you're in there,' Josh added. QOTSA filmed the concert in July 2024. Josh had wanted to play in the Catacombs since he first visited them 20 years ago. At the time, the City of Paris had never permitted any artist to play within the tunnels. QOTSA are the first to get such an okay. 'The Catacombs of Paris are a fertile ground for the imagination. It is important to us that artists take hold of this universe and offer a sensitive interpretation of it,' said Hélène Furminieux of Les Catacombes de Paris. 'The recordings resonate perfectly with the mystery, history, and a certain introspection, notably perceptible in the subtle use of the silence within the Catacombs.' The concert film arrives on June 5 via Queen of the Stone Age's website.
