[Update 6/5/25]: Fans can experience the first-ever (authorized) concert in the Catacombs of Paris with the new Queens of the Stone Age concert film, Alive in the Catacombs. Out now via the band’s website, the live document captures a stripped-down, fan-less concert recorded the day before QOTSA canceled their 2024 summer tour so frontman Josh Homme could undergo emergency surgery.
Filmed on July 8th, 2024 at the subterranean resting place of over six million people (“the biggest audience we’ve ever played for,” Homme joked), Alive in the Catacombs pairs the band with a three-piece string section for a rare acoustic performance. According to a press release, the band made all musical and artistic decisions with deference to the Catacombs.
“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,” Homme said in a statement. “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.”
Queens of the Stone Age were the first band ever authorized by the city of Paris to play a concert in the Catacombs (though many musicians have done it before illegally). Homme had envisioned performing in the sacred space when he first visited the Catacombs nearly 20 years ago, but “QOTSA, being law-abiding citizens, waited until their vision was sanctioned.”
Fans can order Queens of the Stone Age Alive in the Catacombs to stream or download here. Those who order before June 7th will receive access to 28 minutes of behind-the-scenes footage, along with streaming and download access to the film. Check out the trailer below. The band will return to U.S. stages next week for a small run of shows, including a set at Bonnaroo, before heading back to Europe to make up for their canceled tour. Find tickets and dates here.
Queens Of The Stone Age — Alive In The Catacombs [Official Trailer]
[5/6/25] Last year, Queens of the Stone Age became the first rock band in history to play the historic Paris Catacombs. Though tickets were not available to the public, fans can experience the concert with a forthcoming live release titled Alive in the Catacombs.
Queens of the Stone Age offered scant details on Alive in the Catacombs beyond a 23-second teaser clip. The “No One Knows” chart-toppers did not share a format or release date, only stating that it is “coming soon.” The teaser clip shows the 200-year-old subterranean resting place for over six million people—dank and dark, with water dripping from the ceiling and a musk you can smell through the screen—and frontman Josh Homme‘s iconic silhouette.
Queens Of The Stone Age — Alive In The Catacombs [Teaser]
Queens of the Stone Age announced their plans to become the first band to play the Catacombs at Hellfest Open Air last June, though those were put in jeopardy days later when QOTSA canceled their entire European summer tour so Homme could fly back to the U.S. for unspecified emergency surgery. The band made no follow-up statement regarding the Catacombs performance, and this teaser is the first fans have heard about the project since July 2024. For many, the saga brought to mind the band’s infamous 2007 performance in a German salt mine 2,300 feet underground. Though the band filmed the concert for a full live release, all that has surfaced in 18 years is ten minutes of footage, allegedly due to Warner Music Germany hoarding the distribution rights, according to Homme during a Reddit AMA.
The band has yet to provide details on what format Alive in the Catacombs will take, but Homme floated some ambitious ideas last summer at the Hellfest press conference.
“I’d like to take some of these ideas, which are sort of ubiquitous, like a live record, and do something a little different with them,” the band’s frontman said. “Because I think with the way the internet is, people can see us play live so simply, on so many different ways, that I’d like to do something live that cannot be seen in a way that is not often done.
“And we release those versions,” Homme continued. “And let the fans control the rest. The fans can control the rest of how to see us live. Come see us play, watch it online. I don’t care how a baby takes his medicine—blown up the ass or down the throat. However you find our music and however you wanna find it is fine for me, but I would like to try to do some of these ideas in a different way. So, that’s why I mentioned the Catacombs.”
Queens of the Stone Age haven’t performed since July 6th, 2024, at I-Days in Italy, though Homme has made a few appearances at the Mark Lanegan tribute concert in London and Chad Smith‘s star-studded L.A. wildfire benefit at a 300-person bar in Malibu, CA. The band will return to the stage for a two-night run in Boston on June 10th and 11th, kicking off a run of eight domestic shows ahead of a make-up European summer tour. Find tickets and tour dates here.