Live review
Queens Of The Stone Age’s one-of-a-kind Catacombs Tour circles back to its Parisian home
20th October 2025
Reunited with the city that birthed their Alive In The Catacombs film, QOTSA revolutionise their live show with an orchestra and deep cuts to completely floor Le Grand Rex.
Crickets? The whistling wind? Slipknot’s terrifying ‘742617000027’ intro? When the lights go down inside Paris’ 2,800-capacity cinema-turned-venue Le Grand Rex, Queens of the Stone Age’s sound engineer lets this terrifying noise play out of the PA for nearly three minutes, staring behind the crowd with knife-like focus.
Suddenly, he makes his move. He hands a stool to Joshua Homme, who says his ‘bonsoir’ by parading through the crowd. Shoving it to his right, he sets up shop in front of the black curtain, with just one handheld light to guide his bandmates. The closest simulation, perhaps, of the haunting claustrophobia of the Paris Catacombs, where their stunning Alive In The Catacombs audiovisual project came to life last July.
When DIY visits the underground labyrinth the following day, we wonder how all 6’4” of Josh fit into this moist, cramped setting. Arranged like artistic sculptures in themselves, the overload of bones and skulls is frightening; the audio guide ends with a morbid message, “we hope to see you back here soon”. You can barely imagine the fire running through Josh’s mind that day, fighting for his physical health, surrounded by a permanent reminder of the inevitable.
For the first act of tonight’s three-part show, QOTSA’s power move is to play through ‘Alive In The Catacombs’ – uninterrupted and unspoiled. 11 days before Halloween, the cellos of ‘Villains Of Circumstance’ have never felt creepier, while drummer Jon Theodore carries the aura of a supervillain, rattling his chain in ‘Kalopsia’. Suited and booted, Mr. Homme could easily be mistaken for Heath Ledger’s Joker, shaded in the darkness.
The dénoument of ‘I Never Came’ races towards its conclusion, before the curtain flings back to reveal an orchestra – and the show's second act. Fitting for the end of the world, the stomping brass riffs of ‘Someone’s In The Wolf’ and ‘Song For The Deaf’ signal that we’ve swapped the Catacombs for the depths of hell. Jon’s forceful right foot transforms the bass drum thud of ‘Keep Your Eyes Peeled’ into 808s. There’s not a single greatest hit in sight.
‘Mosquito Song’ carries the night’s loudest cheer, before bassist Michael Shuman becomes the ice-cold frontman for ‘Auto Pilot’. “There’s nowhere else we’d rather be on the whole fucking planet than right here,” reckons Josh, thanking “national fucking treasure” and French producer Stéphane Saunier for tugging his Catacombs dream over the line.
Now, let there be guitar: the gritted teeth of ‘Fortress’; the War On Drugs-y folk-rock twang to unreleased song ‘Easy Street’. Steadying the ship all night are the incredible orchestra, who grind out the abrasive opening note for ‘The Vampyre of Time and Memory’. Layering the show like brickwork, the house comes crashing down to conclude with the ground zero of ‘Long Slow Goodbye’, a cappella, to a standing ovation. “This song is very much for this city. Most of your life you will be alone, but not tonight, and that’s the whole fucking point.”
For the band who once penned ‘Song For The Dead’, it now becomes blindingly obvious that this ‘Catacombs’ tour is about life; about the blood that runs through the veins of Queens of the Stone Age, and the showmanship that defines their DNA. Three decades in, they find new ways to defy belief: the film was stunning, this show is world-beating.
They may not dominate stadiums like their peers Arctic Monkeys or Foo Fighters. Sure, they’ll even play second fiddle to System Of A Down next year. But, now firmly in the "legends" category, we’re surely dealing with the most daring rock band in the world. For that, even the six million dead bodies below Paris can muster a round of applause.
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