Queens of the Stone Age have released their new concert film, Alive in the Catacombs. Recorded in July 2024, it marks the first time that an artist has been given permission to perform Paris’ famed underground tombs.
Several million bodies were buried in the Catacombs during the 1700s. Since most of the skeletons remain exposed, Queens of the Stone Age essentially performed to an audience of the dead.
“If you’re ever going to be haunted, surrounded by several million dead people is the place. I’ve never felt so welcome in my life,” frontman Josh Homme remarked via press release.
Why Did Queens of the Stone Age Perform in the Catacombs?
The Catacombs performance is something Homme has dreamt of for more than 20 years. However, the city of Paris had never sanctioned such an event.
“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,” remarked Hélène Furminieux, a representative for Les Catacombes de Paris. “Going underground and confronting reflections on death can be a deeply intense experience. Josh seems to have felt in his body and soul the full potential of this place. The recordings resonate perfectly with the mystery, history, and a certain introspection, notably perceptible in the subtle use of the silence within the Catacombs.”
Alive in the Catacombs sees Queens of the Stone Age delivering some of the most popular works, stripped down and reimagined for the unique space.
“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,” Homme explained. “It would be ridiculous to try to rock there. 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.”
Alive in the Catacombs arrives with an accompanying behind the scenes documentary, Alive in Paris and Before. Both films are available now via qotsa.com. Alive in Paris and Before chronicles the tumultuous days leading up to the Catacombs performance. It is described as “essential viewing” that offers “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.”
