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“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.”
— Joshua Homme
Queens of the Stone Age will bring the visual dream to life on June 5 with the premiere of “Alive in the Catacombs,” a one-of-a-kind concert recording of the band’s long-rumored performance in the tunnels of Paris’s famed catacombs.
Filmed and recorded in July 2024, it showcases the band as you’ve never seen or heard them before. This unique, once-in-a-lifetime experience features a carefully curated setlist spanning the entire QOTSA repertoire, with each song epically reimagined for the atmosphere of the catacombs. The result is an unprecedented incarnation of QOTSA at their most intimate, surrounded by literally millions of human remains: “the biggest audience we’ve ever played for,” according to Joshua Homme.
The Catacombs of Paris are a vast 200-mile-long ossuary beneath the city’s surface. With a foundation of several million bodies buried in the 18th century, the skeletons are largely exposed, with walls largely constructed of skulls and bones. Homme had dreamed of a QOTSA performance in the catacombs for nearly 20 years, a dream that began after his first visit to the city. However, Paris had never given permission for an artist to perform in the sacred tunnels. QOTSA waited patiently for their vision to be approved.
Hélène Furminieux (Les Catacombes de Paris) says: “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. 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, especially perceptible in the subtle use of the silence within the Catacombs.”
Every aesthetic choice, song, and instrument configuration was carefully tailored to the catacombs, from the acoustics and ambient sounds to the atmospheric lighting that amplifies the music. Far from the soundproof walls of the studio or the comfort of stage monitors, “Alive in the Catacombs” shows how the band not only rises to the challenge, but embraces it wholeheartedly.
Homme recalls, “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. 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.”
The result is QOTSA stripped down to their most basic form: Joshua Homme, Troy Van Leeuwen, Michael Shuman, Dean Fertita and Jon Theodore, augmented by a string trio, using chains and chopsticks as improvised percussion instruments. “Alive in the Catacombs” finds Queens of the Stone Age stripped down to their bare bones, out of necessity (you can hardly call it “unplugged” when there are literally no outlets to plug anything into), even using a car battery to power an electric piano. And completely unfiltered: every song was recorded live in a single take, with no overdubs or edits.
Queens of the Stone Age’s “Alive in the Catacombs” is produced by La Blogothèque and directed by Thomas Rames, and is released by Queens of the Stone Age and Matador Records. The film will be available to rent or purchase through qotsa.com. Fans who purchase “Alive in the Catacombs” before June 7 will receive exclusive access to behind-the-scenes footage, as well as full streaming and download capabilities. An audio-only version will be announced in the coming weeks.
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