Queens of the Stone Age have turned a show they did last year in the famed Catacombs of Paris into a film.
Alive in the Catacombs, filmed in July of 2024, features the band playing a career-spanning setlist, with each song “chosen and epically reimagined” for the unique surroundings.
The Catacombs of Paris, a popular tourist attraction, is a 200-mile-song series of tunnels underneath Paris, filled with the bones of millions of bodies from the 1700s. In fact, many of the walls are literally built of skulls and bones. As QOTSA frontman Josh Homme puts it, it was “the biggest audience we’ve ever played for.”
Lacking electricity, QOTSA performed unplugged, with a three-piece string section and makeshift percussion instruments, plus an electric piano powered by a car battery they’d brought in. In a statement, Homme says, “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.”
Homme had wanted to perform in the Catacombs for 20 years, but since no artist had ever gotten permission to do so previously, they had to wait until they got the go-ahead. In a statement, a representative of the Catacombs says, “Josh seems to have felt in his body and soul the full potential of this place.”
Queens of the Stone Age: Alive in the Catacombs will be available to rent or purchase via qotsa.com; preorders are available now. An audio-only version will be released in the coming weeks. If you preorder the movie by June 7, you’ll get access to behind-the-scenes footage, plus full streaming and download access.
A trailer is available now.
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