The Queens of the Stone Age’s Catacombs Tour is a study in reinvention – a darkly theatrical journey that blurs the line between concert and ceremony. The tour supports the band’s live album and film, Alive in the Catacombs (2025), recorded deep within the Paris catacombs with special permission from the city. Surrounded by the skeletal remains of millions from the 18th century, the band reworked songs from across their catalog, creating an eerie, reverent portrait of rock music in its rawest form. At New York’s beautiful Beacon Theatre on Friday night, the atmosphere mirrored that haunting premise.
Before QOTSA took the stage, Paris Jackson, daughter of Michael Jackson and Debbie Rowe, opened with an acoustic solo set that was strikingly vulnerable and unpretentious. “Complete,” she explained, was written about a breakup she was still processing. Between songs, she spoke casually with the crowd about playing Boston Calling (“I like Boston,” she said, earning good-natured boos from the New Yorkers) and a recent sold-out show at Mercury Lounge that turned out to be “scalped” by bots. “New York, do better,” she teased, before adding with mock seriousness after a few more songs, “You guys depressed yet?” Her performance – melancholy, melodic and deeply human – won over a crowd who hadn’t expected to be moved.
When the lights dimmed for QOTSA, the room fell silent. The first act began in total darkness with a slow, atmospheric rise into “Running Joke.” Josh Homme appeared in the blue light, swinging a warm light as he sang. The band and a string trio joined in. The sequence of five songs – all drawn from Alive in the Catacombs – transformed the ornate Beacon into a shadowy, subterranean space pulsing with ambient sound and tension.
The second act was bathed in crimson light. Backed by a horn section, the band tore through a medley of “Someone’s in the Wolf,” “A Song for the Deaf,” and “Straight Jacket Fitting,” bridging decades of material with seamless force The set then slipped into “Mosquito Song,” the hidden track from Songs for the Deaf (2002), and closed with “Spinning in Daffodils,” Homme’s 2009 collaboration with John Paul Jones and Dave Grohl. The transitions felt cinematic – one long, feverish arc rather than a collection of songs.
For the final act, the lights softened, revealing a more reflective tone. Drawing from material spanning 2000 to 2017 and debuting a new track, “Easy Street,” the band continued to sidestep many of their biggest hits in favor of mood and experience. “Some of you have been with us many years,” Homme told the crowd. “Thank you for allowing us to always be ourselves.” The audience responded with a long, heartfelt roar.
The encore was a quiet exhale: Homme and bassist Mike Shuman returned alone to perform “Long Slow Goodbye” from Lullabies to Paralyze (2005) a capella as the crowd clapped and sang along. From the catacombs of Paris to the heart of Manhattan, the performance closed with communion – a quiet testament to the strange beauty of the darkness.
Queens of the Stone Age continues their tour in Europe before returning to the U.S. in November. Paris Jackson concludes her current tour at the end of November.
Paris Jackson Setlist: Maker, Happiest Day of My Life, Complete, Zombies in Life, Gaslight, Drain, Something, My Buckling Knees.
Queens of the Stone Age Setlist: Act 1 (Alive in the Catacombs – Running Joke / Paper Machete, Kalopsia, Villains of Circumstance, Suture Up Your Future, I Never Came. Act 2 – Someone’s in the Wolf / A Song for the Deaf / Straight Jacket Fitting, Mosquito Song, Keep Your Eyes Peeled, Spinning in Daffodils. Act 3 – “You Got a Killer Scene There, Man..”, Hideaway, The Vampyre of Time and Memory, Auto Pilot, Easy Street, Fortress, …Like Clockwork. Encore – Long Slow Goodbye.
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