October 7, 2025 – Following the Alive in the Catacombs EP and concert film, where Queens of the Stone Age performed deep in the Parisian catacombs surrounded by millions of deceased souls, the band brought that same concept to life on stage. Beneath Paris runs a maze of tunnels filled with bones — six million of them. In the late 1700s, when the city’s cemeteries overflowed, workers moved the dead underground into old limestone quarries. They stacked skulls and femurs in patterns, row after row, until the walls themselves looked alive. Down there, it’s silent and heavy — beauty built from chaos, order carved from decay. That atmosphere carried into The Met in Philadelphia as Queens of the Stone Age stepped into their Catacombs Tour.
Photos + Article by Steve Cerf @SteveCerf
The concert started with The Met cloaked in complete darkness. The only sound was the soft chirping of crickets, building anticipation before the first light hit. Josh Homme entered between the curtains, bathed in smoky blue light, holding a stool in one hand and a work light in the other. Without a word, he began the set with “Running Joke” and “Paper Machete.” The moment felt stripped-down and haunting, exactly in line with the tone they built underground in Paris.
The first part of the show stayed low and tense. Acoustic arrangements of “Kalopsia,” “Villains of Circumstance,” and “Suture Up Your Future” carried that same eerie calm — quiet but alive, the crowd locked in from the first note. “I Never Came” closed the section perfectly — sparse, emotional, and powerful enough to hold the entire room silent before applause finally broke.
As the lighting turned red, the second part of the night hit harder. Homme danced across the stage wielding a meat cleaver, slamming its edge into a wooden block to prove it was real. It was theatrical but never forced — dark humor meeting precision. The full band and orchestra joined in on “Someone’s in the Wolf” and “A Song for the Deaf,” both heavier but still measured. “Mosquito Song” returned after years away, sounding like a dark lullaby that fit the night’s mood perfectly. “Spinning in Daffodils,” pulled from the Them Crooked Vultures days, turned massive with the orchestra swelling behind it — cinematic without losing its grit.
The final stretch leaned into slower, moodier grooves. “Killer Scene,” “Hideaway,” and “Vampyre of Time and Memory” all built tension that never quite let go. “Auto Pilot,” with Mikey taking vocals, offered a cool change of tone before “Fortress” and “Like Clockwork” hit the emotional core — two songs that always sound heavier live than on record. When the lights dimmed again, Homme returned with Mikey for “Long Slow Goodbye.” No big production, no backdrop, just two musicians under a single light. It was quiet, haunting, and final — the kind of ending that didn’t need volume to leave a mark.
The Catacombs Tour is a total experience unlike any Queens of the Stone Age concert in their nearly three-decade career. No blazing guitars, no pounding drums, no pulsating bass lines — just a band exploring the space between silence and sound and proving how much can live in the dark.
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