Josh Homme, the much-celebrated lead singer for the Queens of the Stone Age, performed one of his most daring concerts yet in Los Angeles — his first in his adopted hometown after a health scare last year forced him to cancel a number of shows.
A native of nearby Palm Desert, the 52-year-old Homme has said little about the 2024 health scare that forced him to cancel part of the part’s tour, instead channeling the experience into a foray into both death and claustrophobic darkness, with the release of this year’s Alive in the Catacombs EP. Created as a tribute to the six million people buried in Paris’ underground ossuaries, the unique record features stripped down versions of of the band’s deeper cuts, partially rearranged with several string accompaniments, all recorded live in the cavernous confines of the underground Parisian layer.
Fans loved the concept and early this year, Queens of the Stone Age announced they were taking the show on the road, expanding their setlist beyond those on the original EP to feature 17 deep cuts, including “Spinning in Daffodils” from Homme’s former side project Them Crooked Vultures. Many tracks were rearranged with new string and horn accompaniments, which often dramatically reworked the material.
For the Live in the Catacombs tour, the band booked 18 performing arts venues and theaters, including last night’s concert at the Dolby Theater, home of the famed annual Academy Awards at the famous intersection of Hollywood and Highland.
The result was a new live concept show for the band anchored by Homme, Dean Fertita, Jon Theodore, Michael Shuman and Troy Van Leeuwen. Tuesday’s performance skipped the typical over-the-top theatrics of a QOTSA arena concert and instead delivered an evening of entertainment that was theatrical, intimate and at times uncomfortable and even unsettling, yet ultimately ended on a moment for both Homme and the band.
Below, check out Billboard‘s picks for the four most memorable parts of the night.
Running Joke/Paper Machete
As he does on the five-track EP, Homme opened the show with a medley combining 2007’s “Running Joke” from the band’s Era Vulgaris record with the hard-hitting “Paper Machete” 2023’s In Times New Roman. Hoping to tap into the claustrophobic acoustics of the catacombs, “Paper Machete” was stripped of its charging guitar opening and replaced with a simmering string section, a standup bass and light percussive flourishes meant to highlight Homme’s haunting vocals. To capture and even highlight the stage’s dark flourishes, much of the set was bathed in red and blue lights, shifting with each dramatic turn as the normally fast paced lyrics were delivered slowly and deliberately.
Homme and His Meat Clever
Image Credit: Andreas Neumann
For reasons never quite explained, Homme carried a giant meat cleaver into the audience during an Act II medley of “Someone’s in the Wolf,” “A Song for the Deaf” and “Straight Jacket Fitting,” which he waved around in people’s faces, as he delivered a series of increasingly frightening non-sequiturs directly to one audience member, and pointed the giant knife at their face.
The meat cleaver, about a foot-long and a half-a-foot wide, was no prop – Homme routinely threw the knife into the stage, it’s blade holding it in place like an ax tossed into a tree stump.
“You think you got a shot at getting out of here? You got no fucking shot,” he said menacingly, pointing the shiny meat clever at a fan who just stared back at Homme, likely in disbelief that he had been singled out. Homme then doubled down on the moment, stepping on an empty chair to angle himself over the man, ranting, “I’m not upset. I don’t want to be upset. I just want one moment to let it all go,” before asking “Would you leave me alone or would you take my hand and come with me?”
Most fans watching up close laughed the bit off, but the short segment felt deeply unsettling and fraught. Perhaps it was Homme’s way of pushing people ought of their comfort zone – but for someone already known for being large and imposing, the bit felt a little too on the nose at times.
Kalopsia and Delusion of Beauty
Queens of the Stone Age have a track off their …Like Clockwork album called “Kalopsia” that Hommes has claimed means a form of delusion, in which things appear to be more beautiful than they actually are. To be fair, only a limited number of dictionaries feature this word, which is said to be derived from the Greek words “kalos” (beautiful) and “opsis” (sight or view).
Real word or not, the idea of Kalopsia and its theme of visual delusion is a reoccurring metaphor in Homme’s music, as he quickly moves between delusion and reality. On Tuesday, he played a new arrangement of the track, stripped down in parts to little more than a xylophone and a plucked violin, before growing into a larger ensemble piece accentuated by Homme’s hypnotizing vocals. While the track drew thunderous applause from the stunned audience, it was hard not to wonder if Homme himself was not relying on his talents to mask his own vulnerabilities.
Homme Keeps It Tight, And Mostly Private
Image Credit: Andreas Neumann
Homme’s didn’t discuss his health issues at last night’s show – he was so sick from an undisclosed illness during the taping of a Catacombs session that he had to be flown back to the U.S. the next day for emergency surgery. But it was hard not to think of his own brush with mortality as he worked his way through much of the material. Homme has kept his health issues mostly private – only revealing that an illness and emergency procedure forced him to cancel a number of tour dates and festival shows in 2024.
Instead of embracing that chapter of his life, Tuesday’s concerts felt more like a career encore: a means of showing off the band’s creative chops while demonstrating that Homme is very much on the mend, which many fans likely appreciate. Still, its hard not to wonder what it would have felt like had Homme opened himself up a bit more about his struggles, and shown the world a different side to his personality. Often times affable and even joking about his past struggles with anger and addiction, Homme was willing to give the audience a glimpse into his psyche without inviting them to stay for an extended period of time.
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