When Queens of the Stone Age filmed Alive In The Catacombs in Paris last year, no one realised just how close frontman Josh Homme was to physical collapse.
He was in serious pain throughout the performance, and less than a day after wrapping the shoot, he was sedated and undergoing emergency surgery.
The aftermath was truly brutal. In a new interview with Consequence, Homme revealed that he spent the next seven months bedridden, not as a creative retreat or period of rest, but because he was literally immobilised by a serious illness. The exact nature of it remains largely undisclosed, though he has said doctors initially warned he could be out of action for up to two years.
This was not the first health scare Homme had faced either. In 2023, he revealed a cancer diagnosis, which he later received the all-clear for. The events following the Paris shoot, however, seemed to hit even harder. Despite the condition he was in, he chose to stay in France long enough to finish the performance in the Catacombs, a location he had wanted to record in for two decades.
That setting was more than just an aesthetic choice. Homme has described the experience as physically and emotionally demanding, saying that the difficulty gave the moment meaning. Performing in those bone-lined tunnels while in pain added gravity to what could have otherwise been a moody set in an unusual space.
The resulting concert film, directed by Thomas Rames and produced by Blogothèque, captures the band in its rawest state. It is truly stripped back, meditative, vulnerable. But I mean, that vulnerability did come as a direct result of a front man on the brink so whether it was worth it remains to be seen.
With Homme now back on his feet, Queens of the Stone Age will return to Europe in October for a series of intimate dates as part of The Catacombs Tour, concluding at London’s Royal Albert Hall. These shows clearly carry a different kind of weight, shaped by survival, perseverance and the long road back to the stage.
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