An ominous soundscape of chirping crickets and rumbling synths filled the Royal Albert Hall, a bell tolling through the dark as silhouettes began to move through the aisles. From the shadows emerged Queens Of The Stone Age, sharply suited and swaggering, arriving not just for another rock show, but for a ritual. This was the final European night of the Catacombs Tour, following the band being the first permitted to play within the Paris Catacombs just last year — a tour built on atmosphere, narrative and theatre — and tonight, beneath the grand dome of the Albert Hall, the band delivered a masterclass in all three.
Queens of the Stone Age @ Royal Albert Hall
Josh Homme appeared with a portable light in hand, the glow illuminating his face in ghostly flashes as he bellowed the opening lines of Era Vulgaris’ cut Running Joke. The band slipped effortlessly into Paper Machete, the two tracks intertwining with cinematic precision. From the off, this wasn’t a greatest hits set — it was performance art, stitched together from the band’s most brooding corners.
The show’s Act I balanced beauty and unease. Kalopsia shimmered under eerie strings before dissolving into the haunting Villains Of Circumstance. It was equal parts musical and macabre — a violin line played slightly off-kilter, strings cascading like spider silk. Homme, ever the showman, wandered up the aisles and into the crowd, his baritone carrying easily across the 5,272-seat venue. “I don’t need your protection, I need affection,” he teased a security guard as he passed, fans rising from their seats to greet him.
The blue-lit melancholy continued through the ominous Suture Up Your Future, its ghostly bassline wrapping around the hall’s perfect acoustics. The segment closed on a high with I Never Came, reimagined with strings in place of guitars. “Laws of man are just pretend,” Homme crooned, pausing for effect before adding with a smirk: “So fuck ‘em.” The crowd roared, laughter rippling through the grandeur.
As the band departed, an eerie hum and disembodied voice washed through the speakers. When they returned for Act II, they brought with them a brass section — and an entirely new sonic palette. Someone’s In The Wolf snarled its way into a mash-up of A Song For The Deaf and the apocalyptic Straight Jacket Fitting, as the stage glowed blood red. At one point, Homme, wielding a chef’s cleaver, climbed into the circle to deliver a dark, theatrical monologue: “Children’s tears taste like wine to me,” he intoned, before returning to the stage and driving the blade into the floorboards with a wicked grin.
Queens of the Stone Age @ Royal Albert Hall
“What an honour and a privilege and a joy it is to see you,” he smiled between songs. “Turn the lights up — let me see these motherfuckers.” The lights rose, revealing a sea of faces grinning back.
True to form, Homme mixed philosophy with provocation. “When I bought the music business with my dad’s money,” he deadpanned, “I knew it was gonna be a tough time. My parents are here tonight… don’t point ‘em out though, they’re too old, they might have a heart attack.” The laughter rolled, but then came reflection: “Life is a difficult, chaotic, cornucopia of holy shit. But you don’t have to worry anymore — because honestly, it’s too fucking late.” A pause, a grin. “But there’s a comfort in that, ‘cause what’s left to do but be yourself?”
That sentiment framed the delicate Mosquito Song, elevated by brass and marching drums, followed by the menacing Keep Your Eyes Peeled. Spinning Tn Daffodils, drawn from Homme’s Them Crooked Vultures project, closed Act II with grandeur — a nod to the last time he’d played this very stage with John Paul Jones and Dave Grohl fifteen years ago.
Act III brought swagger. The 52-year-old, now armed with his trademark Motor Ave Bel Aire, launched into the sultry groove of You Got a Killer Scene There, Man… before segueing into Hideaway. “I’ve always been fascinated with a little taboo,” he mused, leaning into the mic. “I’ve always been kinda fascinated with the devil and the good lord. It’s not like I worship the devil — I’ve just been fascinated, you know? Because you can’t have good without evil.” He paused, considering. “Sometimes I think: where would the devil live? He’d definitely live here. I don’t think he ever lived in Seattle.” The audience howled. “But I think he sometimes goes to Hollywood… where the assholes are.”
Queens of the Stone Age @ Royal Albert Hall
From there, The Vampyre of Time and Memory brought the night back to its spectral theme before bassist Mikey Shuman stepped forward for a rare lead vocal on Auto Pilot. The debut of new song Easy Street followed, its upbeat, clap-along rhythm led by keyboardist Dean Fertita. Homme grinned, “Show ‘em where we’re from, Dean.”
Michael Shuman & Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age @ Royal Albert Hall
Fortress and …Like Clockwork closed the main set with emotional weight, before Homme returned, shaking bells in the dark and howling the opening line of Long Slow Goodbye. As lights revealed the venue’s vast pipe organ, English actor and musician Matt Berry appeared to join on keys, his rich organ tone filling the room. Shuman shared vocal duties with Homme, the performance slow, tender, and utterly spellbinding — a final exhale from a band that had laid everything bare.
Queens Of The Stone Age didn’t just play the Royal Albert Hall; they possessed it. The Catacombs Tour has been many things — gothic theatre, psychedelic sermon, existential rock opera — but tonight, it was also a farewell. Homme’s mix of humour, vulnerability, and showmanship captured the strange duality that has defined his band for a quarter-century: the tension between darkness and light, between irony and sincerity, between life and whatever lies beneath.
“This,” he said earlier in the night, gesturing to the audience, “this is a group of individuals — and that’s all we’ve ever wanted.”
As the final chords faded, you got the sense that, for all the chaos and confession, that unity was the real message.
Live review & photography of Queens Of The Stone Age @ Royal Albert Hall, London by Kalpesh Patel on 29th October 2025.
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