Queens Of The Stone Age announce vinyl and audio release of Alive in the Catacombs

10 June 2025, 10:00 | Updated: 10 June 2025, 11:04

Queens of the Stone Age announce Alive In The Catacombs. Picture: Andreas Neumann

By Jenny Mensah

The recording captures Josh Homme and co delivering the first concert to ever be staged at the historic Parisian underground site.

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Queens of the Stone Age: Alive in the Catacombs is set to be released on audio.

By popular demand, a recording of the band's haunting performance in the Parisian landmark, which is available to rent or buy now on film via qotsa.com, will now be fittingly be released on Friday 13th across all digital platforms via Matador records.

Josh Homme and co have also announced a limited vinyl edition of the Alive in the Catacombs audio with only 5,000 copies will be pressed of the special one-sided vinyl edition. Housed in a gatefold jacket with foil print inside and out, the AITC vinyl edition contains an exclusive 24-page booklet of behind the scenes photos taken by long-time collaborator Andreas Neumann. Each copy will be individually stamped and numbered. The limited edition vinyl is set for release on 22nd August and is available to pre-order at qotsa.com.

Queens of the Stone Age's Alive in the Catacombs limited edition vinyl. Picture: Press

Queens of the Stone Age - Alive in the Catacombs tracklisting:

Running Joke/Paper Machete
Kalopsia
Villains of Circumstance
Suture Up Your Future
I Never Came

Filmed and recorded in July 2024, Queens of the Stone Age: Alive in the Catacombs captures the band in the unique historic setting with, their music specially reworked and reimagined for the occasion.

Built in the 1700s, the Catacombs of Paris is a sprawling 320km ossuary beneath the surface of Paris with a foundation of six million human remains - which Josh Homme notes is "the biggest audience we've ever played for".

According to a press release, the QOTSA frontman had dreamt of staging a performance in the Catacombs with the band since his first visit there almost 20 years ago. The City of Paris had never granted permission to any artist to play within the sacred tunnels, so QOTSA waited patiently until their request was sanctioned.

Queens of the Stone age announce Alive in the Catacombs film

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The press release adds: "Every aesthetic decision, every choice of song, every configuration of instruments… absolutely everything was planned and played with deference to the Catacombs—from the acoustics and ambient sounds — dripping water, echoes and natural resonance — to the darkly atmospheric lighting tones that enhance the music. Far from the sound-insulated confines of the studio or the comfort of onstage monitors, Alive in the Catacombs sees the band not only rise to this challenge, but embrace it."

Homme says of the carefully curated unplugged performance: "We’re so stripped down because that place is so stripped down, which makes the music so stripped down, which makes the words so stripped down… It would be ridiculous to try to rock there. All those decisions were made by that space. That space dictates everything, it’s in charge. You do what you’re told when you're in there.”

Hélène Furminieux of Les Catacombes de Paris said: "The Catacombs of Paris are a fertile ground for the imagination. It is important to us that artists take hold of this universe and offer a sensitive interpretation of it. Going underground and confronting reflections on death can be a deeply intense experience. Josh seems to have felt in his body and soul the full potential of this place. The recordings resonate perfectly with the mystery, history, and a certain introspection, notably perceptible in the subtle use of the silence within the Catacombs.”

The film was produced by La Blogothèque and directed by Thomas Rames.

Queens of the Stone Age: Alive in the Catacombs is available to rent or buy now via qotsa.com.