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<\/figure>\n\n\n\nQOTSA have always thrived in contradiction equal parts sleazy and sophisticated, primal and polished, desert dust and neon haze. But in their latest chapter, Josh Homme has pulled the band into yet another strange, fascinating world: one draped in velvet and vibrating with the resonance of a string section. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Visually, the band has embraced the transformation. On stage, their usual shadowy rock-club aesthetic has given way to a mood somewhere between gothic opera and late-night cabaret.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The band grew for this tour as they now incorporated a string section and dark mild tone. The setlist dove deep into their catalog, but the presentation gave the old songs a whole new life. \u201cMosquito Song\u201d arrived early in the second act, slowed slightly and crooned out by Homme with the poise of a jaded lounge singer, leaning against his mic stand. \u201cThe Vampyre of Time and Memory\u201d slithered in under a haze of blood-red lights, its menacing bassline rumbling like footsteps in a dungeon. Even the usually explosive \u201c…Like Clockwork\u201d carried an eerie intimacy, lit only in cool blue glow and heavy fog that cloaked the band until silhouettes were all that remained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Homme, adopting his now full-blown \u201cGinger Elvis\u201d persona, played the role to perfection, half sinister showman, half washed-up crooner clawing his way back to the stage. Between songs, he prowled the edge of the orchestra pit, cracking sly jokes, tossing off sardonic one-liners, and at one point stepping into the crowd to serenade a stunned fan. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It was less rock star bravado and more unhinged lounge act, equal parts charming and unsettling. Especially with Homme waving around a meat cleaver like a psychotic conductor. “Waste not, want not” the singer repeated with thunderous bass rumbles under during, “Someone’s in the Wolf” medley.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The production underscored this reimagining. The Chicago Theatre stage was drenched in alternating washes of crimson and icy blue, with thick fog rolling endlessly across the stage. At times, the band themselves were little more than ghostly outlines, instruments echoing from behind the curtain of mist. Unlike the usual Queens of the Stone Age arena spectacle\u2014big riffs, big lights, big chaos\u2014this show was theatrical, atmospheric, and downright creepy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Highlights included a brooding take on \u201cSpinning in Daffodils,\u201d a ‘Them Crooked Vultures song played for the first time as QOTSA, and \u201cLong Slow Goodbye\u201d that closed the night like a descent into the underworld. For longtime fans, it was a startling reminder that Homme and Queens are never content to be a predictable rock band\u2014they\u2019re shapeshifters, always twisting their own mythology. We heard a new song performed live for the first time with “Easy Street”. Homme taking to his guitar and backed by minimum band efforts, but engaged the audience in rhythmic clapping and repetitive oohs and aahs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The end came with a solo rendition of Homme at a mic shaking a sleigh bell crooning, “Long Slow Goodbye” before eventually joined midway by Mikey Shoes. The audience joined in like a church sermon, clapping along to the a cappella and calling back the chorus before ending the night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What makes the experiment work is restraint. The strings don\u2019t drown out the band\u2019s muscular riffs; they coil around them, like vines wrapping around ancient stone. It\u2019s not a rock band pretending to be an orchestra it\u2019s Queens of the Stone Age letting orchestral textures haunt their sound, the way desert wind howls through abandoned ruins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On opening night in Chicago, the Catacombs Tour<\/em> wasn\u2019t just a concert. It was a s\u00e9ance, a fever dream, and a midnight Vegas revue gone wrong. And it proved that even 25 years on, Queens of the Stone Age can still surprise, seduce, and unsettle\u2014all in the same breath. This was not a rock concert but a soul stirring jolt into the mind of Josh Homme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For a group that has always thrived on reinvention, the addition of a string section feels less like a novelty and more like a natural evolution. It makes their music darker, stranger, more theatrical and perhaps closer than ever to the haunted cabaret vision Homme has been teasing for years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For more on the Queens of the Stone Age, click here<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Queens-of-the-Stone-Age-The-Chicago-Theatre-2025-27.jpg\")
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