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Queens of the Stone Age will soon be the inaugural band to perform a concert at the historic Catacombs of Paris. Frontman Josh Homme revealed the groundbreaking event during a press conference at last weekend’s Hellfest festival in Clisson, France. The performance is set to be recorded as well.

Homme shared: “In a week’s time or so, we’re gonna play in the Paris Catacombs, and we’ll be the first band to do so. And I’ve been working on it for 18 years, trying to get myself inside of this exalted place in Paris. And it’s completely live.”

Discussing the decision to record the concert, Homme added: “I’d like to take some of these ideas, which are sort of ubiquitous, like a live record, and do something a little different with them. Because I think with the way the Internet is, people can see us play live so simply, in so many different ways, that I’d like to do something live that cannot be seen in a way that is not often done. And we release those versions. And let the fans control the rest. The fans can control the rest of how to see us live. Come see us play, watch it online. I don’t care how a baby takes his medicine — blown up the ass or down the throat. However you find our music and however you wanna find it is fine for me, but I would like to try to do some of these ideas in a different way. So, that’s why I mentioned the Catacombs.”

The Paris Catacombs have a storied history, originating in the late eighteenth century due to significant public health issues linked to overcrowded cemeteries. Between 1785 and 1787, the remains from Paris’s largest cemetery, Saints-Innocents, were transferred to an underground site at the former Tombe-Issoire quarries. The location was consecrated as the “Paris Municipal Ossuary” on April 7, 1786, later gaining the famed moniker “Catacombs” in reference to the Roman catacombs that had long captivated the public imagination. By 1809, the Catacombs were open to the public by appointment.

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