Queens Of The Stone Age: Remaining European Dates Cancelled

At the Lirico in Milan, the rock of the Queens of the Stone Age is theatre

ByJohn

From the silent depths of Catacombs of Pariswhere a year ago the Queens of the Stone Age recorded their meditation on life and death, the echo of “Alive in the Catacombs” now resurfaces on the Milanese surface. After the concert film made between the bones and the shadows ofParisian ossuary and a live album, the October 18th Josh Home and his associates transform that underground ritual into a visible and shareable show Giorgio Gaber Lyric Theatre. From an intimate and suspended experience, the “Alive in the Catacombs” show becomes a collective theatrical moment and a concert that it doesn’t just celebrate the power of rockbut also its ability to deal with mortality and life with solemnity.

The Lyric Theater of Milan is one of those places where memory never fadesspanning the centuries. Built at the end of the eighteenth century after the fire of the Teatro Regio Ducale, the theater complex in what is now Via Larga was born as a “popular theatre” next to the “noble theatre” of La Scala. Like the Teatro alla Scala, it was designed by the architect Giuseppe Piermarini, in the typology of the Italian theatre, with a horseshoe plan and various orders of boxes. The Lirico, formerly the Teatro della Cannobiana, was inaugurated in 1779 with a show and music by Salieri and soon became a focal point of Milanese cultural life. In addition to being chosen in 1832 by Gaetano Donizetti for the premiere of “L’elisir d’amore”, in the twentieth century its wings hosted the voices and visions of Brecht, Nono, Mina and Giorgio Gaber. After over twenty years of silence, now named after Gaber, the theater came back to life in 2021, giving Milan back one of its most profound and symbolic places.

It’s here, among red velvet armchairs, echoes and memorieswhich Josh Homme and his companions report on the surface the rarefied atmosphere of the Catacombs of Paris. As in the concert film and album of the same name, Queens of the Stone Age set themselves the challenge of creating the fragile balance between darkness and light, while the music takes breath through unusual and impactful suggestions. The audience that fills the Giorgio Gaber Lyric Theater is a spectacle in itself, giving the signal that this is no ordinary evening. In the foyer, and then among the rows and balconies of the room, t-shirts and jeans alternate with long dark dresses and suits. Among those who chose the simplicity of a rock concert, there are also those who took the opportunity to enter the visual and symbolic world of “Alive in the Catacombs”, transforming the spectators into identities and intentions.

A press release about the tour explains: “’Queens of the Stone Age: Alive in the Catacombs’ captures QOTSA like you’ve never seen or heard them before“. The live experience confirms this right from the initial darkness. With the curtain closed, the theater fills with natural sounds, distant verses, animal noises and flapping wings. While in the proscenium musicians can be heard taking their places in complete darkness, surprisingly, Josh Homme makes his entrance from the back of the stalls. The audience begins to scream and applaud little by little, waking up the spectators in front, and the frontman transforms his appearance into a theatrical gesture by bringing with him a stool, which he throws onto the scene near the stage, as if to mark his territory. But he will never sit down.

The first act of the show officially kicks off when Josh Homme lights a torch, almost the only source of light in the entire first act dedicated to “Alive in the catacombs”. You are then offered the same sequence of songs as the EP’s tracklist and the repertoire does not indulge in the most recognizable classicsbut explore less frequented foldswith “Running joke” from “Era Vulgaris” from 2007 linked to a revisited version of “Paper Machete” from the latest album, “In Times New Roman…” (here is our review). The voice of the leader of the Queens of the Stone Age emerges with warmth and immediacyleaving the sensation of a confession and an enchantment. The music takes on even more depth on “Kalopsia” with the entry of a female string trio, who becomes the protagonist of the scene together with Homme, Troy Van Leeuwen, Michael Shuman, Dean Fertita and Jon Theodore. The curtain is still closed, the theater continues to be submerged in shadowilluminated only by the torch wielded by the leader of the group. In this suspension between restlessness and fascination, the band renounces the electric roar for an acoustic and material sound, made of strings, strings, chain percussion and metal. After “Villains of Circumstance”, it’s time for “Suture up your future”, with Josh Homme who is back in the audience crossing the audience with a slow and magnetic step, before closing the first part with “I never came”, sung in chorus by the room.

At the beginning of the second act the curtain finally opensinitially revealing the backliners at work and the moment of tuning with the string and horn section ready at the center. The space in front of them belongs to Josh Homme, who knows how to take center stage and become master of the space, aware of his own charisma. It starts with “Someone’s in the wolf” from “Lullabies to paralyze” from 2005, which has the task of revealing the mood of the second part of the evening. sound becomes more full-bodied: percussion and wind instruments amplify the strings and the solemnity of keyboards and synthesizers. The music opens up to an orchestral dimension, while the The theatricality of the show continues to reveal itself in the play between darkness and brightness, leaving the musicians and the stage immersed in the red of the light beams. This is followed by “A song for the deaf” and “Straight jacket fitting”, during which Homme plays with an ax in his hands, descending into the audience again and alternating irony and restlessness. The frontman he then turns to the audience to introduce the next song: “I happened to reflect that in many cultures and in many eras of the history of this crazy planet, there are many poems about worms. I always say that we must respect worms, because one day we will be food for worms. And this makes sense to me. And this song talks about the beauty and love of worms”. The song in question is “Mosquito song” from 2002, which leaves room for a ghostly beauty before “Keep your eyes peeled” and “Spinning in daffodils”. This last piece, dating back to Homme’s adventure in the supergroup formed with Dave Grohl and John Paul Jones, Them Crooked Vultures, brings the frontman back into the audience, while the voice of Michael Shuman from the stage.

Finally, the third act dissolves the fog and turns on the lights. “You got a killer scene there, man…” opens the rockiest part of the show, with an energy that doesn’t erase the previous theatricality. While on “Hideaway” the fans in the front rows begin to dedicate flowers and letters to the group, on “The vampyre of time and memory” Josh Homme sits at the pianocreating a more intimate story. The QOTSA leader is immediately ready to pick up the guitar again in “Auto Pilot”, leaving room for Shuman at the microphone. “Easy street” arrives here, the song written for “Alive in the Catacombs”, followed by “Fortress” and “…Like clockwork” which seem to close the circle, albeit the atmosphere remains suspended. After a moment’s pause, Homme returns to the stage with a cigarette and some bells in his hands. Given the unusual musical instrument, the frontman never misses an opportunity to joke with the audience and, after a short message on the meaning of the last song of the evening, starts singing “Jingle bells”. Serious again for the final moment of the show, accompanied again by Michael Shuman, Josh Homme greets the Milanese audience with his sole voice on “Long slow goodbye“. In a theater born to welcome music and words, the Queens of the Stone Age have built a modern ritualwhere rock is never just entertainment but a form of theater of the soul: capable of giving voice to transience, to rebirth, to the very mystery of existence. And as if still in enchantment, “Memories” by Elvis Presley comes from the speakers to accompany you towards the exit.

Here is the lineup:

Alive in the Catacombs

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

Set 2:

Someone’s in the Wolf / A Song for the Deaf / Straight Jacket Fitting
Mosquito Song
Keep Your Eyes Peeled
Spinning into Daffodils – by Them Crooked Vultures

Set 3:

“You Got a Killer Scene There, Man…”
Hideaway
The Vampyre of Time and Memory
Auto Pilot
Easy Street
Fortress
…Like Clockwork

BIS

Long Slow Goodbye

John
John

With an untamed passion and deep, eclectic knowledge of music, John is the soul of RadioWise UK. Having worked in the music industry for over two decades, his vision was to create a platform that embodies the love and respect for music. John is known for his great attention to detail and insatiable thirst for discovering new talents and music genres.