Back Beat Seattle | Show Review & Photos: Queens of the Stone Age @ the Paramount

Queens of the Stone Age @ the Paramount – 4/29/26
Show Review by Wendy Colton
Photos by Rachel Crick

Queens of the Stone Age‘s Josh Homme – photo by Rachel Crick

Unplugged Queens of the Stone Age Electrifies Seattle

More dark cabaret than rock show, this angular, stripped-down performance was a far cry from the beefy, radio-hit-heavy Queens of the Stone Age concerts we’ve moshed through before. Tickets didn’t sell out in minutes – they vanished in seconds worldwide. The buzz around this tour, supporting their latest EP Alive in the Catacombs – recorded literally underground in a Paris ossuary lined with human skulls – is very real.

Josh Homme appeared trim and debonair, perfectly suited to the Paramount’s old-world glamour: tailored suit, gold watch, even a matching tooth. Swinging an antique lantern – casting slow, moody shadows or whipping up stark urgency – the band reimagined opening songs and deep cuts into something slippery and atmospheric, launching the first of three distinct acts with inky precision.

Weird? Yes. Cool? Absolutely. During “Suture Up Your Future,” Homme wielded an actual meat cleaver. The hushed audience hovered between enchantment and intimidation. Do we laugh? Pray? Cheer? Cry? All of the above. At one point, he slipped into the aisles, casually swinging the cleaver, crooning to a few lucky fans, even waltzing a few into a brief, swoony spin.

Josh Homme of QOTSA – photo by Rachel Crick

Act II lifted the curtain on a small orchestra – local players adding lush strings, horns, woodwinds, and even theremin. Paired with deep electronic bass triggers and Homme’s heavy guitar, the sound was anything but sleepy: modern, sleek, and intense. Think EDM festival meets avant-garde theater, minus the excess.

A pre-show call to “dress your best” paid off – less black band tee uniform, more chic and foxy. Still, the black band tee and merch line snaked up the stairs, wrapped the mezzanine, and climbed to the third floor. Those gold-foiled posters didn’t stand a chance.

By Act III, a tumbler of liquor and cigarette perched on the piano, Homme could have tipped into cliché. Instead, it read as effortless – cosmopolitan, not loungy. Mature, but still dangerous. Not too serious. Still unmistakably badass. Emphasis on the piano.

Josh Homme – photo by Rachel Crick

Even after an impossibly intimate a cappella duet with bassist Michael Shuman, it’s hard not to call this The Josh Show. As the sole remaining original member, he’s the gravitational center. Troy Van Leeuwen – five albums deep – remains a quieter genius. But every eye in the room tracks Homme. Four decades in, he’s grown into a towering rock figure: multi-instrumentalist, collaborator, headline magnet, complete with myth, feuds, and legend.

Back onstage, he spoke warmly about Seattle – his time on Capitol Hill at 24 (“a virgin”), attending Seattle Central, the invitation to join Screaming Trees. A little tequila in the mix, sure, but the affection felt genuine. The crowd roared when he recalled QOTSA’s first show at the OK Hotel. By the time he told us we were the best audience of the tour, the last reserved fan let loose. Connection achieved.

This tour hints at a new branch of rock performance – part residency, part theater, part reinvention. You can feel the lineage, the influence, the evolution. It’s still QOTSA at the root: a hard rock, platinum-selling band with stadium dates ahead. But this darker, more sophisticated offshoot? It’s going far. Turn and face the strange.

After a sing-along of “Long Slow Goodbye,” the band clinked glasses and waved goodnight, emotion just under the surface. A Mark Lanegan track played as the lights came up. The audience drifted out.

But the magic – of the music, the night, the Paramount, Les Catacombs de Paris – didn’t drift far.

It’s still right here.