Queens Of The Stone Age dusted off some deep cuts from their 2007 album ‘Era Vulgaris’ as they kicked off a run of European shows with System Of A Down last night (Monday June 29). Check out the videos and full setlist below.
The trek began at the Strawberry Arena in Solna, Sweden, ahead of dates in France, Italy and Germany, and two mammoth nights at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium in London on July 13 and 15.
It is scheduled to conclude with two concerts in Poland on July 18 and 19. Both QOTSA and Acid Bath are supporting Serj Tankian and co. on their current run.
Queens warmed up the audience yesterday with a 12-track set, according to Setlist.FM. The performance began with a rare outing for ‘Run, Pig, Run’ from their fifth studio album, ‘Era Vulgaris’, marking the song’s first live outing since 2008.
They then delivered a live rendition of ‘Little Sister’ from 2005’s ‘Lullabies To Paralyze’ and a version of ‘My God Is The Sun’ from 2013’s ‘…Like Clockwork’.
Later, QOTSA played the ‘Era Vulgaris’-era cut ‘The Fun Machine Took A Shit And Died’ for the first time in 12 years, ahead of a performance of ‘Sick, Sick, Sick’ from that same album.
There were also some regular hits towards the end of the set in the form of ‘Go With The Flow’ and ‘No One Knows’. To close the show, the group played ‘A Song For The Dead’ from 2002’s ‘Songs For The Deaf’.
Reacting to ‘The Fun Machine…’ being on the setlist on Reddit, one fan wrote: “We need full ‘Era Vulgaris’ tour.” Another responded: “20th anniversary is next year, that would be a good opportunity for them.”
Someone else said: “Holy.. I thought we would never hear this one ever again.” A separate comment read: “Not sure anyone there realises how lucky they are. I wish they’d do another headline tour.”
In another thread, a fan explained: “Never expected to see ‘Run Pig Run’ and ‘Fun Machine’ in this show since it was gonna be shorter.” A user shared: “Cool mix of the hits and some weird stuff! I’m excited to see if ‘Pig’ and ‘Fun Machine’ are staples, or if they’ll be rotated with other weird songs.”
Check out a selection of fan-shot videos here:
Queens Of The Stone Age’s setlist was:
1. ‘Run, Pig, Run’ (first time since 2008)
2. ‘Little Sister’
3. ‘My God Is The Sun’
4. ‘Negative Space’
5. ‘The Fun Machine Took A Shit And Died’ (first time since 2014)
6. ‘I Sat By The Ocean’
7. ‘I Appear Missing’
8. ‘Feel Good Hit Of The Summer’
9. ‘Sick, Sick, Sick’
10. ‘Go With The Flow’
11. ‘No One Knows’
12. ‘A Song For The Dead’
Later this summer, the band will open for Foo Fighters on the North American leg of their ‘Take Cover’ stadium tour. QOTSA have announced their first Icelandic show since 2005 for this October, too.
They played a stripped-back concert at the historic Parisian Catacombs back in 2024, which was captured for an accompanying concert film and live album.
NME gave Alive In The Catacombs a four-star review, writing: “Alive In The Catacombs may be powerful enough alone, but it hits differently when followed by Neumann’s companion doc.
“It’s explained that the grisly performance has been 20 years in the planning, though only came to fruition when Homme was at death’s door himself. Alive In Paris And Before begins with last summer’s European tour – including the story of Homme’s ‘medical emergency’ and cancer battle (he’s since had the all-clear).”
QOTSA followed up the Catacombs show with an intimate tour of the UK, Europe and North America, where they were joined by a string section.
The final UK date was held at London’s Royal Albert Hall in October. Here, they aired new material and were joined by Matt Berry for a stripped-back and emotional set – you can check out footage and photos from the show here.
Meanwhile, System Of A Down have launched pop-up shops with exclusive merch for their huge UK and European tour.
Last summer, guitarist Daron Malakian spoke to NME about the chances of more new music from the band, and discussed the chemistry between the members.
“We all got along and rediscovered our friendship on this last tour and we really enjoyed it,” he explained. “I missed my friends. I’m really happy that we’re all putting things in the past and moving forward, enjoying each other’s company.”