Queens Of The Stone Age have cancelled some of their upcoming European shows, due to frontman Josh Homme needing “emergency surgery”.
The band are currently in Europe as part of their extensive ‘The End Is Nero’ tour – celebrating the release of their 2023 album ‘In Times New Roman’. So far, the shows have seen them play numerous festivals across the summer, including huge slots at Download and Hellfest.
However, the members have today (July 9) confirmed that numerous dates have been cancelled at the last minute, as singer Homme is having to return home for an “emergency” surgical procedure.
“QOTSA regret to announce that Josh Homme must return to the United States immediately for emergency surgery. Every effort was made to push through and play for you, but it is no longer an option to continue,” read a statement shared on their social media platforms.
They listed the eight shows that have been affected by the decision. These include Festival Jardin Sonore in France – which was due to take place tomorrow (July 10) – as well as Pohoda Festival, Colours of Ostrava, Electric Castle and more.
Fans who were planning on seeing them at these shows have been urged to visit the festivals’ websites for further information. For headline dates, fans will be contacted directly from the point of purchase.
“Queens are gutted we aren’t able to play for you,” the caption on the Instagram post read. “We apologise for any inconvenience and share in your frustration and disappointment.”
At time of writing, it remains unclear what the surgical procedure needed by the frontman is, and it is not known if the band’s remaining dates across August will go ahead as planned.
QOTSA are currently scheduled to appear at Way Out West in Sweden (August 8), Oya Festival in Norway (9) and Syd For Solen in Denmark (10) ahead of further festival sets in Europe that month.
No update has been shared about their forthcoming dates in September and October, and it is expected that more details will be shared soon.
The announcement comes just days after the band confirmed that they had plans to become the first-ever act to play a show in the Paris Catacombs.
The announcement was made by frontman Josh Homme during a press conference held at Hellfest. During the conference, he said he’d been trying to book a show at the Catacombs for 18 years and now, having finally succeeded, Queens Of The Stone Age will be the first band to ever perform there. The performance is set to be recorded live. No further details have been confirmed about the gig, including when it will take place or how many people can attend.
While upcoming shows in Europe have been axed, the band are still set to re-release their 1998 debut self-titled album (you can pre-order it here). Speaking with NME at this year’s edition of Download Festival last month, guitarist Troy Van Leeuwen and drummer Jon Theodore opened up about the re-release.
“We love that record. I think we all listened to it before we were in the band, but we’ve been playing a couple of those songs along the way so it does bring back memories,” said Leeuwen while Theodore added: “It’s good to refresh them and make them current again. We do try to play to play them all the time and for most people it was their first look at the band. So it always goes over well when we play the songs.”
The discussion followed on from an In Conversation interview the band had with NME last year, which saw the frontman talk about friendship and connection, a “romance” with Dave Grohl, a backstage run-in with Elton John and more.
On the topic of their future, their frontman Josh Homme said: “I think we should be making something. The mantra of the last five years was, ‘It won’t be long now!’ That needs to pertain to making things too. I certainly think we should make more, faster-er, better-er.”
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