Rock N Roll Circus 2025 Wednesday & Thursday Headliner: Queens Of The Stone Age

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The headliner kicking things off this year with two performances will be legendary American rockers Queens Of The Stone Age. They are inarguably one of the most consistently brilliant live bands in the world this century and will bring a hit-filled and raucous set to Don Valley Bowl, as only they can.

One of the biggest bands in the world, Queens of the Stone Age are veterans of 8 studio albums, hundreds of live shows and countless accolades and awards. The band are masters of a number of genres in the rock space and often merge and meld these together to create music that is unique and distinctively by Queens of the Stone Age. As always though, this success and mastery didn’t come overnight.

The band initially formed under it’s name in 1997 and released a self-titled debut in 1998 with founder Josh Homme providing most of the vocals and instrumentation outside of drums and a few guest contributors. Their sophomore record followed soon after in the from of Rated R in 2000 and things soon began to take off for the band. The album earned the band much more attention, positive reviews and opening slots for the likes of The Smashing Pumpkins and Foo Fighters.

Opening for Foo Fighters proved fortuitous in more ways than just exposure as Dave Grohl joined QOTSA to record drums for their third album Songs For The Deaf. Probably their most well know album to date, it was a massive commercial success. Featuring staples of their live sets like ‘No One Knows’, ‘Go With The Flow and ‘Song For The Dead’, Songs For The Deaf propelled QOTSA to the mantle of one of the best rock bands of the new millennium, a mantle that they have yet to vacate.

How does a band follow up a commercial succes like that? Well in Queens of the Stone Age’s case, they produce their highest charting album so far in Lullabies to Paralyze, which entered at number 5 on the Billboard Music Chart. The band followed this up in 2007 with Era Vulgaris with the two LPs spawning multiple fan favourites like ‘Little Sister’ and ‘Make it Wit Chu’ while the band lost key members with the firing of bassist Nick Oliveri and death of keyboardist Natasha Schneider. 

The band went on an enforced hiatus of sorts from recording new material as Josh Homme dealt with medical complications but returned in 2013 with ...Like Clockwork. The album saw Dave Grohl return on drums following another departure, and also listed our very own Alex Turner as a guest appearance thanks to Homme’s continued worth with Arctic Monkeys on Humbug and AM. The wait and anticipation, alongside the star studded cast meant ...Like Clockwork became the band’s first album to enter the Billboard Chart at number 1.

Another break followed this album with the band working on other ventures, including Homme and Dean Fertitia contributing to Iggy Pop’s Post Pop Depression along with another of Sheffield’s favourite sons, Matt Helders. 2017 saw the band return in force with Villains and swaggering lead single ‘The Way You Used To Do’, another fan favourite at their gigs.

Another 4 years passed before fans got a taste of new Queens music with the release of album 8 In Times New Roman, the conclusion to a loose trilody along with ...Like Clockwork and Villains. The album featured guest vocals from Matt Helders and led to their historic Alive in the Catacombs recording in (or rather underneath) Paris. The performance was the first time the city had granted permission for a performance in the infamous catacombs and featured a three-piece string section joining the band for stripped down and reworked renditions of their work.

Over almost 3 decades in the industry, Queens Of The Stone Age have redefined themselves, and redefined what fans can expect from their live shows and their music. Branching over alternative rock, hard rock, metal and stoner rock genres the band use these influences and ideas ingeniously across their discography and have cemented themselves as truly one of the best live acts in the world this millennium thanks to this. No two QOTSA songs sound the same, but all of them fizz with energy until the whole venue explodes, we cannot wait to see what they have in store for us on their first performances in Sheffield since 2000!