Queens Of The Stone Age Reunite With Nick Oliveri For The First Time Since 2014

Queens Of The Stone Age

It’s been a long time since fans have seen Queens of the Stone Age perform with former bassist and co-vocalist Nick Oliveri, but on Friday night (24 April), that was finally remedied.

Queens of the Stone Age are currently on their Catacombs Tour, which stopped at the Joshua Tree on Friday. That night, Oliveri was welcomed to the stage by frontman Josh Homme, who described his former bandmate as “one of the people that I love dearly.”

During his time on stage, Oliveri performed the Rated R song, Auto Pilot. He only contributed vocals to the performance, singing alongside Homme and the band’s longtime bassist, Michael Shuman. While performing with the band, he stepped offstage to interact with fans.

Homme formed Queens of the Stone Age following the disbandment of the ‘90s stoner-rock outfit, Kyuss. Oliveri was also a member of that band, and in 1998, joined Queens of the Stone Age.

Oliveri appears on two of the band’s biggest mainstream albums: 2000’s Rated R and 2002’s Songs for the Deaf. He was kicked out of the band in 2004 following allegations of domestic abuse and allegedly acting aggressively towards Homme about his relationship with then-partner, Brody Dalle.

The bassist-vocalist has since appeared with Queens of the Stone Age on their 2013 track, If I Had a Tail, from their album Like Clockwork, and joined them on stage for a performance of You Think I Ain’t Worth a Dollar, But I Feel Like a Millionaire in 2014.

You can watch footage of Oliveri back on stage with the band for Auto Pilot below.

Last June, Queens of the Stone Age released the live album and concert film, Alive in the Catacombs, an audiovisual presentation of their performance in the famed Catacombs.

Filmed in July 2024, the record captures the band as fans have never seen or heard them before. The rockers carefully curated the setlist to be reimagined for the location as they played their most intimate show, despite being surrounded by millions of human remains.

Josh Homme described the crowd as “the biggest audience we’ve ever played for.” He added, “If you’re ever going to be haunted, surrounded by several million dead people is the place. I’ve never felt so welcome in my life.”