Queens of the Stone Age are extending their “The End Is Nero” tour into 2025, continuing a stretch of live shows that have drawn acclaim for their raw power and deliberate unpredictability. At the rhythmic center of the performances is drummer Jon Theodore, whose presence behind the kit has become a defining element of the band’s current live identity.
The latest string of dates includes major festival stops and solo concerts across Europe, with recent appearances in Poland, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands. The shows have carried a consistent intensity, with Theodore’s drumming serving not only as the backbone but often as the throttle of the set’s shifting dynamics. His blend of technical precision and explosive timing has elevated the band’s newer material while bringing renewed urgency to older staples from the Queens’ catalog.
Jon Theodore, known for his work with acts such as The Mars Volta and One Day as a Lion, has added a distinctive force to the Queens lineup since joining in 2013. On this tour, his performance has drawn quiet attention for its clarity and weight, often standing out not for flamboyance but for the way it molds the set’s flow. In songs like “My God Is the Sun” and “No One Knows,” the tempo breathes just slightly wider, giving the band a bit more room to expand and compress in real time.
The tour’s 2025 leg arrives on the heels of a busy festival season and a growing demand for shows in markets that haven’t hosted the group in several years. While frontman Josh Homme remains the band’s magnetic axis, Theodore’s contribution on stage has been increasingly cited by fans and critics alike as essential to the group’s evolving energy.
Audiences have noted the percussive push and pull that shapes each set, with Theodore sometimes opting for a restrained groove before launching into sudden, hammering bursts. His approach lends weight without rigidity, and the tension created in these contrasts has brought a new kind of drama to the band’s live format. On a tour where atmosphere and structure seem to exist in constant negotiation, the drummer’s ability to guide transitions has proven crucial.
As Queens of the Stone Age continue their run across Europe and into the summer festival circuit, Theodore’s performance is emerging as one of the subtler storylines of the tour. Not front-facing by design, his role is nonetheless deeply felt, propelling each song with clarity and force, and ensuring that behind every fuzz-drenched riff, there is always something rock-solid anchoring the chaos.