Queens Of The Stone Age frontman Josh Homme has clarified that his criticism of “corporate assholes” at concerts was aimed at commercial control of the live-music experience, rather than specifically at venue smoking rules. His remarks followed an on-stage cigarette at Detroit’s Ford Field, where breaking the venue’s smoking ban could incur a $10,000 fine; he said fans paying for escapism should not feel excessively managed.

Homme cited high costs such as $85 parking and $30 beers, alongside restrictions on where concertgoers can go, as examples of corporations “controlling fun”. Queens Of The Stone Age are due to release their new album, ‘Perfecth’, on 30 October through Matador Records, following singles ‘Easy Street’ and ‘Insignificant Other’; it follows 2023’s ‘In Times New Roman’ and draws partly on the band’s 2024 Catacombs performance in Paris.