Post by wingsj0 on Feb 11, 2006 12:44:43 GMT
Queen and Paul Rodgers at Wembley Pavilion – Wednesday 11th May 2005 - By Jean Herbaut.
I only went to this gig by default. I originally had tickets to see Rod Stewart, long before the Queen date was announced. Imagine my disappointment when I found that Queen were to perform their only date on the same night. However, Rod suffered a severe throat infection and was advised by his doctor to cancel his gig for the Monday, there wasn’t a gig on the Tuesday, so I was hopeful that Rod may be ok for the Wednesday, but alas on Wednesday morning I found out that the concert was not to take place, Rod was still unfit, and the dates would be rescheduled.
Having looked forward to going to a concert that evening, and already arranged to leave work early, I phoned Mick at lunchtime and asked him whether he’d like to go and see Queen instead, should I be able to get tickets. He agreed, thinking this to be rather unlikely. But I know from experience that sometimes you strike lucky on the actual day because you get a chance of the best tickets, being tickets returned that were originally reserved for guests but no longer required. This was exactly what had happened, two tickets had literally just been put back on sale as I phoned, and right at the front of the projected part of the T-shaped stage – couldn’t have been better seats.
I hadn’t yet been to a concert at the new temporary venue of Wembley Pavilion, but I had heard that it wasn’t that brilliant, so I wasn’t expecting great things However, nothing could have been further from the truth, the sound was 100 times better than Wembley Arena ever was , it was brilliant, full marks to the sound guys. I can imagine that those at the back of the Pavilion didn’t have much of a view, as the venue is of a long, not all that wide construction, the majority of which was all one level, only rising to tiered seating at the very back, and no screens.
As soon as the band hit the stage, everybody was on their feet. Roger’s opening line was “Welcome to this Shit hole” with the audience cheering in agreement. The band were fantastic, and although nobody could take the place of Freddie, there couldn’t be a better choice to front the band than Paul Rodgers. He is exactly the strong personality, and strong voice needed to front a band such as Queen. A truly great personality in his own right.
Our seats provided that perfect photo opportunity, in many cases too close, meaning that a ‘whole’ Brian had to be made up of 3 or 4 sections - head, upper body, lower body and extended arm, then stitched together.
Queen performed with Paul, Brian and Roger taking it in turn to sing lead vocals interspersed with Paul singing hits from his time with Free and Bad Company. John Deacon retired from the group when Freddie died. There was no support, and no interval, just over two hours of pure magic.
Bohemian Rhapsody was recreated by projecting Freddie on a screen behind the band A great and very moving moment. Roger left his drumkit at least 3 times to sing at the front of the stage, and was visibly moved to tears during one of the songs. Another brilliant visual treat, was again on the screen behind the band, showing a speeded up ride through London culminating at Buckingham Palace gates. The camera rose up the building to the rooftop, whilst Brian climbed steps up on the stage so that he was standing on the Palace rooftop where he played an amazing guitar solo, as he had at the Queen’s Jubilee concert. An amazing effect.
There may be some people who think that Queen should have given up after Freddie died, but they have certainly been proved wrong. The band was as strong as ever, and I certainly feel privileged to have been there. Simply amazing.
Queen were supported on stage by some brilliant musicians, Spike Edney on keyboard, who was Musical Director for the finale at Party in the Park - The Prince's Trust concert, and who actually plays keyboard in the We Will Rock You stage show, and has done since the show opened in 2002; Jamie Moses on guitar, who has a cv/pedigree resembling a role call, he has played and /or recorded with U2, Mike and the Mechanics, The Hollies, Paul Young, The Corrs, Lionel Ritchie, Marti Pellow, Anastacia, Zucchero, Curtis Stigers, Denny Laine, Tony Hadley, Spandau Ballet, to name but a few, there are dozens more, too numerous to list here; and Danny Miranda on bass, again Danny’s cv reads like the who’s who of New York, and he has been playing bass in the Las Vegas production of We Will Rock You.
It’s not that long since I had seen Paul Rodgers perform with Brian May at the Miller Strat Pack concert in September last year. A celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Fender strat. Strange to think that at the time I found this an electrifying performance, never imagining that the outcome of this event would be that Paul Rodgers would be asked to be the new front man for Queen. In the words of Brian May speaking about that night “We were both so amazed at the chemistry that suddenly it seemed blindingly obvious that there was ‘something happening here." And so it was.
There may have been people who thought that it was the end of Queen when Freddie died, I have always maintained that one musician/singer does not a group make, and although Freddie was such a charismatic frontman, that is certainly true of Queen. Queen is back – long may she live.
Set list:
01. Intro: It's A Beautiful Day Ross Robertson / DJ Koma 2005 techno mix [tape]
02. Intro: Lose Yourself [Eminem-tape]
03. Intro: Reachin' Out (Paul on vocals + Spike keyboards only)
04. Tie Your Mother Down (Paul on vocals)
05. I Want To Break Free (Paul on vocals)
06. Fat Bottomed Girls (Paul on vocals)
07. Wishing Well (Paul on vocals)
08. Another One Bites The Dust (Paul on vocals)
09. Crazy Little Thing Called Love (Paul on vocals + guitar)
10. Under Pressure (Roger on vocals and drums!)
11. Say It's Not True (Roger on vocals)
12. '39 (Brian on vocals & guitar)
13. Love Of My Life (Brian on vocals & guitar)
14. Hammer To Fall slow/fast (Brian and Paul on vocals)
15. Feel Like Makin' Love (Paul on vocals)
16. Let There Be Drums
17. I'm In Love With My Car (Roger on vocals and drums!)
18. Guitar solo
19. Last Horizon
20. These Are The Days Of Our Lives (Roger on vocals)
21. Radio Ga Ga (Roger and Paul on vocals)
22. Can't Get Enough Of Your Love (Paul on vocals)
23. A Kind Of Magic (Paul on vocals)
24. I Want It All (Paul on vocals)
25. Bohemian Rhapsody (Freddie and Paul on vocals)
26. The Show Must Go On (Paul on vocals)
27. All Right Now (Paul on vocals)
28. We Will Rock You (Paul on vocals)
29. We Are The Champions (Paul on vocals)
30. God Save The Queen
Jean Herbaut
Official Site: www.queenonline.com
Official Site: www.paulrodgers.com
I only went to this gig by default. I originally had tickets to see Rod Stewart, long before the Queen date was announced. Imagine my disappointment when I found that Queen were to perform their only date on the same night. However, Rod suffered a severe throat infection and was advised by his doctor to cancel his gig for the Monday, there wasn’t a gig on the Tuesday, so I was hopeful that Rod may be ok for the Wednesday, but alas on Wednesday morning I found out that the concert was not to take place, Rod was still unfit, and the dates would be rescheduled.
Having looked forward to going to a concert that evening, and already arranged to leave work early, I phoned Mick at lunchtime and asked him whether he’d like to go and see Queen instead, should I be able to get tickets. He agreed, thinking this to be rather unlikely. But I know from experience that sometimes you strike lucky on the actual day because you get a chance of the best tickets, being tickets returned that were originally reserved for guests but no longer required. This was exactly what had happened, two tickets had literally just been put back on sale as I phoned, and right at the front of the projected part of the T-shaped stage – couldn’t have been better seats.
I hadn’t yet been to a concert at the new temporary venue of Wembley Pavilion, but I had heard that it wasn’t that brilliant, so I wasn’t expecting great things However, nothing could have been further from the truth, the sound was 100 times better than Wembley Arena ever was , it was brilliant, full marks to the sound guys. I can imagine that those at the back of the Pavilion didn’t have much of a view, as the venue is of a long, not all that wide construction, the majority of which was all one level, only rising to tiered seating at the very back, and no screens.
As soon as the band hit the stage, everybody was on their feet. Roger’s opening line was “Welcome to this Shit hole” with the audience cheering in agreement. The band were fantastic, and although nobody could take the place of Freddie, there couldn’t be a better choice to front the band than Paul Rodgers. He is exactly the strong personality, and strong voice needed to front a band such as Queen. A truly great personality in his own right.
Our seats provided that perfect photo opportunity, in many cases too close, meaning that a ‘whole’ Brian had to be made up of 3 or 4 sections - head, upper body, lower body and extended arm, then stitched together.
Queen performed with Paul, Brian and Roger taking it in turn to sing lead vocals interspersed with Paul singing hits from his time with Free and Bad Company. John Deacon retired from the group when Freddie died. There was no support, and no interval, just over two hours of pure magic.
Bohemian Rhapsody was recreated by projecting Freddie on a screen behind the band A great and very moving moment. Roger left his drumkit at least 3 times to sing at the front of the stage, and was visibly moved to tears during one of the songs. Another brilliant visual treat, was again on the screen behind the band, showing a speeded up ride through London culminating at Buckingham Palace gates. The camera rose up the building to the rooftop, whilst Brian climbed steps up on the stage so that he was standing on the Palace rooftop where he played an amazing guitar solo, as he had at the Queen’s Jubilee concert. An amazing effect.
There may be some people who think that Queen should have given up after Freddie died, but they have certainly been proved wrong. The band was as strong as ever, and I certainly feel privileged to have been there. Simply amazing.
Queen were supported on stage by some brilliant musicians, Spike Edney on keyboard, who was Musical Director for the finale at Party in the Park - The Prince's Trust concert, and who actually plays keyboard in the We Will Rock You stage show, and has done since the show opened in 2002; Jamie Moses on guitar, who has a cv/pedigree resembling a role call, he has played and /or recorded with U2, Mike and the Mechanics, The Hollies, Paul Young, The Corrs, Lionel Ritchie, Marti Pellow, Anastacia, Zucchero, Curtis Stigers, Denny Laine, Tony Hadley, Spandau Ballet, to name but a few, there are dozens more, too numerous to list here; and Danny Miranda on bass, again Danny’s cv reads like the who’s who of New York, and he has been playing bass in the Las Vegas production of We Will Rock You.
It’s not that long since I had seen Paul Rodgers perform with Brian May at the Miller Strat Pack concert in September last year. A celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Fender strat. Strange to think that at the time I found this an electrifying performance, never imagining that the outcome of this event would be that Paul Rodgers would be asked to be the new front man for Queen. In the words of Brian May speaking about that night “We were both so amazed at the chemistry that suddenly it seemed blindingly obvious that there was ‘something happening here." And so it was.
There may have been people who thought that it was the end of Queen when Freddie died, I have always maintained that one musician/singer does not a group make, and although Freddie was such a charismatic frontman, that is certainly true of Queen. Queen is back – long may she live.
Set list:
01. Intro: It's A Beautiful Day Ross Robertson / DJ Koma 2005 techno mix [tape]
02. Intro: Lose Yourself [Eminem-tape]
03. Intro: Reachin' Out (Paul on vocals + Spike keyboards only)
04. Tie Your Mother Down (Paul on vocals)
05. I Want To Break Free (Paul on vocals)
06. Fat Bottomed Girls (Paul on vocals)
07. Wishing Well (Paul on vocals)
08. Another One Bites The Dust (Paul on vocals)
09. Crazy Little Thing Called Love (Paul on vocals + guitar)
10. Under Pressure (Roger on vocals and drums!)
11. Say It's Not True (Roger on vocals)
12. '39 (Brian on vocals & guitar)
13. Love Of My Life (Brian on vocals & guitar)
14. Hammer To Fall slow/fast (Brian and Paul on vocals)
15. Feel Like Makin' Love (Paul on vocals)
16. Let There Be Drums
17. I'm In Love With My Car (Roger on vocals and drums!)
18. Guitar solo
19. Last Horizon
20. These Are The Days Of Our Lives (Roger on vocals)
21. Radio Ga Ga (Roger and Paul on vocals)
22. Can't Get Enough Of Your Love (Paul on vocals)
23. A Kind Of Magic (Paul on vocals)
24. I Want It All (Paul on vocals)
25. Bohemian Rhapsody (Freddie and Paul on vocals)
26. The Show Must Go On (Paul on vocals)
27. All Right Now (Paul on vocals)
28. We Will Rock You (Paul on vocals)
29. We Are The Champions (Paul on vocals)
30. God Save The Queen
Jean Herbaut
Official Site: www.queenonline.com
Official Site: www.paulrodgers.com