Videos: Queen + Paul Rodgers Live, 2005 Tour

[tomballin]

(cross posting this from another forum, with update…TB)


Here’s my take on the 05 Queen Tour and Paul Rodgers

Despite Freddie Mercury's personal life, musically I have always said he is the greatest rock frontman and musical genius of our time, with David Lee Roth #2, and I have seen Queen in concert twice when Freddie was alive. Yes, I have also seen Van Roth Live, also twice. (Very young when I saw both groups)

Me liking Queen and Freddie’s music has always surprised my musician friends, because I am very heterosexual, and intolerant of “alternative lifestyle” sometimes to a fault. However, with Mercury, the guy was so great somehow I could always look past his personal life.

From a musician standpoint, when Freddie was alive, Queen was in a league of there own, imo,….unbelievable some of their musical compositions. Of course, Freddie never could have become a superstar without Brian May.

Got to also say, I think if DLR would have had a Brian May personality to work with instead of Eddie Van Asshole, God knows how great Van Roth could have become (and how far they could have progressed musically) as the all-time super-group of our times. EVH/AVH bitches about Roth’s “manner and ways”, can you see them if Freddie would have been the frontman for VH, ........ROFLOL.

As to Paul Rodgers, never been a big fan. The guy is not in the same league as Queen, (Freddie) or Van Roth (DLR), but thinks he is. Gee, what an overblown ego with Rodgers.

However, say what you want, I will have front row tickets to see Queen + Paul Rodgers, if they Tour in the States. If nothing else, I want to see Brian May play live again, up close.

Also like everyone, I thought WTF with Paul Rodgers fronting Queen. However, I am impressed with what I have heard so far. Please note, you cannot compare Paul, or anyone else, to Freddie. If you take this attitude, Queen should never reform, never record, or never Tour again. You have to look at Queen as a whole musically, and Paul as a part, and take Freddie out of the equation mentally in comparison. If you cannot do this, forgot seeing the 05 Queen Tour, you will be disappointed.

Also remember this was Brian's idea, (he and Paul are very good friends) but the other Queen members didn’t want to do it. (They all own equally in Queen “rights”, including Freddie’s Estate) Queen bassist, John Deacon is permanently retired, and drummer Roger Taylor orginally said no to Brian about a Queen reunion with Rodgers. Taylor changed his mind after spending some time with Brian and Paul in the studio, and realizing that Rodgers could do “good justice” in singing Freddie’s work, all matters considered.

However I read, the other Queen members told Brian, that Paul Rodgers could not become a member of Queen, as Brian had prematurely announced, but that Paul Rodgers could be "featured with" Queen. So the 05 Tour is being titled “Queen + Paul Rogers”. Personally I agree with this decision.

Also Paul must have balls, because the first song he and Queen did in public was We Will Rock You – We Are The Champions. NOBODY can compare to Mercury on Champions, but Paul did a good job, imo, and Brian May was aweseome as usual. It got me musically fired up, that all I know.

Here’s some videos of the live performance of “Queen + Paul Rodgers” at the recent UK Music Hall of Fame Awards. Make you own decision if Paul was the “right” choice to try and make a go of it for a Queen 05 Tour….Peace

Left Click to Play/Right Click to Download

1st Annual UK Music Hall of Fame Awards - 11/14/04

We Will Rock You, We Are The Champions

"Alright Now"

---Other Related Videos---

Here’s a Dutch station video interview, and retrospective, with the band and Paul Rodgers on the 05 Tour. Good stuff here, band members/interviewer speak in English.

”Here”]

Requirements – Windows Media Player – wmv format
Files Sizes: (MB) 12.3/ 10.9 / 38.4 (mpeg format)

[tomballin]

Couple of More Good Videos – Queen, Hall of Fame Inductions

UK Music Hall of Fame-2004

9.6 MB

Rock & Rock Hall of Fame-2001

18.5 MB

Requirement: Windows Media Player

[tomballin]

====Press Announcements======

17 Jan 2005 - Queen and Paul Rodgers have officially announced that they will be touring this year from March Queen unveil European tour, US dates hinted Queen have today unveiled their first tour in almost 19 years, with a series of European live dates starting late March.

The 23-date European trek, billed as Queen featuring Paul Rodgers, launches on March 30th in Paris, following a warm-up show at London's Brixton Academy [read: Queen rock again: London show confirmed]. A world tour has long been on the cards since Brian May performed with former Free/Bad Religion frontman Paul Rodgers. "It really all came about because of the Fender 50th Anniversary gig that I did with Paul Rodgers," Brian May said recently on his website [read: Miller Strat Pack Concert - London Wembley Arena].

The European dates, which will be confirmed later today by the band, include shows in Spain, Italy and Germany before a six-date tour of the UK. Dates in Scotland and Ireland have been put on hold due to Rodgers' other touring commitments, but Brian May revealed they will happen later in the year, saying the band are 'conscious that this is a very important omission'.

Speaking about the North American leg of the tour, May said: "We are at present putting a proposal together for us to play dates in the USA starting end of September or early October". Various fan club sites are reporting the first date to be the Montreal Metropolis on September 8, although soundgenerator is unable to confirm the news at time of press. The full European schedule is as follows:

March
19 - Fancourt (46664 Concert), South Africa
28 - London Brixton Academy, UK
30 - Paris Le Zenith, France
April
01 - Madrid Palacio de los Deportes. Spain
02 - Barcelona Palau Sant Jordi, Spain
04 - Rome Palalottomatica, Italy
05 - Milan Forum, Italy
07 - Firenze Nelson Mandela Forum, Italy
08 - Pesaro BPA Palas, Italy
12 - Vienna Stadthalle, Austria
14 - Munich Olympiahalle, Germany
16 - Prague Sazka Arena, Czech
17 - Leipsig Arena, Germany
19 - Frankfurt Festhalle, Germany
20 - Antwerpen Sportpaleis, Belguim
25 - Dortmund Westfalengalle, Germany
28 - Hamburg Color Line Arena, Germany
May
03 - Newcastle Metro, UK
04 - Manchester MEN, UK
06 - Birmingham NEC, UK
07 - Cardiff Arena, UK
09 - Sheffield Hallam Arena, UK
11 - London Wembley Arena, UK

Ticket pre-sale go on sale today (January 17) to members of the Queen fan club.

[tomballin]

====2nd Announcement by Clear Channel=======

Published: January 26, 2005 04:22 PM

Queen guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor, along with Free/Bad Company frontman Paul Rodgers have officially announced plans for a spring tour that will visit a dozen European countries over six weeks.

The outing, billed as "Queen + Paul Rodgers," so far isn't scheduled to visit North America, though a fall tour is under consideration. Set lists will feature a mix of Queen material and songs from Rodgers' bands, according to a press release.

Queen last toured in 1986, before late frontman Freddie Mercury began showing symptoms of AIDS. Mercury died of the disease in 1991.

"I was always against the idea of putting someone in there trying to impersonate Freddie in any way," May said in a statement. "Then suddenly I'm looking at this guy who doesn't in any sense try to take the place of Freddie. He's nothing like Freddie because he comes from his own place.

"Suddenly I thought, 'yes we can do this', we could do one more tour and the songs would mean something new. This would not be like rehashing, trying to pretend Freddie's still here; suddenly we can reinterpret these songs with someone who understands what he's about, someone who relates to us. Suddenly it felt right. It's colossal, and I can't quite believe it."

Last year, Rodgers sang with May and Taylor during Queen's induction into the U.K. Music Hall of Fame and at a concert in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Fender Stratocaster guitar.

"'Let's do more' was the unanimous feeling," Rodgers said in a statement. "Which is why we are joining forces for this tour of Europe and the U.K. this spring and possibly the U.S. and Canada in the fall. We intend to merge our styles and our music at the point where they meet most naturally."

Longtime Queen bassist John Deacon has retired from performing, and won't participate in the tour, the tour announcement said.

The surviving members of Queen have played together at a few events since Mercury's death, including a 1992 tribute to Mercury and at the band's 2001 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

[DavidLeeNatra]

I've seen Queen in 1982 and on their last tour 1986 and they were OUTSTANDING !!! mercury was larger than live frontman and I tink he was the biggest loss when he died in 1991.

now, that I've seen the vids and as I see how brian may and roger taylor are doing it with paul rodgers I'm at peace with it...the guys want to play and be out there for a couple of gigs...I'm fine with it, 14 years after freddie's death they kept up his legacy and pay all the respect to him he deserves...paul rodgers seems to be relaxed and is no wannabe...

[tomballin]

Originally posted by DavidLeeNatra
I've seen Queen in 1982 and on their last tour 1986 and they were OUTSTANDING !!! mercury was larger than live frontman and I tink he was the biggest loss when he died in 1991.

now, that I've seen the vids and as I see how brian may and roger taylor are doing it with paul rodgers I'm at peace with it...the guys want to play and be out there for a couple of gigs...I'm fine with it, 14 years after freddie's death they kept up his legacy and pay all the respect to him he deserves...paul rodgers seems to be relaxed and is no wannabe...

Wow impressive 82, 86, cool.

Yeah, I find the UK Music Awards performance very impressive.

Also luckly, Brian and Roger have been well “trained” dealing with massive egos after all their years with Freddie. They can use that experience in having to deal with Rodgers massive ego.

I remember when Rodgers and Bad Company toured with Diamond in ’99, Dave had trouble dealing with the guy and Bad Company sucked on that 99 tour, imo

Now I read Rodgers was the one demanding that he be made a member of Queen, and the other “controlling” members finally had to tell Brian May and Paul, NO!, Rodgers will not perform on this Tour unless the venue are smoke free because it bothers his voice (LOL) and Rodgers refuses to work with the bassist picked for the 05 Queen Tour, so now Brian and Roger Taylor are forced to find another bassist, blah blah.

It will be interesting to see what the final set list looks like.

[Chaz Rock City]

Gary Cherone is the guy to front Queen. Watch the Freddie Mercury Tribute show, Extreme do an outfuckingstanding Queen medley. Then Cherone does Hammer to Fall with Queen. Freddie would have been proud. Touring with Queen would make amends for VH 3 in my book. I would just blame everything on Eddie

[Chaz Rock City]

I could care less what Freddie did in his private life, it just means more pussy for me.

[Chaz Rock City]

I just watched the video of We Will Rock You/We are the Champions. It sounded a lot better than I thought it would. I was impressed. Roger Taylor didn't have to show modesty at the induction; Queen is better than Led Zep and the Who. It was cool the Darkness inducted them

[tomballin]

Originally posted by Chaz Rock City
I just watched the video of We Will Rock You/We are the Champions. It sounded a lot better than I thought it would. I was impressed. Roger Taylor didn't have to show modesty at the induction; Queen is better than Led Zep and the Who. It was cool the Darkness inducted them

Yeah I was impressed enough I mastered the intro vid and the two songs into one nice high resolution video. Queen and Rodgers were great on Champions, and damn Brian May lacing in those riffs at the end of the song were just pure killer. Awesome sound and ability to work those notes on the fretboard!

[tomballin]

Most of the discussion on the Queen + Paul Rodgers 05 Tour is taking place on this thread:

Re-Formed Queen to Tour in '05

http://www.rotharmy.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=14532

149 Posts / 1,060 Views

[usfest]

Originally posted by Chaz Rock City
Gary Cherone is the guy to front Queen.

Yes! That Freddie tribute show was amazing - and you know as I was watching this Paul Rogers/Queen clip I was sort of reminded of seeing Van Hagar do Jump and Ain't Talking 'Bout Love - it was just weird. Sort of like seeing a cover band who happend to have members of the band whose music they covered in it.

At the Freddie Mercury tribute Extreme just got the biggest response when they did the Queen melody. It was amazing. And even the whole Elton John/Axel Rose bit was better than Paul Rogers. On the other hand if it was billed as, say, Paul Rogers with guests and they happened to do some Queen songs it might be ok. I love the WHo and really felt the same way over the last decade - the should have stoped calling themselves the Who and just done soemthing else. Like when Roger did a "solo" tour and it was billed as "Roger Daltery performs songs of The Who...with special musical guests John Entwistle and Pete Townsend."

This thread sort of remind some of a Roth quote from around 85/86 - "You won't see me out there doing Hagar songs"

[aesop]

Originally posted by Chaz Rock City
Gary Cherone is the guy to front Queen. Watch the Freddie Mercury Tribute show, Extreme do an outfuckingstanding Queen medley. Then Cherone does Hammer to Fall with Queen. Freddie would have been proud. Touring with Queen would make amends for VH 3 in my book. I would just blame everything on Eddie

...And that post gets ya a 5-star from me, Chaz. Great point!!! Why didn't they ask Gary??? Now HE could cary the Queen torch just fine... And although VHIII was an abortion, Gary is the real deal.

He also did very well in Jesus Christ Superstar...

[tomballin]

Originally posted by aesop
...And that post gets ya a 5-star from me, Chaz. Great point!!! Why didn't they ask Gary??? Now HE could cary the Queen torch just fine... And although VHIII was an abortion, Gary is the real deal.

He also did very well in Jesus Christ Superstar...

I need to listen to some non-Van Halen Cherone. I mean the full video I have of a '98 Van Halen show in Sydney, and two audios of 98 VH shows with Cherone, the guy totally sucked. Sounded like shite.

He was also horrible on the Sydney VH video, jumping around and acting like a total idiot, dressed in a totally black business suit for crying out loud. Really wierd guy.

I though after watching/listening to Cherone, hell I would take Hagar over Gary. Maybe the Sisters screwed Cherone up on the Tour, I don't know.

[pete]

Paul Rodgers is still a phenomenal vocalist.

Thanks.