Queen are set to tour in the new year with free & bad company paul rodgers! wahooo

I'm more a rodgers fan then queen, but love both. Can't imagine his vocals suiting queen songs but will be interesting to see.

i've seen rodgers live twice and he is a great frontman and one of the best british singers in the last 50years. no-one can throw a mic stand quite as good as him haha.

and i hear a little whisper that sheffield arena will be one of the venues.

:D

Oh no that sounds awful :-( I am a massive Queen fan and like Paul Rodgers to but I really wish the remaining members ofQueen would 'let it lie'!

I know they are probably not trying to replace Freddie exactly but I don't want to hear classic Queen tracks sung by other people.
Plus I still haven't forgiven them for the Blue nightmare a couple of tears ago....

I agree with Maddie I'm afraid. They should go home and forget about it. The only decent post freddie performance was the George Michael one(and i'm not a fan of his, but he's a good singer). It's just embarrasing seeing them try to hold on to what they used to have.

Rodgers is a great blues singer, but how is that compatible with the soaring operatic queen style, which is a good octave higher than his range?

I would rather hear this lineup play free songs than queen :loopy:

yeah agreed his vocals are amazing but very un-suited to queens material. im just curious how its gonna sound.

and i defo agree with george michaels amazing vocals on queen songs!! i really wished that they would have toured with him.

well if queen fans think this is gonna be really awful then the bloke who won stars in their eyes as freddie is also playing the arena with his tribute band later in the year.

Originally posted by MTheo
yeah agreed his vocals are amazing but very un-suited to queens material. im just curious how its gonna sound.

and i defo agree with george michaels amazing vocals on queen songs!! i really wished that they would have toured with him.

well if queen fans think this is gonna be really awful then the bloke who won stars in their eyes as freddie is also playing the arena with his tribute band later in the year.

*Falls over in shock*
Now don't get me wrong, when he won Stars In Their Eyes I thought he did a very good impersonation but you can't fill an arena pretending to be someone else, especially not Freddie Mercury who was defiantly indavidual till the end! *weeb grumble moan*

Ahh they weren't particularly brilliant with Freddie but this 'Queen 2005' will be worse.

This is a lot like the '20th Century Doors' idea. You cannot replace charismatic lead singers of bands, Jim Morrison and Freddie Mercury.

Ian, we may differ in our views on Freddie Mercury but otherwise I agree 100%
It strikes me as simply being a money making venture as it certainly does nothing to improve musically. Truly great musicians will not be forgotten by their fans and the fans deserve better than third rate impressionists or a hodge podge of different bands - it didn't work for Bucks Fizz lol

ive mixed feelings i guess.... i mean i went to see guns n roses and it was only axl rose remaining.....and i had a great time.

i was shocked about the tribute to queen going to the arena.. but bootleg beatles filled the arena as did that abba tribute band.

suppose its nice to have the choice. you can go....or stay at home and put on the cd's.

judas priest replaced their singer and the guy was fantastic!! ... and i have heard a bloke who can take off whitesnake singer david coverdale to perfection. so i never rule out someone coming along who can sing the songs how they should be sung....but it aint paul rodgers!! (best blues rock singer ever in my opinion)

Originally posted by Maddy
Ian, we may differ in our views on Freddie Mercury but otherwise I agree 100%


Hehe, I'm just annoyed that they beat led zeppelin for the UK Hall of Fame for the 1970s! :rant:

Originally posted by IanMitchell
Hehe, I'm just annoyed that they beat led zeppelin for the UK Hall of Fame for the 1970s! :rant:

LOL now don't spoil something by provoking an argument (whjich will mainly consist of 'no they shouldn't have' 'yes they should')

hehe- just gonna say this

Led Zeppelin were second only to The Beatles in album sales. ;)

The best retort to that I can currently think of is 'yeah but Queen just rock' so I think I will gracefully retire from this fight :-)

Queen do rock, but they don't rock as hard as my four guys ;) :headbang:

Originally posted by IanMitchell
Queen do rock, but they don't rock as hard as my four guys ;) :headbang:

Ian, I know he was as bent as a badger, but tie your mother down is the most balls to the wall rock performance that you are likely to hear.

And I have only one of Queens albums and most of Led Zep's

Originally posted by muddycoffee
And I have only one of Queens albums and most of Led Zep's

Would that Queen album happen to be Night at the opera?

Originally posted by Maddy
*Falls over in shock*
Now don't get me wrong, when he won Stars In Their Eyes I thought he did a very good impersonation but you can't fill an arena pretending to be someone else, especially not Freddie Mercury who was defiantly indavidual till the end! *weeb grumble moan*

I saw the tribute band at the City Hall and they litterally couldn't fill that. I got 10 free tickets and couldn't get rid of them, the backing band looked like some buskers off the street. I can not see how they will fill an Arena:loopy:

Originally posted by IanMitchell
Would that Queen album happen to be Night at the opera?

No it's a day at the races.
I bought it in the january sale about 6 years ago. From what I understand with queen, they were more of a rock band in their early days. Although I haven't really gone through their albums to compare, but I would say that it's quite a bit better than some of the worse led zep albums like coda.

Originally posted by muddycoffee
I would say that it's quite a bit better than some of the worse led zep albums like coda.

Well yeah but Coda was an outtake album created in 1982 when the band had broken up.

I don't really count it as a Led Zeppelin album :P

Originally posted by muddycoffee
Ian, I know he was as bent as a badger, but tie your mother down is the most balls to the wall rock performance that you are likely to hear.

And I have only one of Queens albums and most of Led Zep's

That is the best description of one of the best songs of all time I have ever heard!

Originally posted by Maddy
That is the best description of one of the best songs of all time I have ever heard!

You are most welcome Maddy :D

Well, tickets went on sale at 10am at the Hallam FM Arena is anybody is interested. There may be some left. I don't expect it will take too long to sell out but availability at 10:00:15 was pretty good!

Cheers,

Lottie

The Beatles split in 1970. Queen 'split' the day Freddie passed away (1991?). No amount of remixing, rehashing or re-recording will bring either of these two groups together. But as long as they have a fan base, and boy, here are two whopping examples, it's music to the ears of the music executives who are willing to squeeze every last drop out of these group's heritages.

However, us old enough to have been around at the time of the original (and only) Queen can continue to enjoy their music by playing our CDs to death. Those not around at the time are given an opportunity to get into groups like Queen simply by seeing what we're talking about here, another 'Queen' line-up with another vocalist. This can only be a good thing despite us older-uns wishing to an extent that they would call it a day and leave their track record unblemished.

We've just had two Elvis singles top the charts on sales of around 20,000. That wouldn't get you on the shelf in Record Collector a few years ago. The industry is changing, but what is really important - to me at least, a musician of over 20 years - is that the next generation is given the chance to latch onto the music of the likes of Queen and the Beatles and to then go out and discover other great, original music.

But here's an argument: Who's the best? Page or May? That, my little darlings, is a tough 'un!

Originally posted by Ousetunes
But here's an argument: Who's the best? Page or May? That, my little darlings, is a tough 'un!

Oustunes,
you can't compare Page and May.
It's like comparing apples with pears.

May is a musiscian, Page a guitarist, both unfortunately are passed their best.

And I don't want to offend anyone by understating Page as just a guitarist, Rather he was a genius guitarist. Who co-wrote some of the most legendary rock tunes ever. A rock god, nearly as important as Hendrix.

May has shown a complete lack of taste since freddy died, sure he had a big hit with driven by you, but all the rest of his stuff has been over-sentimental garbage.
Queen was always a fun band on the camp side of rock pop. They were the Darkness of the late 70s and 80s. And many of their songs were more mainstream classics for average people who strayed into the rock genre. Flash gordon song - embarrasing.. We are the champions - classic. Highlander soundtrack - genius. Robbie williams sings with queen - embarrasing.

I'm firmly in the camp that believes old rockers should let it lie. Take the Beatles, Lennon always refused to consider any kind of reunion. Thank god he did. As Philip Larkin said in 1983...

"When you get to the top, there's nowhere to go but down, but The Beatles could not... there they remain, unreachable, frozen, fabulous"

Their legend will never be marred by corporate sell outs or rehashed material re-recorded to make it "chartable". They never sold out, they quit at the top.

Take The Stones or The Who. The best that can be said for them today is that they are irrelevant. Don't get me wrong, I love their music and they deserve their place in the rock annals but like a previous post said, get out the CD's and listen to them when they were at their peak.

I always like the reply McCartney had for any journo who asked if the Beatles would be reforming (that is, a Beatles firstly minus one John Lennon and latterly a George Harrison).

McCartney's somewhat baffling reply would be: You can't reheat a souffle!

Originally posted by Cols
Take The Stones or The Who. The best that can be said for them today is that they are irrelevant. Don't get me wrong, I love their music and they deserve their place in the rock annals but like a previous post said, get out the CD's and listen to them when they were at their peak.

It's the exception that proves the rule. The stones are still fantastic live. They based themselves on really old blues guys, and are changing decade by decade into the same seniority as their heroes. Long live the stones.
Although I wouldn't expect them to have any impact with any new tunes at this stage.

Well heres me thinking Paul Rodgers was a gonna.
Hmmm, we are talking of the 60s/70s group "Free" here are we not.
so who was the guy who had a heart attack on the plane on his way to or back from Newyork about 1970.
Always thought was Paul Rodgers.:confused:

That was Paul Kossoff, the brilliant guitarist from Free.

http://www.tomguerra.com/Paul-Kossoff.html

Well i've been a queen fan for as long as I can remember,and I can't begin to imagine how the songs will be carried off.
But,when all is said and done,I never got the chance to see Queen with Freddie,so this is the best chance I have to hear the MUSIC played live.

Originally posted by Ousetunes
But here's an argument: Who's the best? Page or May? That, my little darlings, is a tough 'un!

lol no it isn't a tough 'un :P

Easily Page :D

Originally posted by IanMitchell
lol no it isn't a tough 'un :P

Easily Page :D

And so it begins again Ian!
May :p

I too never got to see Queen live and if I went to the arena I still wouldn't be seeing Queen live I'd be seeing 3 old members and some other dude. Can't recreate the magic in my book

and some other dude? haha.. Paul bloody rodgers! one of the best vocalists in british history!...but blues rock...not pop rock. its gonna sound odd!

i hear tickets are £39 and £49... sod that! as much as id like to go im not paying that.


page is better a guitarist than may. no one has done as many catchy riffs as jimmy page. but all bow to steve vai & eddie van halen :D

Originally posted by Maddy
I too never got to see Queen live and if I went to the arena I still wouldn't be seeing Queen live I'd be seeing 3 old members and some other dude. Can't recreate the magic in my book

Same with zeppelin

Can't have led zeppelin without John Bonham.

But Mtheo he isn't Freddie!
Ian - finally we agree on something lol :)

If you read Brian May's own website, you find that this tour is not just an ill advised attempt to bring Queen back and replace Freddy. They played with Paul Rogers at some other concert, really enjoyed the experience and just announced that they would like to do a tour together and before you know it dates are announced and I'm not sure whether the final line up has even been decided yet.

I'm just glad that Brian May and John Deacon are excited enough to go on tour again and give those who missed Queen with Freddy a chance to hear some of the Queen stuff live. If you're going to have a tribute band, better one with half or 3/4 of the original line up, I reckon. It won't be the same but bloody good no-the-less! I'd never heard of Paul Rogers before though but I hear he has charisma of his own.

Well I am a huge Queen fan and was in two minds about it when I heard they were touring.

At the end of the day, I love the music of Queen and I didn't get to see them live. I've seen Brian May live as I love him as a guitarist.

To get the chance of seeing Brian playing Queen songs live is an amazing opportunity. Freddie can never be replaced, yes he did make Queen what it was, but I still love the music, so I'll think of it as a tribute to one of the best front men ever.

Paul Rodgers is a great singer in his own right and has a completely different style. I'm glad that Queen have decided to not attempt to have a singer trying to be like Freddie. It just wouldn't work at all.

I've got my front standing tickets and I can't wait :)

Originally posted by muddycoffee
I agree with Maddie I'm afraid. They should go home and forget about it. The only decent post freddie performance was the George Michael one(and i'm not a fan of his, but he's a good singer). It's just embarrasing seeing them try to hold on to what they used to have.

Rodgers is a great blues singer, but how is that compatible with the soaring operatic queen style, which is a good octave higher than his range?

I would rather hear this lineup play free songs than queen :loopy:

It would have been interesting to see FREE's Andy Fraser on bass with them, but I see postings across the net that he also died of AIDS only last week

Originally posted by jboi33
It would have been interesting to see FREE's Andy Fraser on bass with them, but I see postings across the net that he also died of AIDS only last week

This appears to be false. Is there official confirmation anywhere?

Well,I went last night and it was a fantastic gig.Rogers sounded on top form,and the music sounded brilliant.
All the Queen classics were played as were Free and Bad Company favourites.

Plus,one of the best recieved songs of the night was All Right Now.

I was also there and .....wow! Worth every penny and more. Very emotional too as Freddie was very much a part of the evening. Really good reworkings of the classics which you could tell that they really enjoyed performing. And a really long set too with no support. Paul Rodgers was so careful not to tread on any Freddie fans' toes, it was touching.

For those who didn't go, never fear, you can watch us enjoying it on the DVD which they filmed last night!

I really enjoyed it and loved the way they included Freddie e.g. During Bohemian Rhapsody having him on the screen playing the piano so it was him singing it. Great lighting, good long set even if it did have a few fillers. I thought some of the song choices odd/random but then again there's so many to choose from they couldn't play all the best ones! Thought it nice that they played some of Paul's songs too.

My one grumble is with the arena or whoever set it up. Having got up early on the ticket day to ensure I was on the phone the minute the tickets came on sale to ensure I got my front standing tickets I was highly p***ed off when I got there to find they hadn't set up the front and rear standing barriers. I get there to find the rear standing tickets holders are down the front which was as tightly packed as possible so we couldn't get anywhere near and we ended up standing quite far back in an area that would have been rear standing. NOT ON! I paid 55 quid a ticket to stand far back when I assumed I'd be in the front area. Even if you stand at the back of the front area its near the stage. If I had known it would be general standing admission I would have opted from seats near the stage which I could have bought when I got on the ticket site the second the tickets went on sale. :mad: Not happy. Those who didn't get in there first to ensure they got front standing tickets and ended up with rear standing tickets got to go to the front.

Originally posted by Foxxx
NOT ON! I paid 55 quid a ticket to stand far back when I assumed I'd be in the front area. Even if you stand at the back of the front area its near the stage.

Very true, we also paid £55 for the front standing area but we did make it to the front, we had to get there early mind (3pm in the afternoon!!), long day but a fantastic event, the disco ball trick was a real treat.....I almost fell over :-)

Jez

You all must have been watching a different concert to me.

I went there with low expectations as I wasn't expecting it to be a Queen concert. Yet I was still disappointed, Paul Rogers was ok I guess, he could belt out the songs an sing the high bits but there wasn't any soul or character to his performance. It was very hard to hear Queen songs being ruined in this way.

They shud have never done it.

Although I must say that when Brian and Roger sang the songs themselves it was fantastic. When Brian May sang Love of my life with the empty stool at the side of him, I dont think there was a dry eye in the place, it was very touching.

What i was also not happy about was paying £55 for Queen an Paul Rogers + SUPPORT and when on arrival was informed that there wasn't a support band at all an that we had to wait an extra hour in the arena being bored silly, with the prices of stuff in that place I wasnt goin to be prepared to buy anything, if I had found this out before I got there I could have spent an hour in the pub having decently priced drinks, or even sat at home not rushing round trying to get there in time. >(

Yeah I was annoyed about no support. We wouldn't have rushed to get there had we known.

Razorlight supported at the London gig. I can only assume they had no support because they were recording it. Perhaps they played for longer as it was being recorded for DVD. Who knows.

some people are never satisfied

I actually rang Monday afternoon to find out who the support were only to be told there wasn't one, and the band would be on around 8:45 to do a 2 hour set. So we sauntered down on the tram, arrived about 8, into the the Noose and Gibbert for a pint or three and then across to the Arena about 8:40 just as it was starting. Perfect timing although at the time, I was beginning to think we'd come on the wrong day......no one around! Tram empty/pub empty....no one queueing at the turnstiles etc etc.

And so to the concert. I'm glad they decided to do the Free/Bad Company songs, cos that made it all worthwhile for me. If it'd been Queen only songs, I'd have been disappointed. You just can't replace someone with the charisma of Mr Mercury and expect it to work even though they've said it was an interpretation of Queen songs rather than "Queen" if you know what I mean......I'm starting to waffle, so it's goodbye from me.

Originally posted by uncleheed
some people are never satisfied

Yeah well I think people have the right to be satisfied at 55 quid a pop!


It was all worth it in the end, just to see Brian May standing in front of buckingham place, then on top, then in the clouds, then in the sky!!! Playing the old geetar, hair blowing around, and the whole arena lit up like space! Cheesy as, but great!

Me and my friends are writing a letter to complain about the front/rear standing fiasco, since we were sold tickets under false pretences and there's a principle here. If no-one actually complains what's to stop them doing that again. I'm sure we are entitled to complain unders some sort of consumer rights as the ticket specifies an area on it and we didn't get to stand in that area.

Who would I need to send the letter to? Is it the arena? Is it the organisers of the tour? I have no idea!

I'd try the arena first,if that doesnt work,try the promoter.

Foxx - Did you buy your ticket directly from the Arena? We bought ours from their web-site and completed the transaction about one minute after they went on for sale. I don't recall there even being the option of front standing tickets at a higher price or else we would have also bought them. In fact, I seem to remember that area being shaded out on the plan and wondering why. That's weird!

Do you know what I can't remember who I bought them from, I've ordered so many tickets recently! It was either from the arena or from aloud or ticketmaster. I can check. When I got them I had the floor plan up and there was a choice of front standing, rear standing and then different price bands for seating. The tickets distributed had 'front standing' or 'rear standing' clearly marked on them. Not sure if there was a price difference to be honest. I've been to concerts in the arena before when there hasn't been front or rear and the tickets have just said 'standing' on them and it was a free for all.

Very weird that you didn't get an option. Did you get seated tickets?

Originally posted by Foxxx
Do you know what I can't remember who I bought them from, I've ordered so many tickets recently! It was either from the arena or from aloud or ticketmaster. I can check. When I got them I had the floor plan up and there was a choice of front standing, rear standing and then different price bands for seating. The tickets distributed had 'front standing' or 'rear standing' clearly marked on them. Not sure if there was a price difference to be honest. I've been to concerts in the arena before when there hasn't been front or rear and the tickets have just said 'standing' on them and it was a free for all.

Very weird that you didn't get an option. Did you get seated tickets?

my mate works at arena part time and was working that night. he said that it was queens road crew that caused the mess.