Queen + Paul Rodgers live at the St. Jakobshalle, Basel, Switzerland [10.04.2005]
Basic information
Artist
Queen + Paul Rodgers
Date
10.04.2005
Venue
St. Jakobshalle
City
Basel
Country
Switzerland
Setlist
01. Intro: It's A Beautiful Day Ross Robertson / DJ Koma 2005 techno mix [tape]
02. Intro: Lose Yourself [tape - Eminem]
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. Crazy Little Thing Called Love (Paul on vocals + guitar)
08. Say It's Not True (Roger on vocals)
09. '39 (Brian on vocals & guitar)
10. Love Of My Life (Brian on vocals & guitar)
11. Hammer To Fall slow/fast (Brian and Roger on vocals)
12. Let There Be Drums
13. I'm In Love With My Car (Roger on vocals and drums!)
14. Guitar solo
15. Last Horizon
16. These Are The Days Of Our Lives (Roger on vocals)
17. Radio Ga Ga (Roger and Paul on vocals)
18. Can't Get Enough (Paul on vocals)
19. A Kind Of Magic (Paul on vocals)
20. I Want It All (Paul on vocals)
21. Bohemian Rhapsody (Freddie and Paul on vocals)
22. The Show Must Go On (Paul on vocals)
23. All Right Now (Paul on vocals)
24. We Will Rock You (Paul on vocals)
25. We Are The Champions (Paul on vocals)
26. God Save The Queen
Support band
none or unknown
Attendance
9000
Audio recording
Length: 119:39 Quality: VG[an average audience recording] No download link available
Video - information
no info available
Bits and pieces
The amps have cracked during the I Want It All solo/instrumental part - so the audience could hear only vocals and drums :-)
Line-up
Paul Rodgers (lead vocals, acoustic guitar)
Brian May (electric guitar, acoustic guitar, lead/backing vocals)
Roger Taylor (drums, congas, lead/backing vocals)
Jamie Moses (electric guitar, acoustic guitar, backing vocals)
Danny Miranda (bass guitar, acoustic guitar, backing vocals)
Spike Edney (keyboards, backing vocals)
Memorabilia
ticket stub (WANTED)
concert program (from my own collection)
backstage pass (from my own collection)
backstage pass (from my own collection)
setlist (from my own collection)
Photos
Articles
Fan stories
Written by Nathalie Grand, St. Galler Tagblatt (translated by Alison Sesi)
Queen celebrate their reunification with new singer Paul Rodgers – Freddie's ubiquitous spirit is present in Basel too.
A two-hour presentation of nostalgia with Queen was like a cellular cure. But magic sparks don't fly anymore – it could still be felt, even now at the Basel concert, that Freddie Mercury's temperament was missing.
'We'll stay together until we die' said Freddie Mercury in 1986, dismissing rumours of the allegedly imminent break-up of Queen. Who would have thought then that the two concerts at London's Wembley stadium in July 1986 would be among the last live performances of the band? In the same year Queen made two appearances in Zurich. Nineteen years later the band has returned to Switzerland – without Freddie. With a sense of pomp, emotiveness and with perfect singing, he left his mark on the history of rock music. The charismatic singer died on 24 November 1991 from Aids-related illness.
Aids was also a theme at the Queen concert in Basel. Drummer Roger Taylor sang the ballad 'Say It's Not True' for Nelson Mandela. On 19th March he and guitarist Brian May gave a concert in South Africa in order to support Mandela in his fight against Aids. Paul Rodgers was also with them. The charity event took place at the start of a joint concert tour. Bassist John Deacon did not wish to participate. So much more enthusiastic, Rodgers stated: 'When I performed 'We Will Rock You', 'All Right Now' and 'We Are The Champions' together with Queen I felt it was powerful and real, explosive and dynamic'.
Paul Rodgers Wins Them Over
In the sold-out St. Jakobshalle May, Taylor and Rodgers proved that they are masters of their art. The setlist read like a 'best of', not that the songs sound the slightest bit tired – soulful rock with raw emotion. Paul Rodgers, the new front man, really put himself out to introduce the audience to a new chapter of the 'Queens'. The former vocalist of Free and Bad Company skipped across the stage, could juggle with the microphone stand and fired up the audience participation. Apart from the very high notes, he came a long way to reaching Freddie Mercury's standard, although in doing so was not tempted with a desire to copy him. That spark would not have caught on so easily from the outset. The memory of the deceased singer and the wish that he could suddenly leap on to the stage seemed too powerful. While Brian May sang 'Love of My Life' accompanied on acoustic guitar, the stool next to him remaining empty, it was clear once and for all that Freddie was not returning but nevertheless remained ever-present. "We played our very first concert in Switzerland here in Basel. The spirit of that time can still be felt, this spirit is with you" declared May, as if to say: There is still life in the rock band Queen - you need only let it in.
From The Same Mould
Now followed the show of the true 'Queens' – every sound hit home on the drum solo, even if Roger Taylor doesn't bash as many lids as in earlier days, and on 'I'm in Love With My Car' he emphasised his singing talent. Thirty-five years after the formation of the band, Brian May appeared like a waxwork of himself, and played the guitar as if from the same mould. Almost too perfect. The crackling of the amplifier on 'I Want It All' was really quite a relief. May did not play over the fault, but consciously brought it to the gallery, as if he wanted to underline the contradictions of Queen. Freddie Mercury loved to conduct the masses with his theatrically produced anthemic arias, make an exhibition of his extravagant costumes and polarise with his equivocal poses. May, Taylor and Deacon appeared alongside like model pupils. And then, suddenly, he was there - Freddie, brought on through an enormous video screen, in skin-tight costume, singing 'Bohemian Rhapsody'. He composed the song in 1974; sheer musical gluttony. Queen's first ever number one is extremely unusual. It starts as a melodic pop ballad, passes through an opera piece, works up into wild rock 'n' roll and at the end of its considerable length of 5 minutes and 59 seconds finishes up again as a ballad. 'Bohemian Rhapsody' was Freddie's baby, Brian May once said, but everyone loves this song; everyone loves Freddie Mercury.