Artist | Queen + Paul Rodgers |
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Date | 17.04.2005 |
Venue | Arena |
City | Leipzig |
Country | Germany |
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 | 11000 |
Audio recording | Length: 122:25 Quality: VG [an average audience recording] No download link available |
Video - information | Complete audience recording. Also a short report was broadcasted on MDR. |
Bits and pieces | Brian broke a string right before the end of his guitar solo :-) For the very first time ever Brian sang both verses of '39. Paul forgot the lyrics in Show Must Go On three times (!!!) and also started singing the last verse of I Want It All too early (before the guitar solo). |
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) |
My girlfriend and I spent the weekend in Leipzig, because the concert was on Sunday and Leipzig is a nice town. We came from Berlin, which is about 2 hours away by car.
I was very nervous already the Sunday morning because this would be my first Queen concert. I became a Queen fan in 1989 when I was 15 years old, and the Magic Tour was over for 3 years...!
By lunchtime I went to the Arena and asked a guy when the soundcheck was. He told me the time and I tried to get in the Arena, but without a chance. So I could hear Brian and Roger doing their soundchecks, which was interesting.
Then a few hours later we entered the Leipzig-Arena. It was possible to get near to the stage.
Both of us were very happy to be only seconds away from seeing Queen live for the very first time.
Then the lights went out and "A beautiful day" came as a tape-intro, and after that a song by Eminem, which was funny! And then Paul Rodgers came on stage alone with "Reaching Out". After that the show started with "Tie Your Mother Down" and the party began. The audience was so happy to see Brian and Roger and they felt it and smiled so much. After some songs Roger came on stage alone and performed a wonderful version of the new Queen song "Say It's Not True". He also made some fun and introduced members of the band as "guys from Leipzig".
I was completely happy with the show and Paul Rodgers, who did his own thing and didn't try to imitate Freddie.
Highlights for me were "I Want It All", The Days Of Our Lives" and "The Show Must Go On" live. I also loved it when Freddie "came" on stage during Bo Rap. For us it was a wonderful evening!
'Queen' acclaimed by 10,000 fans at their only concert in East(ern) Germany
At the end they sang 'We Are The Champions': Brian May, Roger Taylor and Paul Rodgers. The fans 'outvoted' the band. After a concert of two hours everyone was putting their arms in the air and tapping each other on the shoulder: The musicians on the stage and the people in the auditorium of the sold-out Leipzig Arena. 'Queen', the legendary British band of the 70s and 80s is back on tour, and on Sunday evening in Leipzig they staged their only concert in East(ern) Germany. Without the late Freddie Mercury, without bassist John Deacon, but, in return, with the old anthems and the former 'Free' and 'Bad Company' frontman Paul Rodgers. Without the eccentric charm of earlier stage shows, renowned to this day, but, in return, with an enthusiasm which could be both felt and heard.
When, at the start of the concert, the tones of 'Reaching Out' were heard, thousands of arms shot up - Paul Rodgers set about rocking. When Brian May struck up the first chords on the guitar, the people in the hall cheered. A sea of hands clapped along with the beat of 'Tie Your Mother Down'. Then a short, disturbing moment, when on 'I Want To Break Free', for every last member of the audience it started to sink in that it was not Freddie Mercury who was singing. "That sounds quite strange" one man muttered, and some others nodded. A few seconds later the spotlight fell on Brian May, in whose guitar artistry this short-lived moment of ill-humour was forgotten. The fans were overjoyed. Nineties style, at least, appeared to have passed May by without a trace - with curly mane, trainers and drainpipe jeans, he was, this evening, a guarantor of the continuity of this band.
Roger Taylor then took over the reflective role for a while. He dedicated 'Say It's Not True' to Nelson Mandela and his fight against Aids. Shortly afterwards he exchanged his place on the catwalk with May, who not only gave his best to ''39' but with 'Love of My Life' sang a song "by and for Freddie". He sat alone on the stage and listened to the chorus as sung by the fans. Only the security people, sternly watchful, were unmoved by it.
Certainly there was less flashing from lights than from digital cameras. However, the solidarity between the audience and the artists was scarcely ever so great than at that moment. "The spirit of Queen lives, I thank you for that" exclaimed May. A short time after, he performed an impressive guitar solo. He is still master of his art, and it could be seen that he enjoyed being on stage again. 'Radio Ga Ga' and 'A Kind of Magic' followed 'These Are The Days of Our Lives'; the light show, in any event lavish, was stepped up again for this 'kind of magic'.
Paul Rodgers danced and sang with his microphone stand and philandered with the audience, who liked him all the more for it. He did not try to imitate Mercury, and sang many songs differently. He was not on the stage for very
long at all – letting the 'Queen'-players have the limelight. So all of a sudden he was standing in the dark. Then Freddie Mercury sang 'Bohemian Rhapsody' on a video screen; the 10 000 fans in the hall cheered as if it were him in person. When film clips allowed the charismatic artist to come 'alive' again, it became clear who the real 'spirit' of Queen was.
So the atmosphere in the arena was then even harmonious rather than euphoric as Rodgers took over the microphone again. "That a few old gents have got together here to make cool music" as one member of the audience remarked, cannot be ignored, "but it's not 'Queen' as we once knew them". Be that as it may, at the encore, everyone acclaimed 'The Show Must Go On', the Free hit 'All Right Now' and 'We Will Rock You'. No doubt, when they sang 'We Are The Champions', everyone really meant it.
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