Artist | Queen + Paul Rodgers |
---|---|
Date | 06.07.2005 |
Venue | Rhein-Energie Stadion |
City | Cologne |
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. 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. Say It's Not True (Roger on vocals) 11. '39 (Brian on vocals & guitar) 12. Love Of My Life (Brian on vocals & guitar) 13. Hammer To Fall slow/fast (Brian and Paul on vocals) 14. Feel Like Makin' Love (Paul on vocals) 15. Let There Be Drums 16. I'm In Love With My Car (Roger on vocals and drums!) 17. Guitar solo 18. Last Horizon 19. These Are The Days Of Our Lives (Roger on vocals) 20. Radio Ga Ga (Roger and Paul on vocals) 21. Can't Get Enough (Paul on vocals) 22. A Kind Of Magic (Paul on vocals) 23. I Want It All (Paul on vocals) 24. Bohemian Rhapsody (Freddie and Paul on vocals) 25. The Show Must Go On (Paul on vocals) 26. All Right Now (Paul on vocals) 27. We Will Rock You (Paul and WWRY cast Cologne on vocals) 28. We Are The Champions (Paul and WWRY cast Cologne on vocals) 29. God Save The Queen |
Support band | none or unknown |
Attendance | 26700 |
Audio recording | Length: 136:23 Quality: VG [an average audience recording] No download link available |
Video - information | The most bootlegged show ever :-) There are at least 6 different audience recordings, all in a pretty good quality. Length 136-150 minutes. |
Bits and pieces | Brian was apparently sick but he looked good and in a good mood, the band obviously enjoyed the gig. The gig surprisingly started almost on time because the crowd was wet due to a heavy rainfall. During Last Horizon Brian performed a couple of Now I'm Here riffs. He fucked up the beginning of I Want To Break Free though :-) Paul sang one line of 'Singing In The Rain' right after Feel Like Makin' Love. WWRY cast Cologne joined the band for the last two songs. |
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) |
Queen fans had to put up with wet and cold on Wednesday evening at the additional concert in the Cologne RheinEnergie stadium. But the band didn't leave their fans out there in the cold and rain. The successor to Freddie Mercury, Paul Rodgers, came out of the warm and dry time and again to rock in the pouring rain.
Guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor, who also turned his hand to singing now and again, proved, by stepping out repeatedly, that they were not hydrophobic either. An audience of more than 26,700 revelled in this dedication and in the enduring music of Queen.
Well, perhaps it wasn't all perfect at this penultimate concert of the European leg of 'Queen and Paul Rodgers', under which name go the trio of rock Flintstones backed by a bass player, a second guitarist and a keyboard player. A 26,700-strong audience is a lot, but they looked a bit lost in the spruce stadium where the gaps in the upper tiers were too large. Perhaps this was an indication of weakening appeal after a sold-out concert hall tour earlier this year.
But nowhere does the glamorous pomp of Queen function better than in a stadium. Especially an open-air one, where May's long guitar solo can distend without hindrance into the zero gravity of outer space, where, during 'We Will Rock You', a sea of outstretched arms becomes one of clapping hands, and 'We Are the Champions' is in its natural environment. Even with only two founding members left, Queen remain a rock institution.
An element of that is a particular attitude to the music. Not only a professional one, but also one which May, Taylor and Rodgers celebrated this Wednesday – they shared their music with the fans mainly in the stadium interior which was overwhelmed by an awful lot of rain. Nevertheless there were hardly any umbrellas; there was singing, acclaim and applause. It was just 'A Kind of Magic'.
The first tour without Mercury (and the first)* for 19 years has shown that the charismatic frontman who died in 1991 could not, in fact, be replaced. The playing of the video of 'Bohemian Rhapsody' allows for no other notion. On the other hand, Rodgers was, wisely, never advertised or 'sold' as the 'new' Mercury. Rodgers brought in his own band history and harmonised magnificently with May and Taylor. His Free and Bad Company songs 'Wishing Well', 'Can't Get Enough' and 'All Right Now' enriched the programme.
The powerhouses in their mid-fifties put on a wonderful rock show and above all there was the recognition that Queen's music lives on; not only as a recording for the winning of the area championship in football, handball or mini golf, not only as the soundtrack for a whacky musical, but also as a live event for fans from 15 to 65.
*Words in brackets added for clarity
One bleak cloud after another gathered in the evening over the RheinEnergie Stadium. Not the best weather for the only open-air Queen concert in Germany. Freddie Mercury would certainly have wished for better conditions for his fellow band members Brian May and Roger Taylor and last but not least for the loyal fans.
Shortly after 20.30 the show could start: On the huge stage, Paul Rodgers, who had taken over the singing in the place of the late Mercury, went absolutely flat out, roaring and rocking in every way possible. The ex-frontman from Bad Company and Free was so clever, abstaining from the drama and the large gestures for which Freddie had been famous. Instead he made his personal mark on the great Queen songs with his very bluesy voice. 'Crazy Little Thing Called Love', 'Radio Gaga' and other classics of the British group are today sounding different.
On the other hand, nothing has changed in the guitar department; an audience of nearly 27,000 was totally beside themselves as Brian May conjured solo after solo out of his sleeve in double quick time. With his curly mane and reddish-black home-made guitar, he still looks as if he is making an appearance in a 1986 calendar. It was in that year that Queen were last on a large world tour. A short time later, Freddie Mercury was already too ill – in November 1991 he died of Aids.
That the 'diva' with the sawn off microphone stand remains unforgotten is demonstrated by the success of the DVD and CD 'Queen on Fire – Live at the Bowl'. Before Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor were chauffered to the stadium sound check yesterday, there was a platinum award from the record company EMI at the Hyatt Hotel for sales of 200,000 of the concert recording from 1982.
And suddenly he was there again, the charismatic Queen singer: as the concert neared its end after over two hours came Bohemian Rhapsody; Freddie appeared on video, sitting at the piano as he used to do for the song. Thunderous applause broke out as his singing pervaded the stadium. It would not really be complete without him.
At the big finale there were some more well-known faces to be seen. The cast of 'We Will Rock You' came on stage to promote the Cologne musical. 'We Will Rock You' and every sportsperson's anthem 'We Are The Champions' were accompanied by those in lead roles such as Alex Melcher and Vera Bolten. There followed prolonged ovations on the stands and in the stadium interior: a regal finish.