Artist | Queen + Paul Rodgers |
---|---|
Date | 11.05.2005 |
Venue | Wembley Pavillion |
City | London |
Country | UK |
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. Under Pressure (Roger on vocals and drums!) 11. Say It's Not True (Roger on vocals) 12. '39 (Brian on vocals & guitar) 13. Love Of My Life (Brian on vocals & guitar) 14. Hammer To Fall slow/fast (Brian and Paul on vocals) 15. Feel Like Makin' Love (Paul on vocals) 16. Let There Be Drums 17. I'm In Love With My Car (Roger on vocals and drums!) 18. Guitar solo 19. Last Horizon 20. These Are The Days Of Our Lives (Roger on vocals) 21. Radio Ga Ga (Roger and Paul on vocals) 22. Can't Get Enough (Paul on vocals) 23. A Kind Of Magic (Paul on vocals) 24. I Want It All (Paul on vocals) 25. Bohemian Rhapsody (Freddie and Paul on vocals) 26. The Show Must Go On (Paul on vocals) 27. All Right Now (Paul on vocals) 28. We Will Rock You (Paul on vocals) 29. We Are The Champions (Paul on vocals) 30. God Save The Queen |
Support band | none or unknown |
Attendance | 12000 |
Audio recording | Length: 141:12 Quality: VG+ [a very enjoyable recording] No download link available |
Video - information | Complete audience recording (118 min.) |
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) |
Photos supplied by: Chris Phillips
This piece was going to be called ‘Wembley Weblog'. Wednesday's experience, however, meant that such a neutral and even innocuous title was no longer appropriate. The understatement from Jacky of the Fan Club that ‘the venue left a lot to be desired' was borne out by the impact of ‘Tie Your Mother Down', which couldn't match up to that of Brixton where the sound had vibrated inside me – it was now coming across as slower and soggier. Things did improve somehow though, and there is so much to be said for the quality of the show in general.
Then again, it's my fault, of course, for going to a rock concert and expecting to be able to rock. If the truth be known, my current residual back ache is probably due as much to the restriction of being sandwiched between rows of plastic seating, as if in a straitjacket, for more than two hours as to an irresistible urge to ‘pogo' during the second half of ‘Hammer to Fall'. In addition to this, I probably incurred the wrath of my neighbour by encroaching on her space when I inevitably overstepped the miniscule area that could realistically be allotted to my feet. The transition from the slow start of ‘Hammer to Fall' to the fast finish was now well-polished, as expected, after the disjointed impression created at Brixton. With the benefit of hindsight, it's ironic that participating members of the audience couldn't wait for the slow pace in the first half when they pre-empted Paul at the words, “let the anaesthetic cover it all”. Their sufferings, like mine, must have made them wish that it would – and quickly.
Enclosed – and almost suffocated – within a glorified and grossly elongated bin liner, the soulless, stifling and sweaty Wembley Pavilion, I'm now wondering what my lingering memories of this event will be. Will they include Brian almost screaming into the mike, apologising for the “shit-heap' of a ‘building”? When our friend the astronomer asked, “Can you hear out there?”, he was probably seeing only a potentially infinite black hole in front of him - this one being of a terrestrial variety, and therefore not able to swallow galaxies but with a possible capacity to suck away sound. Or will it come to the forefront of my memory that he has surely overcome the qualms he's been expressing in recent times about his singing, as evidenced by the hugely successful ‘busk' of ‘Under Pressure' along with Roger?
Sorry about the light show. No, not that it happened, but that I couldn't appreciate it from where I was standing. I did see lots of beams shooting this way and that, and the multicoloured rays during ‘A Kind of Magic'. Not normally prone to claustrophobia, I decided early on that the best way I could experience this concert was with my eyes closed, which they were for the majority of the time. I was even reaching this conclusion when Roger came to the end of the ‘catwalk' to sing ‘Say It's Not True'. This had been inserted into the setlist since Brixton, Roger being accompanied on either side by Jamie and Danny (now much more evident figures, as shown during the earlier instrumental in ‘Fat Bottomed Girls' when they formed a forceful ‘cluster' along with Brian in front of the drum kit). Unfortunately, my enjoyment of the end of Roger's recent offering to Nelson Mandela's anti-AIDS campaign was ruined by the very loud talking – about nothing in particular – of a woman behind me. I sincerely wanted to give her a piece of my mind, but was painfully aware that this might sully the atmosphere, already difficult for everyone, also bearing in mind that I was condemned to spend the rest of the concert pinned in front of her with no means of escape. Thankfully, I didn't hear her talking again, but she'd done more than enough to sour my evening.
After that, it was Brian's turn to come to the end of the ‘catwalk' – he played ‘'39' – the whole version this time, changing the words at the end – ‘for my life, still ahead, bless you all' or something like that. Great! ‘Love of My Life' was fantastic too, of course.
I also hope that I'll rather remember hearing Roger performing a superb drum solo, surrounded by that glorious trio of guitars, and getting ‘revved up' on my precious teen memory ‘I'm in Love with my Car', the Brixton performance of which I'd also heard, of course, when Roger ‘drummed almost to the point of requiring a stop-off at the oxygen tent' . But then I may also recall the fact that the tent in which I was incarcerated was actually responsible for depriving me of air, the venue bringing “a new dimension to the word ‘camping'', as Roger himself put it.
Sensuous, sensual and sensational – during his guitar solos, Brian was enticing from the Red Special the most spectacular layers of sound; oozing out like the yummiest sandwich filling, they skipped over rows of seats and slalomed through human bodies to reach me. I had my eyes open by the time Roger joined in with his drum accompaniment – in time, then, to see the end of the video, by now showing the night sky. At one point I was thinking that we could be exposed to the real version if we could all rally round and pull out a few pegs to unroof the ugly structure. Later on, in fact, the instrumental in ‘I Want It All' moved at such a cracking pace that if we'd adopted a united front and scurried away to this racy tempo, I'm sure we'd have managed it before the stewards had even had the chance to say “Ken Livingstone”. ‘I Want It All', in fact, was further proof of improvement compared to Brixton; it was appropriately followed by our opportunity to really have it ‘all' – with Freddie too. Paul symbolically stepped down, making way for the awesome sound quality of the ‘Bohemian Rhapsody' recording, with Roger and Brian's live accompaniment, and the perfect progression to the final live flurry at the end, with the voices of Paul and Freddie alternating wonderfully.
Apart from the loquacious spell from the lady I mentioned earlier, there'd been another offender – a male twat somewhere to my left had been calling out anti-Paul statements earlier in the show. I wonder why he'd come - I'd actually paid to hear the music and not him – I don't suppose he realised that. I wanted to hear Paul again - starting with ‘Reaching Out', (which he was actually doing, as well as singing), and performing the Free/Bad Company songs he truly owns, this time with the addition of ‘Wishing Well'. He also instructed us to “remember that one” after ‘Can't Get Enough of Your Love'. I hope I do, but by then I also had to attend to the distraction of the chronic cramp which had developed in my left foot and could no longer be ignored. I had, after all, been forced to ‘boogie' with one hand clinging to the back of the chair in front of me to prevent a loss of balance and a consequent collision with my neighbour.
Along with ‘Under Pressure', I hadn't heard ‘Another One Bites the Dust' at Brixton – another one to add to those Queen songs that Paul's been tailoring to himself. In particular, I feel, he's taken ‘I Want to Break Free', ‘The Show Must Go On' (much improved since Brixton), ‘We Will Rock You' and ‘We Are the Champions' into his own realms. The latter has even acquired a soulful, bluesy guitar intro!
Other memorable triumphs of this concert: ‘These Are the Days of Our Lives', when Roger changed the words to produce a musical introduction to the instrumental – "I look, and I find - Brian May..." This also led me to ponder for a moment on the longevity of the friendship between these two, which pre-dates ‘Queen' itself. Also `Radio Ga Ga', with Roger starting off, a duet with Paul in the middle and finishing with just Paul, as Roger mercifully took over the drums from the playback machine.
At the end of the show, as the 'National Anthem' played out, I strained on tip-toe to catch a last glimpse of all of them – including 'Spikey', who had been notable both for his contribution and his invisibility throughout.
Delighted, I have to say though, to make my escape from the hell-hole, where I'd spent far too long…
I'm sure I'll also recall that, amidst the clichés that it's 'All Right Now', I'm just wishing at this moment that I could say the same for my back. And it's all down to that makeshift edifice, which is frankly an apology demonstrating no remorse, an ignominy displaying no shame, and an agony showing no pain. Rescued from the wreckage of this construction zone was an amazing gig, not the least due to the sound engineering of Trip Khalaf, who was also hero of Queen's sound at another much better-known Wembley gig called Live Aid, and, in spite of everything, I'm happy that I was there.
There are only two bands that mean more to me than anything musically, ELO and Queen. Sadly I never got to see Queen with Freddie Mercury (I did have a Knebworth ticket for 1986 but couldn't go and thought they were bound to tour again, how wrong I was!), although I did attend the excellent tribute concert.
At that concert Extreme's Gary Cherone and George Michael did the best servive to the Queen legend and Freddie's awesome stage presence and vocal ranges. Since then Brian May and Roger Taylor have kept the Queen flame alive including a few new songs, lots of collaborations and of course the musical 'We Will Rock You'. Now in 2005 the band are back touring as a fully fledged band althoigh John Deacon has retired from all things Queen.
Joining Brian May and Roger Taylor are Paul Rodgers, the former Free/Bad Company voclaist and one of my all time favourite singers (he could sing his weekly shopping list and still leave you in awe). On bass Danny Miranda (ex-Blue Oyster Cult) and two musicians who have been involved in all things Queen related down the years - guitarist Jamie Moses (Brian May Band) and keyboard player Spike Edney (the SAS Band mastermind and also Queen's live keyboard/guitar player in the mid-80's). I spotted fellow SAS Band colleague Jeff Scott Soto in the audience tonight as well - slightly weird as I'd seen him on stage with Soul Sirkus on Monday night.
So all in all a very accomplished musical pedigree. But how do you replace Freddie? Simply you don't and as Queen and Paul Rodgers proved tonight they realise Freddie was unique and for some songs (the first half of 'Bohemian Rhapsody') they let Freddie take over via video footage. From the off with a storming 'Tie Your Mother Down' it was a superb night of classic music (the temporary Wembley Arena tent was awful though - no air con, poor visibilty).
Brian May and Roger Taylor seemed to be loving every minute of it and as for Paul Rodgers he was his usual self - confident delivery and good audience rapport. Funny that Rodgers has never been mooted as a possible Freddie replacement down the years yet he seems so at home. We even get some of his past bands glories like Free's 'Wishing Well', this left a few Queen fans bemused as I think they expected all Queen tunes.
Brian May did a solo spot with '39 plus 'Love Of My Life' (dedicated to Freddie) and Roger Taylor led 'Radio Ga Ga' - what a glorious sight to see thousands of hands in sync like the video. Some new twists on songs as well with 'Hammer To Fall' starting off as a ballad (yes that's right a ballad!) before the usual May guitar mayhem kicked in. Plenty of lights, pomp and musical bombast that millions love but music critics seem to hate. Songs? We had 'We Will Rock You'/'We Are The Champions', 'I Want It All', 'A Kind Of Magic' and 'Crazy Little Thing Called Love'. Set closer was another Free classic, 'All Right Now' - not 'arf!
One of THE best gigs I've seen in many a year and Queen managed to keep not only the Queen music alive but paid a fitting tribute to Freddie Mercury, without it descending into a sentimental mush. Long live Queen!