Star rating ****
Nobody could ever have filled the ballet slippers of Freddie Mercury and Paul Rodgers makes no attempt to do so. He has nothing to prove to anybody and sings Queen's songs his way. And for the most part, it works beautifully.
A thunderous intro sequence gave way to a splendid opening medley of Hammer to Fall and Tie Your Mother Down, showcasing Rodgers at his best and revealing both Brian May and Roger Taylor to be in top form.
From a staging perspective, this was the Queen of old, with runways left, right and centre, and an enormous kinetic lighting rig.
Some of the quintessentially Freddie songs, such as I Want To Break Free and Another One Bites The Dust didn't quite work, although Rodgers merely had to point his microphone at the crowd and they sang them anyway.
Freddie made two singing appearances on screen, on a snippet of Bijou during May's overlong solo spot and naturally, on Bohemian Rhapsody, with the band playing along with him.
They played five tracks from the new Cosmos Rocks album, with the current single, C-lebrity and the Aids awareness anthem Say It's Not True, particularly well done. Other highlights included 39, in which May was joined by several thousand backing vocalists, and Rodger's singing Bad Company and Seagull, from his own, extensive, back catalogue.
However, the most affecting moment was May's rendition of Mercury's achingly beautiful ballad, Love of My Life. "I don't know who Fred wrote this about," he told us, "but I'm dedicating it to my Mum." So we all sang it for our Mums. May was in tears by the end of it and he was not alone.
I was surprised by the review in the herald myself. Not that I didn't think the concert kicked ass but I'm just not used to reading positive stuff in the media about the band. I think its a fair and honest review on the whole. For me the highlight wasn't actually LOML, that was far to emotional to be the highlight. I was mortified standing there with tears running down my face in my mid 30s, but hey what can you do I think its how Be asked us to sing it for our mums that got me. I thought 39 was absolutely fantastic and that was possibly my highlight if I really had to pick one.
It goes to show how these reviews are really just another persons opinion when you consider they done the exact same set the previous night in Nottingham but the review wasn't nearly as positive and i find it hard to imagine that the performance was much different. Roll on Newcastle!!!
I was there, right in the front row, mere feet away from them when they ran down into the crowd and I have to say this is the best gig I've ever been to. I've seen a hell of a lot of bands but none could compete with this one.
I have to say that my only downside if the whole gig was that Brian refused to stand still for even a nano-second. Everytime I had him in shot and was just about to push the button on my camera he'd decide to turn his back to me or jump around.....
But hell, Rodgers voice was brilliant on the heavier songs of the back catalogue and he did outrageously well on the new tracks. Particularly C-lebrity and my personal favourite off the album, Cosmos Rockin.....Seriously nothing comes close to having him shout, "Are you ready? Said are you ready?" and for the whole SECC to reply with thunderous roars of "THE COSMOS ROCKS"
Brians solo truly touched me with its simplicity in parts and its power when done infront of a screen displaying the Universe and all the wonders within it.
Now I have great joy in boasting that not only have I seen Queen live, But that I can honestly say, "Yeh,, I've sang with Brian May, Rodger Taylor and Paul Rodgers" Gramatically truthful and thats enouh for me :D
And yes, I'll admit it, We Believe gave me a tear in the eye..... Oh, along with Love of my Life too.
I was there that night, up front, and LOML was a highlight for me. The other highlight for me was when Brian played Bijou, with Freddie appearing on screen. All of the emotional songs were highlights. When Brian sang LOML, I just about started crying (seeing Brian cry made pretty much everyone emotional that night). I knew pretty much every song that they played that night, and found it hard to believe that, at times, I was a few feet away from the band, and I sang along. Great show.