| mickyparise 16.10.2008 19:23 |
Oct 16 2008 by Andrew Cowen It could be argued that Queen without Freddie Mercury is like a bacon butty without brown sauce, yet the stinging guitar of Brian May was always as much a part of their sound as their late frontman’s voice. It’s to Queen’s credit that they have left it a decent interval before hitting the road and they do have the benefit of a new album to plug. With Paul Rodgers, the pocket-sized powerhouse from Free and Bad Company, they have found a kindred spirit. Paul Rodgers and Brian May of Queen at the NIA His bluesy strut is a million miles from old Fred so what we have now is more a collaboration than a tribute act, hence the joint billing on album sleeve and tour posters. Queen 2008 is no substitute for the band in their mid to late 70s pomp, of course, but as a live spectacle there’s plenty of life still left in this particular monarchy. Augmented by a second guitarist, keyboards and bass (original Queen bassist John Deacon took gardening leave after Mercury’s death), the sound is still unmistakeably Queen. The band is more a democracy these days with Rodgers, May and drummer Roger Taylor taking turns to bask in the limelight. I Want To Break Free reminds us how great Freddie Mercury was and then it’s into a couple of tracks from the new album, The Cosmos Rocks. C-Lebrity and Surf’s Up... Schools Out are classic Queen with Brian May leading from the front. Roger Taylor’s still-excellent voice gets a work-out with It’s a Kind of Magic and I’m In Love With My Car, the latter particularly heavy. However, he could have spared us the drum solo. Rodgers reminds us of his pedigree with Feel Like Makin Love buttering us up for a couple more from the new album before the band winds up in triumph with a string of hits and a cracking Bohemian Rhapsody. An egalitarian encore included Rodgers belting out All Right Now and an ensemble version of We Will Rock You and We Are The Champions. No red faces then and plenty of smiles. link |
| Knute 16.10.2008 21:20 |
Wow a good review. I'm in shock. |
| Knute 16.10.2008 21:20 |
. |
| jondickens 17.10.2008 03:55 |
What a dissapointment!!!Dont get me wrong,the band played excellently and still cut it live.But who in the sound tecnician department decided to leave the volume turned to a medium setting or below?I was stood near the front of the stage and expected to blown away but it just didnt happen as for the most part i felt like i was sat in my living room listening to it all on DVD from from my TV with its volume on low.This in turn left the audience/atmosphere for the show flat. Please guys,we can see you are fantastic live perfomers but in future,please lets here it!!!!!!! |
| brians wig 17.10.2008 04:17 |
jondickens wrote:
What a dissapointment!!!Dont get me wrong,the band played excellently and still cut it live.But who in the sound tecnician department decided to leave the volume turned to a medium setting or below?I was stood near the front of the stage and expected to blown away but it just didnt happen as for the most part i felt like i was sat in my living room listening to it all on DVD from from my TV with its volume on low.This in turn left the audience/atmosphere for the show flat.
Please guys,we can see you are fantastic live perfomers but in future,please lets here it!!!!!!!
Thank God. It's nice to go to a concert where my eardrums don't distort after 15 minutes. |
| Denmagic 17.10.2008 04:36 |
Glad to see a reported who has twigged onto the fact that Paul Rodgers isn't Freddies replacement but a colaboration act. [img=/images/smiley/msn/thumbs_up.gif][/img] |
| chnutt 17.10.2008 05:08 |
Yep - disappointed wraps it up.. Having been captivated by the first tour 3 years ago, I was very disappointed with the show last night. The sound quality was not good (difficult to hear Paul at times) - and certainly not loud enough (this is supposed to be a rock concert after all) and the band just failed to get us on our feet - yes - I was in the seated area. The first tour (I saw it at the NEC) got us up, shouting singing and clapping almost as soon as they walked on stage, but this time only a few of us stood at the end for the encore. When you have about 80%-90% of the seated area still sitting down at the end of the show - that spells something is wrong. Brian certainly put on a good performance - and Paul vocals were (IMHO) better than tour 1 - (but Rogers' drum solo was just tooooo long), however there was something missing and I can't quite put my finger on it. |
| its_a_hard_life 26994 17.10.2008 08:10 |
Knute wrote: Wow a good review. I'm in shock. |
| drummerboy25 17.10.2008 09:16 |
Hi All, I was at the Birmingham concert standing and it was pretty amazing great show they put on as per usual.Pauls Vocals are pretty amazing and Rodgers Drums and Brians Guitar and effects were outstanding, always a great sound coming from the Red special through a Vox AC30 amp. The Drum solo wasnt to long and was pretty good and very Unique u dont see that sort of thing to often. I went to see Queen+PR at Wembley Pavillions and that was a very bad venue to play couldnt see a thingg as it was all seating and u wasnt aloud to stand, very shocking.i also went to Hyde Park in Gold Circle to See Queen and paul Rodgers and that was a very good concert and very loud that was diffrent class shame they didnt bring that out on DVD I do agree with you that the sound wasnt as loud as it could be but that is probably because every Concert Venue has to go by diffrent rules as to sound Levels, i was at oasis on tuesday as well and that wasnt very loud and i was in seating for that, to be fair when ur in seating there isnt the atmosphere when your standing.everyone on the floor where i was standing was rocking along to the concert including my dear old mum bless her haha.I really dont think it was as bigger dissapointment as people think.We all know they rock anyway. |
| nationofhaircuts2 17.10.2008 16:03 |
I'm now worried about my hearing as at 3am this morning my ears were still ringing from the gig, so I must have a low volume threshhold. Also regarding original review, at what point did they play Feel like makin Love? Any praise for Neil Murray stepping into the breach at short notice this week and playing like he has always been in the band?! Roger's drum solo too long? It was a privilege to see one of the world's finest drummers perform with the added sense of humour of having his kit built up as he played. But glad Brian cut his solo down to a round half an hour this time. Prior to the gig I was of the "how dare they still call themselves Queen " camp, but as last night there was on display, half of Queen, 4/5 of the Brian May Band, 2/3 Smile, 2/5 of The Cross, 1/5 or 1/6 of the Roger Taylor Band (depending on what year you saw them), plus 1/x of 1984 and The left-handed marriage (i dont know what x equals nor that keen to know), it was much easier just to enjoy what I was given for the value of my ticket, and realise that with regards to band names, nothing really matters. |
| Mat Growcott 22.10.2008 15:31 |
During this concert (Which was fantastic) after seagull a gentlemen at the back of the standing area took it upon himself to scream "You're CRAP Paul, we want Freddie" <_<... And i'm still amazed at people arguing over the use of the name while there are people like that following the band. But i'll say one thing that boosted my confidence in queen fans everywhere: not a single person around me found themselves unable to sing Surfs up...the weakest song on the new album imo. And before AND after every new song there were HUGE cheers. Maybe i just got lucky, but it seemed the entire audience (Barr that one guy...who obviously hasn't read a newspaper or gone on the internet in 17 years) were behind the new band and the atmosphere was fantastic. There were a few sound issues, mainly with Paul's voice but i think it depended on what kind of song it was. The heavier numbers you'd struggle to hear him, IWTBF etc was fine.So it may be a problem with the guitars being too loud than anything. Also, to the guy who mentioned about not standing in the seated section, there was barely enough room to sit in those awfully cramped things, before even mentioning standing and jumping around. And there was plenty of volume where i was sitting as well, although i was right below a speaker...so... All in all, a fantastic night. Now i just have to ebay for one of the gigs next month ^^ |