QUEEN NATION + GREGORY FINSLEY
Recorded live at the Pala Casino, Pala, CA
August 30, 2008
Taped by Thunderbolt, Courtesy of God
AUD -> Olympus Digital Voice Recorder -> Sound Forge (for volume cleanup and track separation) -> Total Video Converter (for WAV to FLAC conversion) -> You!
Queen Nation is a Queen tribute band based out of California. They use the same instruments, amps and costumes that Queen did to create an authentic concert experience.
For four concerts in late August of 2008, Queen Nation's regular lead singer, Joe Retta, was otherwise occupied. As a result, the lead singer of a Texas-based Queen tribute band, Queen for a Day, stepped in. What happened next was, in this taper's opinion, an extraordinary performance with one of the absolute best Freddie impersonators joining up with a stunning band.
Youtube video of a couple of songs also exists. I did not shoot this video, and therefore won't include any of it, but if you're so inclined, search "Queen Nation Pala Casino" and you'll see the full Bo Rhap, along with bits and pieces of Dragon Attack. If you do watch the Bo Rhap video, the tool who tried to cut Greg Finsley off and take over the last "Nothing really matters to me," was...well...me.
I had to record this on whatever equipment I had available, which turned out to be an Olympus Digital Voice recorder. The result is a 22,050 Hz, 16-bit, mono recording that looks and plays like it was hot-mastered (it wasn't intentionally--I promise!). The end result sounds comparable to the quality of Newcastle '79 to my untrained ears.
The band had some trouble getting together for the start of Killer Queen after Spread Your Wings, so when an (intoxicated) audience member requested Don't Stop Me Now, they decided to play it instead, then revisit KQ later on in the set.
As the show was held in a casino lounge (audience about 500, I'd say), the band came out to mingle and, more importantly, have some drinks after the show. For the record, they're an incredibly nice bunch of guys. If they make it back down this way anytime soon, I might just have to get drunk and request Mustapha!
The lineup was:
Gregory Finsley - lead vocals, keyboards
Mike McManus - lead guitar, backing vocals
Parker Combs - bass guitar
Pete Burke - drums, backing vocals
Track listing:
01 - Intro (tape)
02 - We Will Rock You (fast)
03 - Let Me Entertain You
04 - Play the Game
05 - You're My Best Friend (w/band introduction)
06 - Dragon Attack
07 - Somebody to Love
08 - Bicycle Race
09 - Fat Bottomed Girls
10 - Keep Yourself Alive
11 - Crazy Little Thing Called Love
12 - Now I'm Here (w/crowd singalong)
13 - Love of My Life
14 - I Want to Break Free
15 - Spread Your Wings
16 - Don't Stop Me Now
17 - Killer Queen
18 - I'm in Love with My Car (Peter Burke on lead vocals)
19 - Under Pressure (Gregory Finsley & Mike McManus lead vocals)
20 - Day-O improvisation
21 - Another One Bites the Dust
22 - Stone Cold Crazy
23 - Bohemian Rhapsody (with encore break)
24 - Band introduction
25 - Tie Your Mother Down
26 - We Will Rock You
27 - We Are the Champions
28 - God Save the Queen (tape)
Rapidshare Links below. Please, do not piss in the trading pool--don't convert this to MP3 for anything other than personal use (although I don't think this will be distributed much in the first place).
Ok, I officially give up on making a topic line appear. It just isn't meant to be. Never mind that I created this new post SPECIFICALLY BECAUSE the topic line on my other post disappeared.
Thunderbolt wrote:
Ok, I officially give up on making a topic line appear. It just isn't meant to be. Never mind that I created this new post SPECIFICALLY BECAUSE the topic line on my other post disappeared.