I was looking at the set list for the current NZ shows and it's almost the same as the North America and European shows last year. And it occurs to me that Brians solo spot is crazy late in the set. The flow is a 20 song set, guitar solo, 2 big hits, 1 Encore. I wonder if the position in the set is based on wanting the spectacular visual of Franks hand to be really late on, rather than for musical reasons because the flow of the end of the concert is definitely affected by it.
Ask Spike the main man, these days he is responsible with set list, visuals (and visions) in the band, the boys are following his Korg cue.
Brian is fashionable difficult sometimes, just to remind him who is the leader, but they get along in the end.
I don’t know, why the guitar-solo is that close to the end of the show. But it has been right after „Who wants to live forever“ for years now. I think, i read, they put it there to give Adam’s voice a rest. That song is a real highlight. Maybe they want that later in the show and the guitar-solo moved with it?
Anyway: I found an interview with Tyler Warren (percussionist on this tour), where he says some interesting things about how much effort the band puts into the show.
Here is what he said:
PS: Have you learned anything from working so closely with Brian and Roger?
TW: Reaffirmations really. You always hear how involved they were with their shows in the old days, and nothing’s changed. We’ll spend just as much time on lights and the ‘show’, as we do sound and rehearsal. It’s helped reemphasize, to me, how important EVERYTHING is to a show. It’s easy to forget, with Queen Extravaganza, when you get in a tour rhythm where you come in, check your instruments, run a few songs, then do the show in a few hours, and that’s it. You can forget how hands-on the show SHOULD be. They care SO MUCH about every aspect of the show, and they put everything they have into it, because they want to make sure every fan gets their money’s worth. It’s refreshing to see that, as a younger musician, that the “older” generation still cares so much about their show that they’ll stay to the bitter end to make sure everything is right. Still getting schooled, years later!
Link to the complete interview: link
Yeah, I've seen interviews with Brian, Roger & Adam where they discuss the order of songs and how they decide what goes where and how they tweak the running order as they go along if it feels off. Spike's the musical director but they all have a hand in how the show's put together from what I heard, including the staging etc. Nice to know they care about putting on the best show they can and don't just phone it in. They used to do SMGO & WWTLF back to back so it probably was to give Adam's voice a break originally.