Just got back to Vancouver from Seattle.
I must say, the Seattle folk we met were very friendly.
When we arrived, we discovered that we had been given upgraded tickets as they had curtained off the top area. Even the bottom still had empty seats, so it was far from sold out. I'd say 40%-50% tops (EDIT: probably closer to 60-70% the more I think of it). The fans were okay, a lot of people stayed seated (mainly at the back) and hardly anyone clapped through Radio Ga Ga. Oh well.
The band played great, no major mistakes in my eyes (thought I'm not a stickler for the fine details).
The positives:
-Roger's drums were THUNDERINGLY loud. Shook my seat! He did a great little pre-solo before Let There Be Drums with the backup boys wearing sombrero hats. Very funny.
-Take Love. I like it, has a Paul feel to it, but it ends very Queen like. Great.
-Dragon Attack. Loved it, sounded very funky.
Negatives:
-Almost sounded like the vocal mix was too low. For the heavier songs, it was hard to hear Paul's vocals above the noise of the instruments. Not sure if that is just me or like that every concert (I can't remember Wembley last year).
And that's it.
It was a fantastic show and I like the song order. Can't wait until Thursday when the boys land in Vancouver.
Till then.
I bought tickets through the Artist Arena presale, which I won't do again... the seats were great, but there were better seats available later on.
We were four rows back from the front of the catwalk, and pretty much in front of it. It was grand. But there were a lot of empty seats, even though they upgraded all the 200s (upper level) to 100s (lower level) and curtained off the 200 sections. Queen is great, but the ticket prices were prohibitive for a lot of people. I don't know why the best tickets in Seattle are twice the price of the best tickets in Vancouver.
I think Paul got a Bedazzler for Christmas :-P His pants were exceedinly sparkly.
And then Brian May was THIS CLOSE to where we were. Gah, it was fabulous. But he seemed tired (I didn't learn until afterwards that he had hurt his back.) But I was still grinning throughout the whole concert, just to be so close to him and his guitar and his hair.
And the music... well my favorite era of Queen is the 1970s. I love their first three albums but they played nothing from those albums and that made me a little sad.
That isn't to say it wasn't totally awesome. The set list was very similar to the "Return of the Champions" record. I was VERY SAD that they didn't play "'39" though.
I was pleased that they played "Dragon Attack," but I would have been more pleased if they had played something--anything--from their first three albums, or at least more from the 1970s. I mean, I understand that it would be outrageous to expect Paul Rodgers to sing "Killer Queen" or "Seaside Rendezvous" but he could easily sing "Now I'm Here" or "Brighton Rock" (with Brian, to frame the guitar solo.) "Keep Yourself Alive" would be great too, or "Don't Stop Me Now."
But I complain because I love. And I realize that Queen was not as popular in the early 1970s as they were later on. But at the same time, they only played for a little over two hours. They *could* have put in lots more songs. I am so greedy. But when Rush toured for their 30th anniversary they played for three and a half hours!
Overall, I think the concert was pretty great. Definitely my favorite concert experience. I am so happy that I got to see them live.
And I get to see them again on Thursday in Vancouver!