Queen + Paul Rodgers - MEN Arena, Manchester - 05/11/08
In Paul Rodgers, Queen have the perfect successor to Freddie Mercury. Note "successor" and not "replacement" as Freddie was irreplaceable.
Freddie was a great singer and entertainer, flamboyant and theatrical, whereas Paul – in as much as he is a great showman - is an out and out rock singer!
In front of a packed out MEN Arena, he and the rest of Queen belted out 27 songs in two and a quarter hours – WITHOUT a break!
A thunderous intro led into Hammer To Fall, Tie Your Mother Down and another handful from the pick of the Queen repertoire before we were treated to a couple of songs from the new album Cosmos Rocks. In fact there were a few more thrown in, and the new music – especially tracks like C Lebrity and the title track (both of which were played) sits nicely amongst the other, more famous hits.
Paul then did an acoustic number before Brian May reminded us that he could sing too. Roger and the rest of the band joined him in an almost rockabilly version of 39.
Freddie Mercury was not forgotten (as if!) and appeared a few time on screen to wild applause from the massive, adoring crowd.
More hits followed with Brian and Roger showing why they have decided to keep Queen's flame alive and Paul singing his guts out. He even got to sing a few of his own hits like Bad Company and All Right Now.
A quartet of the biggest Queen hits climaxed with Bohemian Rhapsody, and the show ended with the anthems We Will Rock You and We Are The Champions.
Queen and Paul Rodgers prove that the spirit of a band can live on despite the loss of one of the most charismatic frontmen in music history.
It may have been 23 years since Queen last played Manchester, but for the 10,000-plus audience, it might have been yesterday.
Martin Hutchinson
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Thursday 09 February 2012
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