Return of the Champions

Here we stand, or here we fall;
History won't care at all.
Make the bed, light the light;
Lady Mercy won't be home tonight.

I had long ago abandoned any hope of seeing Queen live in concert: they hadn't played on stage in public since 1986, Freddie Mercury was dead, John Deacon had retired, and they hadn't released an album in over a decade. Imagine my surprise and joy at learning of their world tour with frontman Paul Rodgers (Bad Company, Free).

Tonight, Alex and I attended the Seattle concert... the fulfillment of a life-long ambition, all the sweeter because it never occured to me that it could happen.

Technically, it's only half of Queen: Freddie is still dead, and John is still retired. Nevertheless, even with only half the original members it's still an event to behold.

The concert was excellent; unlike some other classic British bands the vocals have not deteriorated at all over the decades. Brian May's guitar remains uncannily similar to how it sounds on the albums, and they even introduced some excellent new arrangements of some of their classic songs. I particularly liked the slow acoustical version of Hammer to Fall, which quickly swells to it's familiar arrangement for a hard-rocking finale.

There were only three disappointing parts of the evening: the lack of any material from ...A Kind of Magic; the elimination of I Want It All from the set list; and Roger losing a drumstick during the fast drum fill in Fat Bottomed Girls. :-)

Paul Rodgers has the impossible task of filling Mercury's shoes. He's a great vocalist, particularly on the slower tracks such as Reaching Out and Bohemian Rhapsody, and wisely doesn't attempt to mimic Freddie's vocal or performance style. Rhapsody was particularly touching as it was effectively a duet with (a recording of) Freddie Mercury performing the introduction with Rodgers taking over for the finale.

With Brian, Roger, and Paul all sharing lead vocals during the show we were completely spoilt. Brian's Love of My Life and Roger's These Are the Days of Our Lives were excellent, and Paul's rendition of the older Queen classics was superb.

There are only two dates left on the tour: Portland on the 11th and Vancouver on the 13th, so it's unlikely that you're going to catch them if you haven't already. Regardless, there is an excellent DVD of the concert already available.

As you can see, we had excellent seats; row 17 on the floor, only six seats away from the catwalk. At $200 each it was by far the most expensive concert I've been to... but this was a price I was happy to pay.