Tracklist:1. Reaching Out
2. Tie Your Mother Down
3. I Want to Break Free
4. Fat Bottomed Girls
5. Wishing Well
6. Another One Bites the Dust
7. Crazy Little Thing Called Love
8. Say It's Not True
9. '39
10. Love of my Life
11. Hammer to Fall
12. Feel Like Makin' Love
13. Let There Be Drums
14. I'm in Love with my Car
15. Guitar Solo
16. Last Horizon
1. These Are the Days of Our Lives
2. Radio Ga Ga
3. Can't Get Enough
4. A Kind of Magic
5. I Want it All
6. Bohemian Rhapsody
7. The Show Must Go On
8. All Right Now
9. We Will Rock You
10. We Are the Champions
11. God Save the Queen
Champions? What champions? – 6,5/10
After more than eighteen years, Brian May and Roger Taylor dare to tour under the name of Queen again, this time with Paul Rodgers replacing Freddie Mercury and Danny Miranda from Blue Öyster Cult replacing John Deacon. The first question you will ask, is this still to be called Queen? My answer will be, NEVER! Queen was a famous quartet of four great musicians and the loss of two of them cuts them in half, and half a queen does not equal Queen. And this Paul Rodgers guy is good at what he does, but not at aping Freddie Mercury. Can this album be saved?
Oh well, there is ambience alright. From the beginnings of Paul Rodgers’ vocal yearnings in “Reaching Out” all the way to the familiar outro of “God Save the Queen” the crowd feels the music and responds to it perfectly. Speeches are all intact, but there’s one thing missing. I know it is comparing apples to pears, but Queen just is not the same without Freddie Mercury as a frontman and John Deacon seemed to be the only one of the three remaining members to understand that. Paul Rodgers has to squeeze out some notes in “Tie Your Mother Down”, which sounds just terrible and Brian May gets an acoustic solo suite with “’39” and “Love of my Life”, which is just too boring. Roger Taylor’s “Say It’s Not True” is a new song to be released as an electric version on the upcoming album The Cosmos Rocks, and sounds remarkably better than May’s solo section. The version of “Hammer to Fall” is surprisingly nice, on the other hand. It was done before in Brian May’s solo concerts, but not with Queen. It begins as a ballad and later explodes. It’s a nice duet between Rodgers and May as well. Another great addition to the setlist is “I’m in Love with my Car”. And mixed with the familiar Queen songs are some songs of bands Paul Rodgers once was a member of (think Free and Bad Company). These songs are downright BORING. They are waaay bluesier than the Queen tracks, and therefore aim for a different audience. In other words, they don’t mix. Last, there’s a solo track by Brian May added, “Last Horizon”. Why Roger Taylor always takes it that his solo material never makes it to Queen setlists or Queen greatest hits compilations is beyond me.
No, this live album is not bad, but don’t expect something in the league of Live at Wembley ’86. Paul Rodgers is NOT Freddie Mercury, that’s something to remember. This is NOT Queen the way we know them, and these people are not the champions whose return we awaited. Recommended to collectors only.
Highlights: “Say It’s Not True”, “Hammer to Fall” and “I’m in Love with my Car”.
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