WELL – I hear you say – Westminster bloody well NEEDS to be rocked this year ! And so it shall be. That’s the serious business of trying to sweep out the dross and get us a real democracy. An impossible dream ? We shall see.
But tomorrow night – we are all set to deliver a party which I hope will give you a big smile going into 2015. A ROCK party in Queen style. This is not a TV studio set-up. It’s a real down and dirty gig in a great venue – the Westminster Hall – which this evening as we wind up our rehearsals looks amazing. We will be completely and utterly live and dangerous – something you don’t often see these days on TV. The extraordinary Adam Lambert will be our front man and worthy channel. After this there will never again be any need to explain who he is, or why we have brought him into our team. He’s a one-off. And the show will be viewable not just on BBC TV in the UK, but streamed around the world from Hawaii to Singapore to California and back again – a first – nobody knows how many people it will reach as the clock nears 12 Midnight in London.
It’s not the Queen touring rig that you’ll see – that wouldn’t fit in this hall, which will hold about 2,300 tomorrow night – it’s a rig specially designed for the occasion, which will look about as far away from an MTV or EMA set as could be imagined. We’re using a lot of state of the art technology – including a new kind of metallic gauze-type screen – but the business end of the light show is all retro – using incandescent lamps – par cans – and a completely ‘analogue’ themed set – Old School with New School capabilities ! So the heat will be real – there is nothing quite like hot tungsten ! It goes well with the vacuum tube technology of our amps.
And, yes, Freddie will be very much part of the show. As you’ll see.
Hey ! I got a present! A new, improved Selfie stick with a remote built into the handle. I didn’t want to give away too much of the show design here and now, but you can see here my part of the stage. To the right are the monitor cabs which enable me to hear Adam above the racket we make ! And to the left, the monitors which serve me with a mix heavy on drums so I can keep locked in with Roger. A live show depends so crucially on being able to hear what you’re doing, so monitor mixes are vital.
Great day in Westminster Hall running our New Years Eve show.
This is how I hear Adam ! Yes I have new SelfieStick !
Down there you can also see my immensely complex pedal-board ! Ha ha ! Yes, it’s a Wah Wah Pedal. I don’t like a lot of processing in my guitar signal. All the routing is behind me, in the hands of the excellent Pete Malandrone guitar tech extraordinaire ! But for us, simplicity is the key.
I did do some selfie stick imaging and chatting to the camera today – but I really don’t want to blow the secrets of the show in any way – it’s so hard to create mysteries these days. So maybe I’lL put some of that up on ‘Brian Talks’, on my new YOUTUBE CHANNEL – early next year. Along with a live selfie stick concert moment perhaps !
Wherever you are tomorrow night, I wish you all a great night, and an auspicious and inspiring start to a New Year.
See ya there !
Cheers
Bri