| KURIER:
Would you have ever thought playing again the Stadthalle in
Vienna under the name Queen? |
 |
|
TRANSLATION
FROM GERMAN BACK INTO ENGLISH AND THEREFORE NOT VERBATIM
QUOTES
MAY
(guitar): That was never planned. I’d already written
off my Queen life apart from the WWRY musicals. Then came
an invitation to the Fender 50th anniversary festival, and
it was by chance that I also played there with Paul Rodgers.
I sent the recording of this performance to Roger Taylor
afterwards and he was also enthusiastic. A few weeks later
both Queen and Paul were to play at the Hall of Fame show
in London, and we thought it would be worth a try to give
it a go as the three of us. Suddenly it clicked, and we
knew that there was going to be more to this. |
| Now
this tour is only exceeded by U2 in ticket sales. |
Will
Paul Rodgers be the only singer on this tour? |
| I’d
definitely hoped that we would still be able to pull some
people in* but it’s almost unbelievable that we’ve
sold out the biggest halls in Europe in such a short time.
*paraphrased |
No. Roger and I will also be taking on some vocals.
And Freddie’s voice will also be heard sometimes. |
| Why
are there no additional concerts? |
Will
we also hear your all-time-favourite "Bohemian Rhapsody"? |
| Because
this tour came about spontaneously, in many towns we could
only take what was available between other concerts and we
can only play a certain number of concerts in a row to spare
Paul’s voice. But we’re planning some open air
concerts in the summer. |
That’s
a very difficult decision which we haven’t taken yet,
as this song is so much Freddie’s baby. At the end of
the day Paul must decide if he wants to sing it. But luckily
we don’t have just this one hit. The most difficult
issue on this tour is not ‘What do we play’ as
‘What don’t we play?’ But we’ll certainly
play many more Queen than Free and Bad Company songs. |
Why
is John Deacon not playing on this Tour?
|
You
haven't been on the road with Queen for 19 years now. Which
songs do you look forward to play at most? |
| Of
course it would have been nice if he’d been with us
for our comeback tour. But he’s chosen to retire from
music. You can’t do anything about that; John enjoys
his life far from the stress of touring, but is with us in
our hearts, as is Freddie as well, of course. |
All
Right Now’ and ‘Can’t Get Enough Of Your
Love’ and all of the other Paul Rodgers songs! Because
playing the songs from his great career, is what’s
really exciting about this tour. That’s much more
exciting than our songs. But through Paul I’m re-discovering
Queen songs all over again. Also, because of him I've not
felt so close to Freddie for a long time as I have done
in the last few days.
|
| No
Freddie Mercury, No John Deacon - some critics call this Queen
tour a rip-off. |
Is
this tour the final chapter for Queen - or even a new Beginning? |
| That
is Queen, because Roger Taylor and I are Queen! Our main concern
is to play great music -- great rock-music. We now feel that
with Paul Rodgers we could deliver very good rock music ,
something which is missing within the music scene for a long
time. And the critics should respect that! Given the figures
of advance bookings at least the Fans do! |
This
will definitely not be our farewell tour. This collaboration
with Paul opens up so many new possibilities for us. There
will be further concerts, also in the USA, where we last
played in 1982. And also new music..perhaps we’ll
play some brand new song or other on this tour. |
Thanks
to Alison for additonal translation. |
|
