Queen And Paul Rodgers - Return Of The Champions (DVD)

BACKGROUND

Queen were always noted for being an exceptional band to see perform live, mainly due to the vivacity of their lead singer Freddie Mercury. However, since his death in 1991 the band had been left without a front man. They had not toured for over ten years, until their 'Return of the Champions' tour, for which they needed a lead singer. Rather than go for somewhat of a tribute to Mercury, they chose a man who would bring ...
...are the song for which Queen are famous, and in this collection they play a lot of them. What I think is particularly nice is that they play a range of songs from through out their long recording history. Rather than just playing the famous ones they add in some newer ones too.

CONCLUSION

For the £12.99 you pay at most stores the DVD is well worth the money. Queen still remain a band to be seen playing live, the atmosphere ... more

BACKGROUND

Queen were always noted for being an exceptional band to see perform live, mainly due to the vivacity of their lead singer Freddie Mercury. However, since his death in 1991 the band had been left without a front man. They had not toured for over ten years, until their 'Return of the Champions' tour, for which they needed a lead singer. Rather than go for somewhat of a tribute to Mercury, they chose a man who would bring life back into the band, and that man was Paul Rogers. Paul Rogers rose to fame with the band 'Free' during the 1980's and had remained a popular figure in the world of music ever since. Rather than copy Mercury's style he adds his own to these incredibly famous songs.

Sadly, John Deacon had chosen not to tour with the band, and so they were without a bass guitar player. Really only half of the original band remained. So, Brian May and Roger Taylor employed the great talents of Jamie Moses on guitar and Danny Miranda of the bass. To say that they were not originally in the band, you would never actually know as their performances were as great as the founder members were.

I saw their 'Return of the Champions' tour in May 2005, at the Sheffield Arena where this DVD was filmed. Indeed the atmosphere was electric, and the performance absolutely shone! It has to go down as one of the greatest shows I have ever seen. So, when browsing in HMV, I came across the 'Return of the Champions' DVD I was happy! Indeed the DVD lives up to the electric atmosphere of the actual day. It was filmed that actual night in May last year in Sheffield, so there is even the possibility that I may be spotted in the audience! Having said that, I have searched the entire DVD and I can't see me!

CONTENT

On one DVD they manage to cram in 29 songs, all of which except the last one were recorded live at the Sheffield concert. Visually it is not that exceptional, just a recording of the stage. The camera pans around the elated audience occasionally, but remains static on the stage for most of the DVD. However, despite the lack of technical expertise shown in filming, through out the 140 minutes the DVD runs for you remain transfixed.

It begins in darkness, pure silence on the stage and all that can be heard is the noise of the audience. Then a singer comes on, Paul Rogers, and finally after a bit of a solo the moment that the crowd has been waiting for, Brian May enters playing a fantastic guitar solo. At this point, as you would expect, the crowd goes absolutely crazy. They then play four songs in a row, 'Reaching out', 'Tie your mother down', 'I want to break free' and 'Fat Bottomed Girls.' Roger Taylor then comes out and makes a heartfelt speech to the audience about Mercury, and how the band dealt with his loss. This does actually seem rather touching, and the audience respond to this as you would expect.

My personal favourite song of the first half was their rendition of 'Crazy Little thing called Love.' Originally this was a song that had Freddie Mercury stamped all over it. His style was inseparable from the song, but somehow Paul Rogers manages to add his own twist to the song, putting in little solos and changes in pitch through out. Some die hard fans possibly would not like the changes he made, but for me they put a breath of fresh air into an old song. The first half then ends with a five minute spectacular guitar solo by Brian May, leaving the audience on a high over the interval.

They then come back and do some of the old favourites in the second half, such as 'Radio Ga Ga' and 'A Kind of Magic.' However, it is track twenty two that most of the audience have been waiting for- Bohemian Rhapsody. You know its coming when they put a huge picture of Freddie Mercury on the back wall! The audience is quiet as they wait for the song, then it starts. Again, Rogers does not copy Mercury, but do his own thing, and that must be extremely hard when dealing with a song of such fame. Either way, he does this very well. Interestingly, during the middle part they have mercury singing over the live playing- which I thought was very clever indeed.

They close with three classic songs- 'We are the Champions', 'We will rock You' and 'God save the Queen.' These are the song for which Queen are famous, and in this collection they play a lot of them. What I think is particularly nice is that they play a range of songs from through out their long recording history. Rather than just playing the famous ones they add in some newer ones too.

CONCLUSION

For the £12.99 you pay at most stores the DVD is well worth the money. Queen still remain a band to be seen playing live, the atmosphere they create really is electric. Unlike many bands, they actually sound good, if not better live than on their records! Though the DVD offers few extras it doesn't really matter because there is plenty to keep you entertained within the main body of the DVD without extras. The only real extra is 'Imagine' a bonus track which was filmed at Hyde Park for a dedication to those who lost their lives in the July 7th London bombings.

All in all, again this is a must for any Queen fan…any opportunity to see Brian May perform live should not be missed!
 

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