Queen + Paul Rodgers
London Greenwich O2 Arena
7th November, 2008

View: right-tier, above stage

Some 30 tunes over 140 minutes kept the 40-something masses in good voice, from the opening salvo of Hammer To Fall, to the closing We Are The Champions singalong. While Paul Rodgers didn’t attempt any top-end Freddie vocal fireworks, and Messrs. May and Taylor are less prone to flailing about the place than they once were, the quintet’s overall sound is spoton (despite Brian breaking a string on second number, Tie Your Mother Down), and an opening including superb harmonies on Fat Bottomed Girls, Another One Bites The Dust (with Rog hitting the high notes), I Want It All and I Want To Break Free had everyone on side before excerpts from The Cosmos Rocks were aired. Brian’s Maybe It’s Because I’m A Londoner was amusing, Londoners’ babbling through Love Of My Life was not (Cockneys – please, at gigs, shut the f*** up), and Rog soloed on the catwalk stage as his drum kit was assembled by the roadies. He led on It’s A Kind Of Magic, Paul piano came to the fore on Bad Company, and Bo Rap saw a Freddie video bow, after a clapathon Radio Ga Ga. Encores included the new album title track, a storming Alright Now and We Will Rock You. They did again.

Reviewed by Tim Jones
<< Back to Issue 358

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