Queen + Paul Rodgers Tour

The Queen + Paul Rodgers Tour (also known as Return of the Champions Tour) was the first world concert tour by Queen guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor, joined by singer Paul Rodgers under the moniker of Queen + Paul Rodgers. The tour was Queen's first since The Magic Tour in 1986, and the death of lead singer Freddie Mercury in November 1991.[1] The band's drummer Roger Taylor commented; "We never thought we would tour again, Paul (Rodgers) came along by chance and we seemed to have a chemistry. Paul is just such a great singer. He's not trying to be Freddie."[1] Bassist John Deacon also did not take part due to his retirement in 1997.

Queen + Paul Rodgers Tour
World tour by Queen + Paul Rodgers
Location
  • Europe
  • Central America
  • North America
  • Asia
Start dateMarch 28, 2005
End dateApril 13, 2006
Legs5
No. of shows
  • 32 in Europe
  • 1 in Central America
  • 25 in North America
  • 6 in Asia
  • 64 in total
Queen concert chronology

History

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The origins of the collaboration came when Brian May played at the Fender Strat Pack concert in 2004. Now for the first time, he joined Paul Rodgers for a rendition of Free's classic, "All Right Now". After this Brian spoke of a chemistry between the two of them. Following this, Brian invited Paul to play with Queen at their induction to the UK Music Hall of Fame. Again citing a new excitement with Rodgers, the three announced they would tour in 2005. The tour originally was meant only to include Europe and the 46664 concerts of that year.[2][3] However at the end of the European tour, some dates in the USA and Japan were added. In 2006, a full scale US tour was undertaken.[4]

The show

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Queen + Paul Rodgers performing at Cologne on July 6, 2005 during their European Tour.
 
Brian May performing during the tour.

The stage design for the tour was created by Mark Fisher and was minimal, lacking a large backing screen that would later be featured on the Rock The Cosmos Tour, and elaborate stage theatrics. Four very large, custom-built moving spotlights sat behind the stage, each containing a 3000-watt xenon bulb and operated by a crewperson.[5] A large 'B Stage' was constructed out from the main stage, into the audience which would frequently be used for acoustic performances by all the members of the band. The show began with the Eminem song "Lose Yourself" being played over the PA system, and a dance-theme remix of the Queen song It's A Beautiful Day. Toward the end of "Lose Yourself", the guitar would join in from behind a large curtain which covered the band from view, before Rodgers would appear singing a shortened version of the song "Reachin' Out". Thought by many fans to be a new song, it was a charity song that both Brian and Paul had played together on in the 1990s. Brian would appear after, playing the introductory riff to "Tie Your Mother Down", before the curtain fell and the band would perform the full song.

The first segment of the concert consisted largely of Queen hits and some of Rodgers' songs. To introduce "Fat Bottomed Girls", Brian would play the introductory riff from the earlier Queen song "White Man". Rodgers often played a muted steel string guitar on "Crazy Little Thing Called Love". An acoustic section would follow, Taylor leaving the kit at times to sing "Say It's Not True" on the B-Stage, while Brian would play acoustic Queen songs such as "Love of My Life" and "39". At the Hyde Park concert, John Lennon's song "Imagine" was added to the setlist, being played after "Love of My Life", in response to the recent bombings in London. A unique version of "Hammer To Fall" would be played, which featured a slower and mellower first verse sung by May and Rodgers. The second half of the song would be played as a full band, depending on the condition of his voice, Rodgers would also sing this section, or leave it to Taylor. Taylor would often play an intricate cover of Sandy Nelson drum instrumental "Let There Be Drums", followed by a performance of "I'm in Love with My Car", with Taylor taking lead vocals and the drum parts.

A guitar solo by May would follow, with a band instrumental of "Last Horizon" playing, in which a large mirror ball was used. During the second half of the concert, Taylor would leave the kit to sing "These Are The Days Of Our Lives", with a screen playing nostalgic footage, including shots of the band on their early tours in Japan. "Radio GaGa" would follow, with Taylor singing the first and second verses, with drum samples from the studio version controlled by Edney. Rodgers would take the rest of the song, with Taylor playing live drums for the rest of the song. During "Bohemian Rhapsody", Freddie's vocal and piano part, along with video footage from Queen's 1986 show at Wembley Stadium would be used, while the rest of the band would play live music. After the operatic section, Rodgers would sing the heavy part, while the closing lines of the song would be an interchanging duet between Rodgers and Mercury. The song would end with Mercury taking a bow to the crowd, and the band would leave the stage. For the encore, a largely rigid line up of "The Show Must Go On", "All Right Now", "We Will Rock You" and "We Are The Champions" would be played, before the band would leave the stage, Taylor throwing his drumsticks into the audience.

Set list

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This set list is representative of the performance on April 28, 2005 in Hamburg. It does not represent all concerts for the duration of the tour.

Tour dates

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Date City Country Venue Support act(s) Attendance Box office
Europe
March 28, 2005 London England Brixton Academy 4,921 / 4,921
March 30, 2005 Paris France Zénith Paris 4,068 / 6,450
April 1, 2005 Madrid Spain Palacio de Deportes de la Comunidad 11,753 / 15,500
April 2, 2005 Barcelona Palau Sant Jordi 13,032 / 18,000
April 4, 2005 Rome Italy PalaLottomatica 7,922 / 10,325
April 5, 2005 Milan Mediolanum Forum 8,457 / 10,580
April 7, 2005 Florence Nelson Mandela Forum 4,075 / 6,950
April 8, 2005 Pesaro BPA Palas 8,561 / 13,000
April 10, 2005 Basel Switzerland St. Jakobshalle 4,998 / 8,340
April 13, 2005 Vienna Austria Wiener Stadthalle 9,211 / 15,212
April 14, 2005 Munich Germany Olympiahalle 12,671 / 14,250
April 16, 2005 Prague Czech Republic O2 Arena 12,863 / 18,000
April 17, 2005 Leipzig Germany Leipzig Arena 9,366 / 10,250
April 19, 2005 Frankfurt Festhalle Frankfurt 8,892 / 13,500
April 20, 2005 Antwerp Belgium Sportpaleis 17,776 / 23,359
April 23, 2005 Budapest Hungary Budapest Sportaréna 6,917 / 12,500
April 25, 2005 Dortmund Germany Westfalenhallen 12,343 / 14,635
April 26, 2005 Rotterdam Netherlands Rotterdam Ahoy
April 28, 2005 Hamburg Germany Color Line Arena
April 30, 2005 Stockholm Sweden Globe Arena
May 3, 2005 Newcastle England Metro Radio Arena
May 4, 2005 Manchester Manchester Evening News Arena
May 6, 2005 Birmingham National Exhibition Centre
May 7, 2005 Cardiff Wales Cardiff International Arena
May 9, 2005 Sheffield England Hallam FM Arena
May 11, 2005 London Wembley Pavilion
May 13, 2005 Belfast Northern Ireland Odyssey Arena
May 14, 2005 Dublin Ireland Point Theatre
July 2, 2005 Lisbon Portugal Estádio do Restelo Hands on Approach
Fingertips
July 6, 2005 Cologne Germany RheinEnergieStadion
July 10, 2005[a] Arnhem Netherlands GelreDome Krezip
July 15, 2005[b] London England Hyde Park Razorlight
Peter Kay
Central/North America
October 8, 2005 Oranjestad Aruba Aruba Entertainment Center
October 16, 2005 East Rutherford United States Meadowlands Arena
October 22, 2005 Los Angeles Hollywood Bowl 16,305 / 16,305 $1,127,840
Asia
October 26, 2005 Saitama Japan Saitama Super Arena
October 27, 2005
October 29, 2005 Yokohama Yokohama Arena
October 30, 2005
November 1, 2005 Nagoya Nagoya Dome
November 3, 2005 Fukuoka Fukuoka Yahoo! Japan Dome
North America
March 3, 2006 Miami United States AmericanAirlines Arena 5,897 / 6,000 $573,453
March 4, 2006 Jacksonville Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena 3,769 / 5,000 $321,135
March 7, 2006 Duluth The Arena at Gwinnett Center 5,909 / 9,258 $437,087
March 8, 2006 Washington, D.C. Capital One Arena 9,475 / 12,571 $844,090
March 10, 2006 Worcester DCU Center
March 12, 2006 Uniondale Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum 7,697 / 11,000 $609,915
March 14, 2006 Philadelphia Wachovia Spectrum
March 16, 2006 Toronto Canada Air Canada Centre 11,279 / 11,279 $1,066,519
March 17, 2006 Buffalo United States KeyBank Center
March 20, 2006 Pittsburgh Mellon Arena
March 21, 2006 Cleveland Quicken Loans Arena 6,218 / 9,096 $421,942
March 23, 2006 Rosemont Allstate Arena 7,441 / 9,500 $756,870
March 24, 2006 Auburn Hills The Palace of Auburn Hills 10,296 / 10,296 $707,235
March 26, 2006 Saint Paul Xcel Energy Center
March 27, 2006 Milwaukee Bradley Center 6,282 / 9,000 $484,394
March 31, 2006 Glendale Gila River Arena
April 1, 2006 San Diego Cox Arena at Aztec Bowl 6,030 / 7,586 $508,060
April 3, 2006 Anaheim Honda Center 9,085 / 14,373 $666,735
April 5, 2006 San Jose SAP Center
April 7, 2006 Las Vegas MGM Grand Garden Arena 6,359 / 7,800 $626,355
April 10, 2006 Seattle KeyArena 4,592 / 12,500 $463,195
April 11, 2006 Portland Moda Center 4,234 / 12,600 $395,380
April 13, 2006 Vancouver Canada Pacific Coliseum
TOTAL 278,694 / 379,936
(73%)
$10,010,205

Cancellations

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June 11, 2005 Tromsø Fyllingen Stadium Cancelled.

Notes

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  1. ^ The July 10, 2005 concert at the GelreDome was originally scheduled for at Goffertpark in Nijmegen.
  2. ^ The July 15, 2005 concert at Hyde Park was originally scheduled for July 8, 2005.

Tour band

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Additional musicians

  • Spike Edney – keyboards, backing vocals
  • Danny Miranda – bass guitar, acoustic guitar, backing vocals
  • Jamie Moses – rhythm guitar, backing vocals

References

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  1. ^ a b Queen most loved band The Guardian. Retrieved August 3, 2011
  2. ^ "Queen and Paul Rodgers, Brixton Academy, London". The Guardian. March 30, 2015. Retrieved January 5, 2017.
  3. ^ "Queen and Paul Rodgers, Hyde Park, London". The Independent. July 17, 2015. Retrieved January 5, 2017.
  4. ^ "QUEEN + PAUL RODGERS: North American Tour Announced". Blabbermouth. November 29, 2015. Retrieved January 5, 2017.
  5. ^ "Lighting rig: Queen + Paul Rodgers 2005 tour". QueenConcerts.com. November 11, 2005. Retrieved September 7, 2021.
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