QUEEN AND PAUL RODGERS RETURN TO THE U.S.

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Classic rockers Queen made a triumphant return to the United States with Free and Bad Company Paul Rodgers handling the vocal duties in place of the late Freddie Mercury. Springboarding off successful shows in the U.K., the outfit hit the New York City area, for the first of two shows in the States.

Brian May admits that he didn’t want to revisit the Queen catalog, especially live, but after jamming with Rodgers at an industry function, the idea was planted in his head to do a reinterpretation of Queen and its catalog.

“This person here (points to himself) went through a complete change. Suddenly I thought, ‘Yeah, I could do this. We could do one more kind of tour, and the songs would mean something new. This would not be like rehashing and pretending like Freddie is still around. Suddenly, we can reinterpret these songs with someone who understands what he’s about, someone who relates to us, and Paul Rodgers is the guy. It just… Suddenly, it felt right.”

Paul Rodgers and Free were big influences on Queen, and Brian May said that he and the late Freddie Mercury used to listen to the band constantly. The shows are not entirely Queen. Aside from playing the band’s staples “Tie Your Mother Down,” “Another One Bites The Dust,” “Bohemian Rhapsody,” and “We Will Rock You/We Are The Champions,” the band also plays selections from Bad Company and Free, one of which was the popular “All Right Now.”

Queen and Paul Rodgers play their second of two U.S. shows at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles. The band then heads to Japan for four shows.