Queen and Paul Rodgers book full North American tour
November 29, 2005 11:26 AM
by Jon Zahlaway
liveDaily Senior Writer
Weeks after playing a pair of sold-out U.S. showcases, Queen (tickets) guitarist Brian May, drummer Roger Taylor and Bad Company frontman Paul Rodgers
have unveiled plans for a six-week North American tour.
The veteran rockers
are set to launch the 23-date run with a March 3 show in Miami, and will touch
down at arenas throughout the U.S.; a pair of Canadian dates are also planned,
including an April 13 finale in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Tickets for the tour's stops in Washington, DC; the Chicago area; Milwaukee; the Phoenix
area; Seattle; and Portland, OR, are scheduled to hit the box office Saturday
(12/3), and all of the remaining dates are due to go on sale by Dec. 17, according
to a press release. Details are included in the itinerary shown below.
More
shows may be added, as a spokesperson said earlier this year that the
group was planning to play "about 30 dates" during the outing.
Billed
as "Queen + Paul Rodgers," the group will perform a mix of Queen material and songs from Rodgers' former
bands, according to a press release. Joining May, Taylor and Rodgers on stage will
be bassist Danny Miranda (ex-Blue Oyster Cult), guitarist Jamie Moses (Brian
May Band) and keyboardist Spike Edney.
Queen bassist John Deacon is
"supportive of his bandmates," but has retired from touring, according to a statement.
Earlier
this year, Queen + Paul Rodgers mounted a sold-out,
32-date tour of European arenas. That run included a May 9 stop at England's
Sheffield Arena, which recently yielded a two-disc audio set, titled "Return of
the Champions," and a companion DVD.
Hollywood Records plans to commemorate
the 30th anniversary of the Queen classic "Bohemian Rhapsody" with the
release of a special anniversary DVD and CD of the album that spawned that hit,
"A Night at the Opera." The revamped version of the disc--which was first released
in the U.S. on Dec. 7, 1975--will be available "shortly," according to a
press release.
Prior to this year's Queen + Paul Rodgers outing, Queen
last toured in 1986, before late frontman Freddie Mercury began showing symptoms
of AIDS. The singer died of the disease in 1991.
Last year, Rodgers
sang with May and Taylor during Queen's induction into the U.K. Music Hall
of Fame and at a concert in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Fender
Stratocaster guitar.
"I was always against the idea of putting someone
in there trying to impersonate Freddie in any way," May said in a statement.
"Then suddenly I'm looking at this guy who doesn't in any sense try to take the
place of Freddie. He's nothing like Freddie because he comes from his own place
musically and we can reinterpret these songs with someone who understands us--the
songs would mean something new."
"There was a natural chemistry
between us when we performed together in London," Rogers added. "The idea took
hold for us to do something together after that, and the momentum has taken on
a life of its own."
The surviving members of Queen have played together
at a few events since Mercury's death, including a 1992 tribute to Mercury
and at the band's 2001 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Last
month, Queen + Paul Rodgers played sold-out shows in New Jersey and Los
Angeles.
"It was more than enough to persuade us that it was the right
time to return for a lengthier period of dates," May and Taylor said in a
statement. "And it is going to be great to be back in some of our favorite cities."
Check
the schedule & buy your Queen + Paul Rodgers tickets now!
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