November 30th, 2005

Queen + PR set 23-date US tour for Spring 2006
The tour is now officially confirmed. Please find the tour dates and more booking info below:

Fri 3 March Miami, Fl, American Airlines Arena
Sun 5 March Jacksonville, Fl, Veterans Coliseum.
Tues 7 March Duluth, GA, Gwinnett Center.
Thurs 9 March Washington, DC, MCI Center
Fri 10 March Worcester, MA, DCU Center.
Sun 12 March Uniondale, NY, Nassau Coliseum.
Tues 14 March Philadelphia, PA, Wachovia Spectrum.
Thurs 16 March Toronto, ON, Air Canada Centre.
Fri 17 March Buffalo, NY, HSBC Arena.
Mon 20 March Pittsburgh, PA, Mellon Arena.
Tues 21 March Cleveland, OH, Quicken Loans Arena.
Thurs 23 March Chicago, IL, Allstate Arena.
Fri 24 March Auburn Hills, MI, Palace at Auburn Hills.
Sun 26 March St. Paul, MN, Xcel Energy Center.
Mon 27 March Milwaukee, WI, Bradley Center
Fri 31 March Glendale, AZ, Glendale Arena.
Sat 1 April San Diego, CA, Cox Arena.
Mon 3 April Anaheim, CA, Arrowhead Pond.
Wed 5 April San Jose, CA, HP Pavilion.
Fri 7 April Las Vegas, NV, MGM Grand Garden. Mon 10 April Seattle, WA, Key Arena.
Tues 11 April Portland, OR, Rose Garden.
Thurs 13 April Vancouver, BC, Pacific Coliseum.

Tickets can be purchased via Ticketmaster with a Special Presale starting November 30th at www.queenpluspaulrodgers.com, www.queenonline.com, or www.paulrodgers.com

Pre-Sale Ticket Information
For Presales for the USA, you should register here and you will receive a username and password via email. More info on presales on QOL and brianmay.com.

 
:::Site updates::: A new video has been added to the downloads. It is Channel 4's "Balls of Steel" and was donated by Dan. Thank you very much!!!
(Ed: More video downloads to come over the weekend!)

 
November 26th, 2005

THE BoRhap-story tonight on BBC Radio 2, 8:30pm – 9:30pm!
The programme examines the phenomenon of Bohemian Rhapsody, on the occasion of its 30th anniversary. It takes in the early history of Queen, the difference the song made to the band, the story of the writing & recording of the song, the making of the ground-breaking video and the song's life today.
Contributors include Brian May, Roger Taylor, members of Freddie Mercury's family (including his mum!), Ben Elton, members of the cast of We Will Rock You and record producer Roy Thomas Baker and others. Freddie will be present through rare archive interview material.
In addition to the Queen version of the song, the programme will also feature the many cover versions out there, including ones by Rolf Harris, G4, the Massed Bands of The RAF, the San Francisco Gay Men's Choir, Christmas versions, rap versions, brass band versions and orchestral versions.
We'll be finding out why one particular copy of the Bohemian Rhapsody single is one of the rarest records in the world, with a book value of around £5,000, and why the song is consistently voted Best British Song of all-time! (source)

 
November 24th, 2005
On this day in 1991 Freddie died of AIDS related complications at the age 45.
He is still greatly missed.
 
US touring rumours...
According to ticketmaster Queen (mentioned without Paul Rodgers!?) will play two dates in the States in 2006:

- Mon, 04/10/06 (8.00 pm) - KeyArena, Seattle (WA), on sale: Sat, 12/03/05 09:00 am (More Info)
- Tue, 04/11/06 (8.00 pm) - Rose Garden Portland (OR), on sale Sat, 12/03/05, 9.00 am, (More Info)

The Key Arena already listed this event, Rose Garden has not yet. Let's hope the rumour is true and for a change the official announcement comes before the tickets go on sale!

 
November 16th, 2005
Q+PR - BAND OF THE YEAR (source)
The act you (Classic Rock readers) voted Band Of The Year were also short listed in the Event Of The Year category, such was the impact of their collaboration. If it at first seemed that fans were divided, all doubt were quashed when people saw just how entertaining their live show really was. No one, not even Paul Rodgers, can replace Freddie Mercury, but that wasn't what this collaboration was about. QPR (as they were soon dubbed) was the celebration of the music of Queen, Free and Bad Company - some of the best rock music ever made.

"Great to have this fantastic vote of confidence in our new incarnation. The fact that it was real people voting and not a bunch of self styled experts, this really means alot to us...WE will rock you further!" Roger X

"Wonderful!! The fans have spoken and I would like to thank them." Paul Rodgers

"Dear Readers of Classic Rock, Many thanks for voting us, Queen plus Paul Rodgers, Band Of The Year. It's great compliment to a band that is still in its infancy!! We hope to continue exploring new frontiers and pleasing the hell of you" Love Bri
 
Q+PR stick their toe out
Q+PR knew they were going to have to sway some of the skeptics when they chose to team up for a tour, and the group did manage to do so, it seems. Roger Taylor says they’re planning their next steps based on how they fared on their US tour.

“Well, we are sort of, we really wanted to do these shows as a toe in the water, if you know what I mean. Just sort of test the reaction, and the show sold out quickly, et cetera, which was a great sign, we took as a good sign.”

Another good sign for Queen + Paul Rodgers, on an international scale, is the sales of their Return of the Champions DVD: it debuted at number one in the U-K, number two in Austria, number four in Holland, number six in Spain, number nine in Belgium and number 10 in Ireland (source)
 
BoRhap video from Hyde Park for download?
Brian mentioned this possibilty on his soapbox ("there has been talk of this appearing hope for Children in Need as a download if it is in time ) and QOL adminstrator Gallileo said that will "Yeah its something we have been working on. Video and audio download here on QOL and itunes. Hopefully be the start of a few other bits from the tour, however they are looking at a few options for getting the US and Japan shows out there."

 
November 14th, 2005

Click picture to enlarge 		Zappa's girl tops bizarre name poll
LONDON (AFP) - Frank Zappa's daughter Moon Unit has topped a list of celebrity offspring with the most bizarre names, according to an online poll. The survey of 2,300 people was carried out by online entertainment site getlive.co.uk but found that the names of Michael Jackson's children, Prince Michael and Prince Michael II, were not "wacko" enough for the top 10. (source)

The top 10 is:
1 Moon Unit -- Frank Zappa
2 Apple -- Chris Martin (Colplay)
3 Misty Kyd -- Sharleen Spiteri (Texas)
4 Geronimo -- Alex James (Blur)
5 Heavenly Hirani Tiger Lily -- M. Hutchence/P. Yates
6 Dandelion -- Keith Richards (Rolling Stones)
7 Dweezil -- Frank Zappa
8 Elijah Bob Patricius Guggi Q -- Bono (U2)
9 Zowie Bowie -- David Bowie
10 Rufus Tiger -- Roger Taylor (Queen)

 
November 8th, 2005

Click picture to enlarge		 The chance to own this stunning Aston Martin, previously owned by Roger, could be yours if you happen to have around £65,000 to spare...

The specification is:
- Aston Martin Vantage Volante (V12, 6 litre)
- British Racing Green paintwork with green hood.
- Tan/Olive hide with Walnut trim (I had the trim changed back to Walnut from the aluminium that Roger apparently changed from the original walnut?).
- 6 Speed manual gearbox
- White 'Retro' dials
- An amazing sound system (as you would expect)
- 18" Alloy wheels with low profile tyres
- 16,000 miles
- Full Service History
- Extended Warranty
- NavTrack retrieval system

If you are interested, and PLEASE no time wasters, then you can email Ken@balneaveschadwick.co.uk. The car is in the UK. (source)
 
:::Site updates:::

With thanks to Elenir there is a second great gallery of screencaps from the ROTC DVD. You can see all the screencaps here.

And with a big thank you to Orlando there's a new pic in the section "Close Encounters" (pg. 2).

"Teo Torriate"-Download!
The song "Teo Torriate" from the Yokohama show (30th October 2005) is now online. You can download the file here. Enjoy!


 
November 4th, 2005
Final show!
The world tour has come to an end now with Q+PR playing their final gig at the Fukuoka Dome. brianmay.com features some pictures of the show taken by Andy and you should have a look at them. Also on the website is the new ROTC DVD TV advert!
 
ROTC AT THE CINEMA
There are to be 8 special screenings of the new Queen + Paul Rodgers 'Return Of The Champions' DVD over two nights on the following dates at the following My Vue cinemas (Show Time: 7:00pm at all venues). Go to QOL for more details.
 
Queen won't be rocking you on the LV Strip much longer
By Charlie Amter, Wed Nov 2, 9:31 PM ET
We Will Rock You, the musical based on the seminal tunes of the classic rock band, will end its Las Vegas run Nov. 27, Variety reports. The show, which took London's West End by storm when it bowed in 2002, first made headlines last year after eschewing a Broadway run in favor of the 1,450-seat Theatre Des Arts at the Paris Las Vegas hotel and casino. (read on)
 
:::Site updates::: New downloads and gallery
 
Japanese Press Conference
With thanks to Vern who posted the link on the QOL message board I uploaded parts of the press conference Q+PR did in Japan on the 24th last month. Sorry, but due to the file size I had to cut out Brian and Paul to make it smaller (about 10 MB). The full clip (about 56 MB) can be seen here.
 
  New picture gallery
With lots of thanks to Stacey here are some great screencaps from the ROTC DVD. Enjoy!

 
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