E-mail at: tigerlily@queenzone.com
"I am a musician by profession, that's my whole life, and I didn't want to waste it in easy retirement"
JO’BURG, South Africa – 24 January 2005. One of the world’s greatest female singer/songwriters, Annie Lennox has confirmed that she will join Queen + Paul Rodgers at the forthcoming second 46664 concert now in the planning to take place at Fancourt on March 19.
A leading supporter of the founding 46664 concert in Cape Town in 2003 where she appeared with Dave Stewart in a Eurythmics reunion, Annie has agreed to take on the role of ambassador to the artists who will appear, addressing the audience on behalf of the 46664 campaign. In addition, Annie will also headline the concert along with Queen, performing her own solo set with her band.
Confirmed at the same time to join the concert, which this year is intended to focus attention on the plight of women and girls living with HIV/AIDS, is jazz & blues singer Katie Melua, the biggest female artist to emerge in 2004. Melua’s debut album, ‘Call Off The Search’, made her one of the top selling artists of the year across the world including South Africa where the album reached no.1 on the chart. Melua will perform her own material with her band as well as joining Queen + Paul Rodgers for part of their set.
A self-confessed Queen fan, Melua said of her forthcoming 46664 South Africa appearance: “I am thrilled to be involved in this most important project. I have long been aware of the magnitude of the Aids problem, and if there is one small thing I can do to assist, then of course I am grateful for the opportunity. Additionally to this most important consideration, but of huge importance to me, is the excitement of performing with Queen, because I was brought up on their records from a very small age when my uncles used to play Queen records back in Georgia, former USSR where I was born. I was excited recently to meet Brian and Roger and I look forward with great anticipation to collaborating with them on what should be an amazing musical event."
The theme of women in 46664 South Africa is further underscored by the third artist announced to play at Fancourt: Motown multi-million selling artist India.Arie, whose debut album ‘Acoustic Soul’ earned her a staggering seven Grammy nominations in 2002, including Best New Artist, Record, Song and Album of the Year, as well as the honour of receiving a special Essence Award for “writing the anthem for Black womanhood, for celebrating our strength, courage and wisdom, and illuminating our beauty.” India.Arie will bring to the concert her unique combination of folk, modern pop and soul, performing tracks from that first platinum-plus album and her latest, ‘Voyage To India’.
Also now confirmed to appear to support 46664’s ongoing campaign against HIV/AIDS are some of South Africa’s top artists, among them: Mafikizolo, Prime Circle, Kabelo, Danny K and Mandoza, Blk Sonshine, and Karen Zoid. Highly anticipated is a return to South Africa from the USA by Just Ginger founding member Art Matthews, and what promises to be a magical performance by Johnny Clegg who will be joined by massed Zulu dancers.
Speaking for 46664, the Nelson Mandela Foundation Chief Executive John Samuel said: “The presence of such leading world artists as Queen + Paul Rodgers, Annie Lennox, India.Arie and Katie Melua in the 46664 concert brings with it a wonderful opportunity for many of our own artists to reach out to the international community through the attention they bring to South Africa and the ongoing work of the 46664 campaign”.
46664 South Africa, as the forthcoming concert has been named, will bring all these artists to the Fancourt Hotel and Country Club Estate on March 19, and is being made possible by the generous support of philanthropist Prof. Dr. Hasso Plattner, co-founder and chairman of SAP, who has not only given the venue for free to stage the concert but also underwritten the entire cost of the concert to ensure that 100% of all ticket revenue can be donated directly to the Nelson Mandela Foundation in the names of the performing artists.
As previously announced, this year’s concert, in line with the theme of World AIDS Day this year, will be to promote recognition that women are now bearing the brunt of the HIV/Aids pandemic with the fastest increase in infections now showing among women and girls who now account for 57 per cent of all those infected in sub-Saharan Africa, and for 75 per cent of those aged 15 to 24. In every region of the world, rates of infection in women are rising faster than in men.
Speaking about the concert, Former President Nelson Mandela said, “46664 South Africa will build on the success of our truly memorable concert in Cape Town in 2003. It will serve to support the efforts of the Nelson Mandela Foundation and to show the world that South Africa is really addressing this most vital issue. And most importantly, it will help us raise more funds to lead the fight to help those infected and affected by this pandemic.” Mr Mandela added: “We are incredibly indebted to Dr Plattner for his most generous support that will enable us not only to stage this second 46664 concert, but also to put money straight into the field projects of my Foundation to support our fight to stop HIV/AIDS in Southern Africa and to help in particular the growing numbers of women infected and affected.”
Said Annie Lennox: “It’s a real privilege and honour for me to appear once again in South Africa on behalf of the 46664 campaign. I am very grateful for the opportunity to lend my voice towards the call for action against this unacceptable genocide, which continues to wipe out millions of men, women and children…not only in Africa, but across the entire globe.”
Inspired by the vision and leadership of Mr Mandela, 46664 was set up by Dave Stewart, Bono, and Brian May and Roger Taylor of Queen in 2003 with the aim of raising awareness of the global HIV/AIDS pandemic, as well as funds, to help the Nelson Mandela Foundation to initiate, develop and support practical programmes for the prevention, testing, care and support for those infected and affected by HIV / AIDS in Southern Africa.
The 46664 South Africa Concert will be produced by Jim Beach (co-producer with JF Cecillon of the launch concert in Cape Town last year), together with much of the same technical team behind the original concert, and will be filmed by SABC for transmission across the entire African sub-continent.
Tickets are priced from R250-00 (this excludes Computicket’s service charge). For further details and bookings go to www.46664.com or www.computicket.com.
SOURCE: queenonline.com
As long-time Queen aficionado, Justin Hawkins, singer of The Darkness, said recently: “For total and utter, unadulterated, no-holds-barred entertainment, you just cannot beat Queen. Christ on a bike, those guys knew how to put on a show!”
They certainly did. Which is why news of Queen’s imminent return to the stage -- in partnership with legendary former Free and Bad Company singer, Paul Rodgers -- has been greeted with such excitement by their million of fans since news leaked out over the internet just before Xmas.
Now after weeks of speculation Brian May, Roger Taylor and Paul Rodgers have unveiled their Spring 2005 tour plans in full, kicking off with their first show together as Queen + Paul Rodgers -- a special preview concert at London’s Brixton Academy on Monday 28 March, 2005, The first of what will be a lengthy tour, it will be followed by 25 further dates in the UK and around Europe and marks the first time Queen have toured since 1986. There will be seven UK dates in all, including a second London show at the culmination of the tour when they play Wembley Pavilion on 11 May.
Says Brian May: “I never thought I would be doing this again. I was always against the idea of putting someone in there trying to impersonate Freddie in any way. 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.
“Suddenly I thought, ‘yes we can do this’, we could do one more tour and the songs would mean something new. This would not be like rehashing, trying to pretend Freddie’s still here; suddenly we can reinterpret these songs with someone who understands what he’s about, someone who relates to us. Suddenly it felt right. It’s colossal, and I can’t quite believe it.”
Roger Taylor: “Paul is not someone trying to be Freddie. He’s someone trying to take this somewhere else, in his own direction. Freddie was a great fan of his – we saw Free loads of times at The Marquee. He is one of the people who have influenced all of the singers who are out there at the moment and I’m very excited about working it all out.”
Queen + Paul Rodgers will be performing Queen songs, plus several familiar songs made famous by Rodgers in both Free and Bad Co. Taylor says that the creative decisions will be made between the three of them, each of them carrying equal weight in the decision making. “The problem we have is in the embarrassment of riches in material to choose from; there’s the whole Queen catalogue, and then you have so many great songs from Paul’s catalogue.
“We’ve done a few charity one-offs and they’ve ended up being pretty frustrating – you do a bit of work, rehearse up a bit and then you do a few songs and it’s over. This gives us the opportunity to rehearse it properly and develop it and I’m sure we’ll come up with some things none of us have thought of or are expecting. The whole creative process is one of the things that appeals to me because you never know what will happen.”
For May, the new line-up presents “so many new possibilities. Freddie never sang, for instance, ‘Can’t Get Enough of Your Love’ on any Queen tour, though he might have enjoyed it! . And, of course, there were many of our songs which Freddie was never able to perform because of the way things turned out towards the end – for instance, ‘Innuendo’, ‘I Want It All’, ‘The Show Must Go On’….” The thought occurred: “Wouldn’t it be great if, just supposing, we did it now?! Personally, I can’t wait!”
The idea originally sprang from May‘s performance with Rodgers at the Fender Strat’s 50th Anniversary show in London last September. “We were both so amazed at the chemistry that was going on in ‘All Right Now’ that suddenly it seemed blindingly obvious that there was ‘something happening here. ’.
Says Roger Taylor: “After the Fender gig Brian got on the phone to me and ‘said you really have to look at what we just did’. And he sent over a tape. And I could see what he was talking about. Paul had been one of our role models in the late 60’s and 70’s with Free, a singer we aspired to be.
When I saw the tape he was fantastic, and it set Brian and I thinking.”
The idea only really took hold, however, after May and Taylor together with Paul Rodgers played in public for the first time together just a few weeks later, bringing the house to its feet at the televised first annual UK Hall of Fame awards in London, with blistering versions of ‘We Will Rock You’, ‘We Are The Champions’, and the finale, ‘All Right Now’.
Says May: “It just came up out of the blue. Apparently we had won one of the categories and the request was there for us to play. I had already had the conversation with Roger at this point, about how brilliant Paul was, and, since, very conveniently, he had also been asked to perform we agreed we would ask Paul if he would team up with us at this event. The rest in a way is already history. The show went so incredibly well from our point of view, and we got so many rave reactions from out there, we decided almost then and there that we would look at a tour together.”
Paul Rodgers: “There was a natural chemistry between us when we performed together in London. The idea took hold for us to do something together after that, and with the chill factor off the scale the momentum has taken on a life of its own.”
Roger Taylor:” A lot of our music is blues based and Paul is really a very soulful blues singer and at that point we thought this would be a very good direction to go in”.
They immediately began “looking at venues,” says May, “discussing how we might approach our collective material, etc. It’s very exciting. Ever since the run-up to that Awards show, I felt in my waters that something big and scary was happening. Scary because as soon as you press the button for something like this you set a massive juggernaut into motion which cannot be stopped! So bang goes the home life, and anything else we might have planned for the coming months. Suddenly the Queen Phoenix is rising again from the ashes…”
As for the inevitable cynics, May simply has this to say: “How about just letting yourselves enjoy the fun? Life is too short to be mindlessly negative because of feeling left out, or fearful of ‘not being cool’. The only reason to go out there and be away from my family on tour is because we love it, and want to create, maybe just once more, what thousands of people tell us they would like to see. Finally, here is an opportunity for us to do once again what we do best -- play rock for real!”
Roger Taylor: “I always hoped we would tour again and I’m thrilled we’re doing it. It feels good and it smells good, and I know we’re doing it with the right singer for the right reasons.”
As the Brixton Academy show is the first date of the tour, demand is expected to far exceed the number of tickets available. Therefore, the band has decided to limit all tickets to registered fans only, to be made available in the form of a ‘lottery’. Designed to ensure all tickets go direct to real fans and not ticket touts, none of the tickets for the Brixton show will be on general sale. Instead, all members of the Official International Queen Fan Club registered before 11 December, 2004 -- the date news of the Queen + Paul Rodgers tour first surfaced -- have been automatically entered into the lottery draw, plus all similarly registered users of Queenonline.com and paulrodgers.com -- with a maximum ticket limit of two per registered applicant. The lottery will be administered by the same audit system used by UEFA in the distribution of tickets for Euro 2004, overseen by Price, Waterhouse & Cooper. Successful applicants should be informed on or before Friday 21 January, 2005. (Please note: anybody attempting to enter the lottery more than once will have all of their booking refunded, without notification and with no option to repurchase. Any customer attempting to resell their tickets will also have all of their booking refunded, without notification and with no option to repurchase.)
Queen began their fantastic journey in 1968 when Roger Taylor together with guitarist Brian May and friend Tim Staffell, formed the group Smile. When Tim decided to leave, in his place came Freddie Mercury, then working on a clothes stall in Kensington market which he and Roger owned. It was the flamboyant and creatively unstoppable Mercury who renamed the group Queen. A year later, bassist John Deacon joined the band, completing the line-up which would spend the next 20 years writing and recording such multi-million-selling albums as ‘Sheer Heart Attack’, ‘A Night At The Opera’, ‘News Of The World’ and ‘The Works’, not to mention countless, unforgettable hit singles. Queen ranks second only to The Beatles as the band with the longest period spent on the UK singles and album charts, a total of 1725 weeks, or put otherwise a staggering 33 years.
Since Mercury’s untimely death from Aids in November 1991, Queen have collaborated on a one-off basis with many different artists. They have recorded with Robbie Williams (‘We Are The Champions‘from the soundtrack to the 2001 movie ‘A Knight‘s Tale’) and performed live with Elton John, George Michael, Bob Geldof and David Bowie, to name a few. They have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (USA), the Songwriters Hall of Fame (USA), and recently the inaugural UK Music Hall of Fame. They hold places in the Hollywood Walk of Fame and the Rock Walk of Fame. And their appearance in the 2002 Jubilee Party At The Palace provided one of the defining images of that year, when Brian May performed a live version of the national anthem from the roof of Buckingham Palace.
Their musical ‘We Will Rock You’ continues to be a sell-out in London almost three years on from its May 2002 opening with successful productions now running in Las Vegas, Spain, Russia, Australia and Germany where it recently premiered to the best opening ever in Germany. In one month it has sold over a quarter of a million tickets and is currently sold out three months in advance.
Brian and Roger were among the founding artists behind Nelson Mandela’s 46664 HIV/AIDS worldwide campaign which was launched last November with an all-star concert which saw artists including Anastacia, Beyoncé, Bono, The Edge, Eurythmics, Ms. Dynamite unite with a host of South African artists for a landmark event which was seen on television around the world by more than 2 billion people. Queen will return to South Africa – this time with Paul Rodgers – for a second 46664 concert on the eve of their forthcoming tour. The concert takes place at Fancourt on March 19th and will additionally feature Annie Lennox and Katie Melua. The event is designed to bring worldwide attention to the rising numbers of women living with HIV/AIDS.
Queen bassist John Deacon has currently retired from the stage.
One of rock’s most distinctive vocalists, as well as writer of some of the most enduring rock classics of the past three decades, Paul Rodgers first came to prominence as singer with early 1970s rockers Free, who had a worldwide hit with ‘All Right Now’. For May and Taylor the band’s ‘Fire and Water’ album was ‘one of our bibles when we were starting off’.
When Free disbanded in 1973, Rodgers formed Bad Company with former Mott The Hoople guitarist Mick Ralphs, where he enjoyed even greater success. Bad Company notched up 6 multi platinum albums and created worldwide hits such as ‘Can‘t Get Enough Of Your Love’ and ‘Feel Like Makin’ Love’, both of which have become worldwide rock anthems. He partnered with former Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page in The Firm in the mid-80s as well as pursuing a Grammy nominated solo career.
As well as being considered ‘the best singer in the world in our genre’ (Brian May), Rodgers is also regarded among his contemporaries as one of the most outstanding songwriters and musicians of his generation. Having written many of Bad Company’s biggest hits, including ‘Rock and Roll Fantasy’, ‘Shooting Star’, and ‘Run with The Pack’, Rodgers also provided the guitar parts to many of these recordings. Bad Company’s greatest hits compilation ‘10 from 6’ remains an essential primer for rock fans throughout the world.
Says Rodgers: “POWERFUL and REAL, EXPLOSIVE and DYNAMIC. That’s how it felt when Queen and I played our three tracks at the UK Music Hall of Fame Awards ceremony in London. Let’s do more was the unanimous feeling. Which is why we are joining forces for this tour of Europe and the UK this spring and possibly the US and Canada in the fall.
“We intend to merge our styles and our music at the point where they meet most naturally. Soulful rock with raw emotion. See you there!”
Queen + Paul Rodgers full tour dates:
Mon 28 March London, Brixton Academy
Wed 30 March Paris, Zenith
Fri 1 April Madrid, Palacio De Deportes
Sat 2 April Barcelona, Sant Jordi
Man 4 April Rome, Palalottomatica
Tue 5 April Milan, Forum
Thu 7 April Firenze, Mandela Forum
Fri 8 April Pesaro, Palas
Sun 10 April Basel, St. Jakobshalle
Wed 13 April Vienna, Stadthalle
Thu 14 April Munich, Olympiahalle
Sat 16 April Prague, Saska Arena
Sun 17 April Leipzig, Arena
Tue 19 April Frankfurt, Festhalle
Wed 20 April Antwerp, Sports Palais
Sat 23 April Budapest, Sportarena
Mon 25 April Dormund, Westfalenhalle
Tue 26 April Rotterdam, Ahoy
Thu 28 April Hamburg, Color Line Arena,
Sat 30 April Stockholm, The Globe
Tue 3 May Newcastle, Arena
Wed 4 May Manchester, MEN Arena
Fri 6 May Birmingham, NEC
Sat 7 May Cardiff Arena
Mon 9 May Sheffield, Arena
Wed 11 May Wembley, Pavillion
Tickets are on sale from 10:00am Saturday January 22. For information go to www.queenonline.com or check local press for details.
SOURCES:www.queenonline.com
www.paulrodgers.com
On 22nd Jan 2005 at 17:20 on Canal+ channel you can watch a one hour report from the 29th Nov 2003 concert. If you do not have time that day you can also watch it on 28th Jan 2005 on Canal + Zolty, at 8:30.
Lately our TWO give us a wider chance to see them playing together life. The plans take over more and more countries. We have South African 46664 Sequel, then we have Europe. There we have mostly Germany and the UK, but Czech Republic and Belgium, France are also there. I know tickets for Germany cost 60 EUR. Still, there is nothing about Poland (where I live). Sth about the States was told beforehand, then it was said no US tour there will be, and then again we hear there may be some US and Canada tour dates. We'll see later. All the dates comfirmed lately you can find here.
Another thing is the fact that studio version of Roger's "Invincible Hope" has been lately released on the iTunes (www.apple.com/iTunes/) and throughout the world ("The 46664 ‘1 Year On’ EP offering 4 tracks specially written for Nelson Mandela’s Global 46664 initiative are now available for download throughout the world excluding Spain. The USA will make the tracks available from January 18th").
AND Roger and Brian refuse to take part in this year's Brit Awards. The note about that below.
British rockers QUEEN are refusing to attend this year's (FEB05) BRIT AWARDS in London - because they find prize-giving ceremonies "boring". Drummer ROGER TAYLOR, 55, considers the band - who are nominated in the Best Song Of The Last 25 Years category for WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS - too old to be collecting awards, although he's excited about the financial benefits of winning. Taylor says, "We're too old for it all now. It get's a bit boring. If we win, then great, and if not, then so what? We'll take the award if we win, and we'll make the money but I don't see any reason for us to go and pick it up." The group - who lost their iconic frontman FREDDIE MERCURY to AIDS in 1991 - won the Brit Award for Best Single in 1992 for their song THESE ARE THE DAYS OF OUR LIVES (Source: www.contactmusic.com)
The first date of the Queen + Paul Rodgers European Tour will be at the Brixton Academy in London on Monday 28th March 2005.
As this is the first date of the tour it should be a hot ticket! Queen and Paul Rodgers have decided to limit all tickets to fans only!
Due to the size of the venue and the obvious high demand for tickets, it has been decided that the fairest way to give all fans a chance of purchasing tickets for this prestigious show is in the form of a lottery.
It is a deliberate ploy to get tickets straight to loyal fans and not to greedy ticket touts.
Tickets for the Brixton show are NOT going on GENERAL SALE.
There is a maximum ticket limit of two per registered applicant.
Tickets are priced at L55 each and subject to a L4.50 booking fee, plus L4.95 special delivery per order.
How To Enter The Lottery
You will qualify for the Queen + Paul Rodgers Brixton Academy ticket lottery in two ways:
1. If you are a paid up member of the Official International Queen Fan Club - All members of the QFC will be automatically entered into the lottery draw and do not need to register on Queen Online.com. Any duplicate register attempts may mean you will be withdrawn from the lottery list.
This opportunity is only open to those members of the Official International Queen Fan Club who were registered prior to Saturday 11th December 2004. This is the date that news of the Queen + Paul Rodgers Tour surfaced.
2. If you are a registered member of Queen Online.com - All registered users of Queen Online.com will be given the opportunity to apply to purchase tickets for the Brixton concert via the specially created web page located at the address below, between Friday 7th January 2005 and Friday 14th January 2005*.
Queen Online.com User Link for the Brixton show - www.queenonline.com/brixtontickets/
This opportunity is only open to those members of Queen Online.com who were registered prior to Saturday 11th December 2004. This is the date that news of the Queen + Paul Rodgers Tour surfaced.
Further Lottery Information
*Please note early application to the lottery does not increase your chances of winning the opportunity to purchasing tickets to the Brixton show.
The lottery will be administered with the same audit system used by UEFA in the distribution of tickets for Euro 2004. The system is fully audited by Price, Waterhouse & Cooper.
Successful applicants will be informed on or before Friday 21st January 2005.
Any customer attempting to either enter the lottery more than once or found to be obtaining more than two tickets will immediately have all of their booking refunded, without notification and with no option to repurchase.
Any customer attempting to resell their tickets will immediately have all of their booking refunded, without notification and with no option to repurchase.
Look out for further news on the Queen + Paul Rodgers European Tour very soon!
Good Luck!
www.queenonline.com
www.paulrodgers.com